Who would have thought that a week featuring zero teams on bye would have such little seriously notable IDP news? I've got you covered for some intriguing trends anyways.
LB A.J. Klein played 100% of defensive snaps for Buffalo in Week 12.
Well, this was a surprise! With Tremaine Edmunds out for the Bills’ Thanksgiving game vs. the Lions, most managers (myself included) expected Tyrel Dodson to play a full allotment of snaps as his replacement. Instead, it was Klein who saw the volume. While it remains to be seen if this will be a consistent trend for the backups, one thing is clear: the addition of Klein throws a wrench in the handcuff tier list. It makes it significantly more difficult to predict which player will fill in if we see Edmunds or Matt Milano miss any more time.
Houston LB Christian Harris exited his game early with a shoulder injury.
Jalen Reeves-Maybin played the majority of backup linebacker snaps as his replacement and earned six tackles on 67% of defensive snaps. There’s no guarantee that Reeves-Maybin is the handcuff for Harris, but if managers are desperate for an upside linebacker in deep IDP leagues, this could be the perfect opportunity if Harris misses time.
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S Chauncey Gardner-Johnson looks to miss time as the starting safety in Philadelphia.
S Reed Blankenship played as Gardner-Johnson's replacement and earned six tackles and an interception against the Packers on Sunday Night. Blankenship and Marcus Epps both played the majority of their snaps at free safety, likely because the Packers were in a negative game script. Against a more balanced offense (and in a game that doesn't see one of the lowest amounts of defensive snaps played in the week), Blankenship should have more opportunities to score. Managers in moderately deep leagues should consider him a top add at the safety position.
Chicago has revealed their backup safety tandem.
Jaquan Brisker missed Week 12 with a concussion, and DeAndre Houston-Carson played 100% of defensive snaps as his replacement and notched nine tackles on 63% of snaps in the sweet spot. Eddie Jackson suffered a foot injury about halfway through the game, which forced rookie Elijah Hicks to step in as the next man up. Hicks played basically all of his snaps at free safety and earned six tackles on the remaining 61% of snaps in the game. The Bears also have Dane Crookshank on the roster, but he only played one snap before exiting with a hamstring injury. It’s unclear who between Crookshank and Hicks would see work as the fourth string safety, but it’s clear that Houston-Carson is the backup managers should target if they need help at safety. If Jackson misses any time, he should be the player to see a full-time workload.
The New York Giants defense had some unique usage in Week 12.
For starters, three different safeties played 100% of defensive snaps. Julian Love returned to his typical box safety role and earned 10 tackles. Jason Pinnock took over the deep safety role and tallied 8 tackles. Additionally, Nick McCloud played all across the line of scrimmage, from the defensive line to outside corner, and made eight tackles as well. Dane Belton was questionable to play with a clavicle injury and only saw seven snaps on Thanksgiving. Once he is back to full health, expect him to shake things up a bit more. This also marks the fourth consecutive week that Micah McFadden has out-snapped Tae Crowder. Expect him to remain a limited-snap played this season, but dynasty managers might be interested in his long-term outlook.