The idea here is to do a deep dive on some of the key developments from Box Score Breakdown, my weekly recap article with advanced stats, injury reports and usage metrics for every player/team. Below you'll find the most important usage trends to be aware of each week, including some that indicate changing/fluctuating depth charts or major shifts in our weekly projections.
1. RB Tyrone Tracy took 76% of snaps and 18 of 24 RB opportunities in Week 15.
- Key W15 Stats: 71% Route Share | 15-70-1 Rushing | 3-27-1 Receiving (3 targets)
Tracy finished with season highs for both snap share and opportunity share (75%), handling three-fourths of New York's backfield, including playing time on third downs and in short-yardage situations. Big Blue's only points in the first half came on a Q2 drive where Tracy converted a 3rd-and-1 and then later scored a 12-yard TD on 3rd-and-10.
Devin Singletary finished with just five carries and six touches, ending a three-game streak with 12+ carries and a five-game streak with 10+ touches. This wasn't the first time Tracy has been up around 20 touches, but it was the first time he's done it without Singletary also being well into double-digits.
2. RB Travis Etienne took 70% of snaps before garbage time in Week 15.
- Key W15 Stats: 16 of 19 RB Opportunities (84%) | 105 Total Yards + 3 TDs
Etienne's third and final receiving TD gave the Jaguars a 38-13 lead early in the fourth quarter. At the time, Etienne had played 70% of Jacksonville's snaps while taking 12 of 13 RB carries and four of six RB targets.
Bhayshul Tuten, who fumbled twice the week before, had just two touches on 20% of snaps, though one of those touches was a TD reception (yes, Trevor Lawrence threw four TD passes to RBs). We then found out Monday that Tuten was getting surgery on his hand after exiting Sunday's game in the third quarter. It sounds like he'll miss the rest of the regular season, leaving passing-down back LeQuint Allen as the No. 2 RB behind Etienne, who thus figures to dominate Jacksonville's RB workload the next 2-3 weeks.
#Jaguars rookie RB Bhayshul Tuten will undergo surgery to repair a finger injury suffered in yesterday's win over the #Jets, sources tell me and @RapSheet. He'll miss a few weeks but should be back for the playoffs. pic.twitter.com/pcAiuxrPq8
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) December 15, 2025
3. RB D'Andre Swift played 68% of snaps after halftime in Week 15.
- Key W15 Stats: 55% Snap Share | 19 of 32 RB Opportunities | 96 Total Yards + 2 TDs
One might've expected Kyle Monangai to take over a larger share of the workload once the Bears were up by 3-4 scores in the second half. Instead, Swift took the lead in the second half, after working in his usual 50/50 split with the rookie during the first half.
After halftime, Swift got 10 of 14 RB opportunities, including his second TD of the day. Garbage time didn't end up being a factor in workload shares, with Cleveland taking up the final 7-8 minutes of game time with a painfully slow drive. It's possible Monangai got banged up, in which case Swift would've become the healthier of the two RBs (after the reverse was true nearly all season). Whatever the specifics, it's something to think about ahead of Week 16 for those of us considering Swift or Monangai in playoff lineups (hopefully Swift).
4. RB Michael Carter played 79% of snaps in Week 15.
- Key Stats: 69% Route Share | 18 of 25 RB Opportunities | 94 Total Yards
RB Bam Knight injured his ankle on the first carry of the game. He didn't return, and it sounds like he's going to miss additional time, leaving Carter, Emari Demercado and Corey Kiner as the backfield options for an offense that's pacing the league in pass volume of late. Rushing production has been minimal, but the RBs have been combining for at least 5-7 targets each week, sometimes more, and Knight got a few goal-line TDs in November.
Sunday's loss at Houston marked Demercado's first game back from a high-ankle sprain. Before the injury, he'd been ahead of Carter on the depth chart, as has mostly been the case for those two the past couple years in Arizona. On the other hand, Carter's shown more ability to handle sizable workloads and put up solid fantasy scores when given the chance.
It's been nearly impossible to project Arizona's backfield roles/usage from week to week, but Carter should be a hot name on waivers after taking 79% of the snaps and 72% of the RB opportunities in Sunday's loss to Houston. He even put up decent numbers, with a 14-56-0 rushing line and 4-38-0 receiving line against the NFL's best defense.
5. RB RJ Harvey played 68% of snaps in each of the past two games.
- Key W13-14 Stats: 59% Route Share | 43 of 57 RB Opportunities (75%)
Harvey solidified his role growth from the week before, setting a career high in carries (19) for the second straight week while finding the end zone for a third straight game. He hasn't provided many big plays on the ground, averaging just 3.4 YPC in four starts since J.K. Dobbins was injured, but Harvey is piling up red-zone touches (and now dominating carries) for one of the better teams in the NFL.
The rookie has three straight games with at least one TD and 16+ touches, and his opportunity share this past Sunday reached a new high-water mark, with Harvey accounting for 20 of 24 RB chances (83%, up from 70% in Week 14). He even ranks second on the team in route share over the past two games, ahead of TE Evan Engram and WR Troy Franklin.
6. RB Jacory Croskey-Merritt took 75% of RB opps after the opening drive Week 15.
- Key W15 Stats: 55% Snap Share | 14% Route Share | 18-96-1 Rushing
Chris Rodriguez's groin injury put Croskey-Merritt back in the lead role, albeit on an indirect path with Jeremy McNichols getting the start and most of the early touches. McNichols struggled, while Croskey-Merritt had some success gaining yardage, which led to the rookie taking over as the game progressed.
McNichols still had a role in clear passing situations, but he otherwise didn't play much after halftime, with JCM taking 69% of snaps and 10 of 11 RB opportunities*. After going the entire second half without a touch, McNichols finally got a carry in the closing minutes, only to cough it up and give the Giants a shot at a comeback win.
Long story short, Croskey-Merritt should be the lead back if Rodriguez is out again this Sunday against the Eagles. Just don't expect many targets, nor a ton of points from Washington's offense. Still, it's an opportunity for double-digit touches from a guy that's on waivers in some leagues.
*McNichols took four carries for three yards on the opening drive. After that, JCM got 18 of 23 RB carries, including 10 of 11 after halftime.
7. WR Emeka Egbuka dropped to 62% route share in Week 15.
- Key Stats: 64% Snap Share | 4-64-0 (7 targets) | 100 Air Yards
Egbuka's targets and air yards were fine, and his receiving line was even an improvement on the previous month's production, but he lost a lot of playing time with Mike Evans back from injured reserve (and putting up 6-132-0 on 12 targets). Chris Godwin, meanwhile, rose to 95% snap share and 95% route share, well ahead of both Egbuka and Evans (51% snaps, 72% routes), with No. 4 receiver Jalen McMillan (49% snaps, 51% routes) and Tez Johnson (23% snaps, 21% routes) also having roles.
The suddenly crowded WR room should help Egbuka's efficiency, but that might not matter for fantasy if he's off the field for more than one-third of the pass plays. I won't be surprised if the seven targets from Thursday are the most he gets in any game down the stretch.
8. WR Luther Burden has reached 20% target share in three straight games.
- Key W13-15 Stats: 61% Route Share | 30% Target Rate | 2.92 YPRR | 22% TS / 18% AYS
The rub(s)? Burden injured his ankle Sunday, and he hasn't quite been a full-time player even with Rome Odunze (foot) out of the lineup. Burden's per-route numbers have been fantastic all season, with the target rate rising even higher in recent weeks, but Olamide Zaccheaus has actually been ahead of the rookie for routes and snaps during Odunze's absence.
It makes for a somewhat disjointed fantasy picture, with massive excitement for Burden's future but far less optimism about fantasy value over these last few weeks of the season. It would also be nice to see him get more downfield looks if he's able to play through the ankle injury, as his aDOT over the past three weeks was just 6.6, pushing the season-long mark down to 7.2 (lower than both Cole Kmet and Colston Loveland, who admittedly have two of the higher aDOTs among qualified TEs).
9. WR Stefon Diggs played 51% of snaps and got just four targets in Week 15.
- Key W15 Stats: 62% Route Share | 3-26-0 (4 targets) | 11 targets over past 3 games
Diggs previously got big boosts in snap/route share when Kayshon Boutte missed a couple of games with an injury, and it also led to an increase in targets/production, with Diggs proving more than up to the task. I thought the Patriots might do something similar in a key matchup with the Bills, but they instead gave both Boutte (88% route share) and Mack Hollins (73% route share) far more playing time.
It was Hollins' fifth straight game with at least four targets, while Diggs now has three consecutive games with fewer than five targets since Boutte returned from his hamstring injury. Apologies to anyone that started Diggs on my advice last week... and TBD if Diggs eventually gets a workload bump in the playoffs. For now, he looks like more of a WR4 than a WR3, coming off three straight games below six PPR points (a number he easily topped in five consecutive games before the ugly slump).
10. TE Kyle Pitts has 30 targets and 338 yards the past three games.
- Key Stats: 91% Route Share | 30% Target Share / 31% Air-Yard Share | 24-338-3
Last but not least, Pitts is absolutely on fire from both a real-life and fantasy perspective, though it oddly took injuries to Michael Penix and Drake London in order to get here. There were some smaller signs of improvement early in the season, namely in terms of target volume, but then in November (right before London's injury) Pitts had four straight games with less than eight PPR points (2-25-0, 2-14-0, 2-38-0 and 4-38-0).
Part of what's happened since then is the Falcons desperately needing someone to take on targets in London's absence. But it's more than that, with Pitts putting up 11.2 yards per target over the past three games after averaging just 6.9 YPT through Week 12. That's far from sustainable, especially with shaky QB play, but the fact that Pitts managed it over a three-week stretch is still impressive.
He'll also lose some of the volume once London is back, which could be this week, but that doesn't mean Pitts' target share to sink all the way back to where it was in November (or even September/October). He's a top-five pick playing the best ball of his career – on the eve of free agency, conveniently – and Darnell Mooney's poor season leaves the Falcons in desperate need of an effective Option C behind London and Bijan Robinson.
In terms of 2026 and beyond, I'd probably put Pitts at the top of the basket of TEs who are good enough to take on a bunch of volume if needed but not actually good enough that you want to be giving them more than 5-6 looks per game when you have healthy WRs. Pitts' age (25) and unique physical traits make him far more exciting for fantasy (especially dynasty) than other guys in that box, e.g., Jake Ferguson, Hunter Henry and Dallas Goedert. Still, there's a solid chance of more disappointment ahead, with the 2026 outlook depending heavily on these next few weeks and then whatever happens in the offseason
