Welcome to the Weekly Fantasy Football Usage Report. Volume is paramount in fantasy football, and a player’s usage determines the type of volume they receive. Each week, I’ll take a look at different usage trends throughout the NFL to help us prepare for the rest of the season. Week 7 brought us new names to watch and returned some old ones. Let’s dive in.
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Week 7 Fantasy Football Usage
Jaylen Warren’s Role
Returning from injury in Week 6, Jaylen Warren‘s usage was in question after Kenneth Gainwell performed well in his absence. Before missing time with an injury, Warren led the backfield with 60.5% of the snaps and 66.3% of the opportunities. Gainwell trailed with 40.1% and 31.3%.
In Week 6, the two had similar usage, but in Week 7, Warren dominated the backfield. He easily led the backfield, playing 64.9% of the snaps and handling 80.8% of the opportunities. Warren played well, too, scoring 19.8 PPR points in a good matchup. Gainwell, on the other hand, only received a total of five opportunities, a 19.2% share, while playing 38.6% of the snaps.
Jaylen Warren has a good role, but it’s not on a great offense. The key for him every week will be how well the Steelers’ offense can perform. Warren is a low-end RB2 whose weekly ceiling depends on how well the offense does overall.
Rashee Rice Returns
Rashee Rice managers everywhere have had Week 7 circled on their calendars. The hope was that Rice would pick up where he left off in 2024 before being lost for the year and then suspended for the first six games of this season. In his three full games in 2024, Rice had an elite role, with a 31.5% target share while running 91.7% of the routes as Patrick Mahomes‘ top target.
In Rice’s first game back, his routes were limited, but his usage wasn’t. Rice ran only 54.3% of the routes, but earned a 25.7% target share to lead the team. That led to nine targets, of which Rice caught seven for 42 yards and two touchdowns, giving him 23.2 PPR points on the day.
This was a good first game back for Rashee Rice. We should expect that his usage will increase moving forward as well as he runs more routes. He is a WR1 for the rest of the season.
Chuba Hubbard vs. Rico Dowdle
All eyes were on the Panthers’ backfield for Week 7. Chuba Hubbard was off to a good start to the season, while Rico Dowdle backed him up. Then, an injury forced Hubbard to miss two weeks of action. We all know how dominant Dowdle was during his absence. How the backfield would look with Hubbard returning was up in the air, with any outcome being reasonable.
Before the game, we got word that the Panthers could have their RB duo alternate drives, and that’s mostly what they did, giving them a near 50/50 split. Hubbard played 53.5% of the snaps and received 47.1% of the opportunities. Dowdle handled 52.9% of the opportunities on 46.5% of the snaps.
Chuba Hubbard and Rico Dowdle being in a 50/50 split means, in a way, that we have lost both of them for fantasy. Neither can reliably be more than a flex player in fantasy football while in this split. If either gets hurt, we know the other will produce. The hope when they’re healthy is that the Panthers continue to run so much of their offense through the running backs.
Post Brian Callahan Titans
With a dreadful start to the year, Brian Callahan became the first head coach fired of the 2025 season. How the Titans would respond was high on the list of situations to monitor in Week 7. To start the game, it seemed as though they would keep up the anecdotal trend of the “post-head-coach-firing motivation” going. They slowed down in the second half, but Cameron Ward still had the best game of his rookie season so far.
Ward completed 25 of his 34 passes for a season high 255 yards while throwing one touchdown and one interception. This was without Calvin Ridley, mind you. This led to some decent days from the skill players. Tony Pollard had 12.1 PPR points on his 12 opportunities. Chimere Dike had the best day with an outing of 17 PPR points.
It’s hard to have confidence in this continuing or improving based on the Titans’ season before Week 7. But sometimes a good performance, regardless of why it happened, can help build confidence in players. I’m not changing my stance on any Tennesee players based on Week 7, but I’m more open to the possibility of improvement.
Vikings’ Quarterbacks
The Vikings came into the season with full confidence in J.J. McCarthy. That confidence almost certainly wavered with McCarthy’s poor start to the season before missing time due to an ankle injury. In his absence, Carson Wentz has started with mixed results.
We expected McCarthy to return after the Vikings’ bye week, but he remained sidelined. Wentz started again in Week 7, leading to more mixed results. Wentz threw 42 passes, completing 26 of them, for 313 yards and two interceptions. He also ran for 28 yards and fumbled, although it wasn’t lost. He ended his day with only 11.32 fantasy points.
Carson Wentz has not been good enough to hold back McCarthy, which might be a problem for us. While Wentz hasn’t played well enough to keep the starting job, he’s played well enough that the Vikings’ weapons have still mostly produced. Based on his previous starts, we can’t be confident that that will be the case when McCarthy is starting.
Chris Olave, Target Dominator
Quietly, Chris Olave has had one of the more enviable wide receiver roles in football. Entering Week 7, Olave had a 31.1% target share while running 95.2% of the routes. Also, Olave was 10th among all wide receivers in air yards, despite his career low average depth of target of 8.6. Finally, he had eight red zone targets, which was fifth among all wide receivers. In Week 7, we got more of the same, and it finally paid real dividends. Olave turned his seven targets into five catches for 98 yards and two touchdowns for 26.8 PPR points.
You can’t ask for a much better role for a wide receiver. Also, although Spencer Rattler hasn’t played well enough from an NFL perspective, he’s played well enough to support weapons for fantasy. As long as Rattler can keep this level of play going, Olave is a volume-based WR2 moving forward.
Jacory Croskey-Merritt Expanded Role
Jacory Croskey-Merritt, or Bill, as he prefers, going from a seventh-round draft pick to a starting running back was one of the biggest storylines of the offseason. But to start the season, Bill was stuck in a heavy backfield rotation. Through his first four games, Bill was handling 40% of the backfield opportunities, playing only 31.9% of the snaps, and had just a 4.2% target share. Over the last 3 weeks, Bill has received 69% of the backfield opportunities while playing 54.5% of the snaps. Also during that time, he’s averaged 12.3 PPR PPG.
While his role has certainly grown, Jacory Croskey-Merritt isn’t a three-down back yet and doesn’t project to be due to his lack of pass-catching. He showed very little of it in college, and that has followed him into the NFL. Bill can have some big games if he finds the end zone, but without pass-catching, he’s a low-end to mid RB2 moving forward.
CeeDee Lamb Returns
You wouldn’t know it by his Week 7 performance, but there was a question as to how much and how well CeeDee Lamb would play in his return from his hamstring injury. Hamstring injuries are particularly harmful for wide receivers and can hamper them even when they return. It looks as though the Cowboys did the right thing by making sure Lamb rested long enough to return without an issue. He played 77.6% of the snaps, ran 100% of the routes, and earned a 23.3% target share, which tied for the team lead. With that workload, Lamb caught five of his seven targets for 110 yards and 1 touchdown.
CeeDee Lamb is right back to being a top-three wide receiver. The Cowboys played it smart. They made sure to rest him long enough to make sure he’d be fine when he came back. Then, they kept him from overworking him in his return by having him only on the field when Dak Prescott was attempting a pass. No worries to be had here.
Matthew Golden Can’t Separate
No, I’m not saying Matthew Golden can’t separate from defenders. I’m saying he can’t separate from the other wide receivers on his team. When the Packers drafted Golden in the first round, many thought he could finally be the wide receiver who would become their legit number one pass catcher. Golden started a little slow, but that’s not out of the ordinary.
What’s concerning is that since Jayden Reed‘s injury, Golden hasn’t seen his usage increase as much as we’d like. For the season, Golden is playing 64.6% of the snaps, running 74.9% of the routes, and has a 13.1% target share. It’s worth noting that Golden has eight carries on the season, showing that the Packers want to get him the ball. However, Golden’s overall usage is not good enough to have faith in him week to week. He’s still worth holding on to, as the potential remains high, but that’s all he is. A bench stash.
Oronde Gadsden Boom Week
Oronde Gadsden II‘s usage has been slowly rising over the last few weeks. He made his debut in Week 3, playing 33.8% of the snaps. Since then, his snap share has risen to 47.6%, 59%, 75%, and finally, 78.9% in Week 7. His usage on those snaps has varied, but over the last two weeks, Gadsden has earned a serious role. In those two weeks, he has target shares of 20.5% and 16.4%. In Week 6, he produced 13.8 PPR points. In Week 7, Gadsden exploded with 29.4 PPR points. He was routinely a threat working downfield and in the red zone.
The Chargers have been one of the most pass-heavy teams in the NFL all season. Oronde Gadsden is essentially a big wide receiver playing tight end. With a quarterback like Justin Herbert, Gadsden could be consistently highly productive. At this time, he’s a streaming-level tight end with the potential to be an every-week starter.
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