2012 Usage Leaders

[averagejoe]

These multiple lists are the "usage" leaders for their respective NFL team. Usage includes pass attempts, rush attempts and targets. This total is divided by the team's offensive play-call totals.

It is for information only. Especially since some players have changed teams.

RB
Adrian Peterson 41.2%
Doug Martin 39.7%
Arian Foster 38.5%
Marshawn Lynch 36.7%
Alfred Morris 36.5%
Chris Johnson 35.4%
Trent Richardson 35.0%
Jamaal Charles 34.2%
Ray Rice 33.9%
Matt Forte 32.3%
Steven Jackson 32.1%
Frank Gore 31.8%
BenJarvus Green-Ellis 31.6%
Reggie Bush 29.6%
Darren McFadden 27.8%
C.J. Spiller 27.7%
Ahmad Bradshaw 26.6%
Stevan Ridley 26.1%
LeSean McCoy 25.9%
Ryan Mathews 25.7%
Mikel Leshoure 23.3%
Vick Ballard 22.3%
DeAngelo Williams 20.3%
DeMarco Murray 20.0%
Willis McGahee 18.7%


TE
Jason Witten 14.8%
Jimmy Graham 13.0%
Tony Gonzalez 12.5%
Greg Olsen 10.9%
Heath Miller 10.2%
Owen Daniels 9.7%
Jermaine Gresham 9.7%
Kyle Rudolph 9.6%
Dennis Pitta 9.4%
Jermichael Finley 8.9%
Brandon Pettigrew 8.8%
Benjamin Watson 8.5%
Brent Celek 8.4%
Antonio Gates 8.3%
Marcedes Lewis 8.3%
Jacob Tamme 8.0%
Dallas Clark 7.7%
Scott Chandler 7.7%
Tony Scheffler 7.5%
Aaron Hernandez 7.3%


WR
Brandon Marshall 20.3%
Reggie Wayne 18.3%
Calvin Johnson 18.0%
A.J. Green 17.3%
Larry Fitzgerald 15.9%
Steve Johnson 15.5%
Andre Johnson 15.4%
Victor Cruz 15.1%
Vincent Jackson 15.0%
Steve Smith 14.8%
Roddy White 14.4%
Justin Blackmon 14.2%
Dez Bryant 13.8%
Michael Crabtree 13.8%
Julio Jones 13.6%
Brian Hartline 13.6%
Demaryius Thomas 13.2%
Mike Williams 13.0%
Marques Colston 12.7%
Andre Roberts 12.2%
Jeremy Maclin 11.8%
Dwayne Bowe 11.7%
Antonio Brown 11.7%
Miles Austin 11.6%
Denarius Moore 11.5%
Eric Decker 11.5%

 

[averagejoe]

Posted this way back in mid-April. Bump.

I left off Gronk who was used on 6.8% of the Pats offense.

 

[tlance]

Posted this way back in mid-April. Bump.

I left off Gronk who was used on 6.8% of the Pats offense.

Nice work Joe!

It needs to be mentioned that a lot of these numbers are skewed by missed time.

I am too lazy to do this, but it would be interesting to see how different the percentages would look if games missed was factored. Any offensive snaps which occurred when a player was inactive should not count against them for the purpose of this analysis.

It is interesting that AP and Martin are numbers 1 and 2. I figured Martin would be a tad lower.

 

[averagejoe]

It needs to be mentioned that a lot of these numbers are skewed by missed time.

I am too lazy to do this, but it would be interesting to see how different the percentages would look if games missed was factored. Any offensive snaps which occurred when a player was inactive should not count against them for the purpose of this analysis.

How accurate do you want it?
I mean, if you want exact snaps and missed time in relation to the plays called during said game, I don't think anyone has that kind of time.

But if I divided the team's plays by 16 games (giving a legitimate mathematical average), then I could bounce that off of the player's stats which I could also divide by their "actual" number of games.

I already have the data in place, but it would take me a little time to put together the formulas.

Whaddaya think?

 

[tlance]

How accurate do you want it?
I mean, if you want exact snaps and missed time in relation to the plays called during said game, I don't think anyone has that kind of time.

But if I divided the team's plays by 16 games (giving a legitimate mathematical average), then I could bounce that off of the player's stats which I could also divide by their "actual" number of games.

I already have the data in place, but it would take me a little time to put together the formulas.

Whaddaya think?

LOL. I am not asking you to do anything. I still think you are the man.

I would say that dividing the team's plays by 16 and then multiplying by the number of games, like you said would be a close enough approximation and wouldn't be too hard to do.

I think that would paint a more accurate picture. I doubt anybody would overtake AP's whopping 41.2%, but there might be a couple guys who could get close to Martin/Foster territory.

 

[TKOSpikes]

Very, very nice. Appreciated (more than) averagejoe!

 

[averagejoe]

Ok tlance. Here's the "usage" numbers PER GAME. I had to draw a line somewhere, so if a particular player is NOT listed, his usage percentage is lower than the last player shown. (Think I listed 30 RB, 30 WR and a handful of TE.)

RB
Adrian Peterson 41.2%
Doug Martin 39.7%
Arian Foster 38.5%
Trent Richardson 37.4%
Darren McFadden 37.0%
Marshawn Lynch 36.7%
Alfred Morris 36.5%
Chris Johnson 35.4%
LeSean McCoy 34.5%
Matt Forte 34.4%
Ryan Mathews 34.2%
Jamaal Charles 34.2%
Ray Rice 33.9%
Shonn Greene 33.4%
DeMarco Murray 32.1%
Steven Jackson 32.1%
Frank Gore 31.8%
BenJarvus Green-Ellis 31.6%
Knowshon Moreno 30.9%
Ahmad Bradshaw 30.4%
Willis McGahee 29.9%
Reggie Bush 29.6%
Maurice Jones-Drew 29.4%
Cedric Benson 27.8%
C.J. Spiller 27.7%
Mikel Leshoure 26.6%
Fred Jackson 26.4%
Stevan Ridley 26.1%

TE
Jason Witten 14.8%
Jimmy Graham 13.8%
Tony Gonzalez 12.5%
Aaron Hernandez 11.7%
Brandon Myers 11.1%
Heath Miller 10.9%
Greg Olsen 10.9%
Owen Daniels 10.3%
Brandon Pettigrew 10.1%
Rob Gronkowski 9.9%
Jermaine Gresham 9.7%
Kyle Rudolph 9.6%
Martellus Bennett 9.4%
Dennis Pitta 9.4%
Jared Cook 9.2%
Brent Celek 9.0%
Jermichael Finley 8.9%
Antonio Gates 8.9%
Benjamin Watson 8.5%
Marcedes Lewis 8.3%
Tony Scheffler 8.0%
Jacob Tamme 8.0%

WR
Brandon Marshall 20.3%
Percy Harvin 20.2%
Braylon Edwards 19.5%
Reggie Wayne 18.3%
Calvin Johnson 18.0%
A.J. Green 17.3%
Jordan Norwood 16.6%
Santonio Holmes 16.6%
Wes Welker 16.5%
Larry Fitzgerald 15.9%
Steve Johnson 15.5%
Andre Johnson 15.4%
Victor Cruz 15.1%
Vincent Jackson 15.0%
Steve Smith 14.8%
Roddy White 14.4%
Dwayne Bowe 14.4%
Antonio Brown 14.4%
Justin Blackmon 14.2%
Mike Wallace 14.0%
Dez Bryant 13.8%
Michael Crabtree 13.8%
Julio Jones 13.6%
Brian Hartline 13.6%
Davone Bess 13.6%
Demaryius Thomas 13.2%
Donnie Avery 13.1%
Mike Williams 13.0%
Andre Roberts 13.0%
Anquan Boldin 13.0%
Hakeem Nicks 13.0%
Cecil Shorts 13.0%

 

[tlance]

Impressive stuff. Thanks Joe.

Isn't it amazing how much production a guy like Gronk can get out of such a low usage rate? What a phenomenal player. I hope he is able to get back to full health.

On the flip-side, I was surprised to see how high DMC is on the RB list. I know he was a poor fit for the blocking scheme in Oakland last year, but with that many opportunities, you would think that a player as talented as him would have broken a couple more big ones anyway. One has to wonder if he is still explosive enough to produce elite numbers in any offensive scheme.

 

[averagejoe]

Impressive stuff. Thanks Joe.

Isn't it amazing how much production a guy like Gronk can get out of such a low usage rate? What a phenomenal player. I hope he is able to get back to full health.

On the flip-side, I was surprised to see how high DMC is on the RB list. I know he was a poor fit for the blocking scheme in Oakland last year, but with that many opportunities, you would think that a player as talented as him would have broken a couple more big ones anyway. One has to wonder if he is still explosive enough to produce elite numbers in any offensive scheme.

Hmmmm. Got me thinking... I wonder what the yardage ratio is per play, on average? Stay tuned.

 

[Barilko]

Hmmmm. Got me thinking... I wonder what the yardage ratio is per play, on average? Stay tuned.

Joe you rule..............Great stuff...

 

[averagejoe]

I ran the yardage-per-play numbers and it's too much. Did you notice these "per game" numbers:

C.J. Spiller 27.7%
Fred Jackson 26.4%

WR
Brandon Marshall 20.3%
Percy Harvin 20.2%
Braylon Edwards 19.5%
Reggie Wayne 18.3%
Calvin Johnson 18.0%
A.J. Green 17.3%

Looks like a healthy Fred Jackson could be trouble for Spiller.

And recently signed Edwards got plenty of attention on a "per game" basis compared to the WR usage leaders. Could be a nice sleeper. You know the Jets will have to pass. And he may be the most-experienced, healthiest WR. Stop me before I sound like you-know-who.

 

[tlance]

I ran the yardage-per-play numbers and it's too much. Did you notice these "per game" numbers:



Looks like a healthy Fred Jackson could be trouble for Spiller.

And recently signed Edwards got plenty of attention on a "per game" basis compared to the WR usage leaders. Could be a nice sleeper. You know the Jets will have to pass. And he may be the most-experienced, healthiest WR. Stop me before I sound like you-know-who.

I don't think that Jackson is a big issue for Spiller. Jackson came into the season as the lead guy and never really lost his job last year when he was healthy despite being drastically outplayed by Spiller. Doug Marrone has made it clear that he will ride his best back, and that is clearly Spiller. Jackson will be involved, but I would bet that clear second string guys like Bernard Pierce, Bryce Brown, and Ben Tate will get more touches per game than Jackson.

People may be worried about injuries for McCoy and Foster, but touches won't be an issue with these guys and they shouldn't be for Spiller either.

 

[tlance]

The Bills' website considers 2,000 rushing yards a "possible" achievement for
C.J. Spiller in 2013, and suggests Spiller could "arguably" touch the football
30 times per game.






It's an insanely optimistic projection, but notable coming
from the team's own official site. In-house beat writer Chris Brown notes
rookie coach Doug Marrone's up-tempo Syracuse offenses fired off a whopping
79.1 plays per game, including an average of 41 rushing attempts per contest.
In 2012, the Patriots led the NFL with 74.3 plays per game. Per Brown,
Buffalo's goal is to wear down opponents, and Marrone doesn't "seem too
concerned about giving a back too many carries." We have Spiller locked in as a
top-five fantasy back.

Just read this blurb on rotoworld.

 

[averagejoe]

4. C.J. Spiller - Okay, finally a chance taken. Explosiveness is beauty. Beauty is a joy forever!

The quote above is from our resident Bills fan. What scares me about Spiller is that Bills players have this tendency to show up one season, then disappear the next (at least this is what I want to believe from recent history - at least from a fantasy perspective).

Stevie Johnson has put up fairly consistent yardage numbers the last 3 seasons. (1073, 1004, 1046). But everyone is waiting for him to breakout for more. And we're still waiting.

Foot liked Spiller. That's like the kiss-of-death.

What I do like about Spiller is that he is on a bad team. And that's usually a good recipe for a decent fantasy back. Poor offense, mediocre QB... it all makes for a let's-run-the-ball mentality - especially if you have the RB to be good at it. (i.e. see KC, MIN, HOU, TB, & BAL)

 

[Sam Sportboy]

The quote above is from our resident Bills fan. What scares me about Spiller is that Bills players have this tendency to show up one season, then disappear the next (at least this is what I want to believe from recent history - at least from a fantasy perspective).

Stevie Johnson has put up fairly consistent yardage numbers the last 3 seasons. (1073, 1004, 1046). But everyone is waiting for him to breakout for more. And we're still waiting.

Foot liked Spiller. That's like the kiss-of-death.

What I do like about Spiller is that he is on a bad team. And that's usually a good recipe for a decent fantasy back. Poor offense, mediocre QB... it all makes for a let's-run-the-ball mentality - especially if you have the RB to be good at it. (i.e. see KC, MIN, HOU, TB, & BAL)

Don't forget Lee Evans..........I think I drafted him every year he was a Bill.............

 

[TKOSpikes]

Don't worry about Fred Jackson, Joe. He's only getting the touches Spiller doesn't, not reaching into Spiller's planned ones. As the two best players on the team, it makes sense to have them both heavily involved. It doesn't mean Spiller will be used less than he should be.

As for Stevie Johnson, well, I think he is what he is, a 1000 yard receiver with a handful of TD's. With the proper QB, he might have been better. I don't see a long future with him going forward, as he's getting more banged up each week/season. It's gonna be a long year in the passing game for the Bills... I'm hoping their ground game makes up the difference to a degree.

Also, just to throw in, don't be nervous about the "loss" of Andy Levitre either. Solid yes, but certainly replaceable. His biggest aspect was that he was versatile, and that comes in handy with a long injury plagued season, but it's not like he was particularly great at any one position.

 

[Barilko]

The quote above is from our resident Bills fan. What scares me about Spiller is that Bills players have this tendency to show up one season, then disappear the next (at least this is what I want to believe from recent history - at least from a fantasy perspective).

i just wish Frank Reich would have disappeared ...one of the worst sporting days of my life