Divisional Round Stat Projections: Wide Receiver Rankings

Jimm Sallivan
Divisional Round Stat Projections: Wide Receiver Rankings

The first week of the postseason delivered many exciting games, highlighted by the unexpected comeback by the Jaguars. The eight remaining teams have minimal injuries to their offensive players. Here’s a look at each team and some player notes for the second round of the playoffs.

Buffalo Bills

WR Isaiah McKenzie is the only offensive Buffalo player with injury news heading into the second round of the postseason. Buffalo gave their WR3 snaps to Khalil Shakir (41%) and Cole Beasley (42%). John Brown also snuck on the field for 21 plays (28%).

Devin Singletary led the Bills in running back snaps (55%) over James Cook (31%), but Cook won the snap battle 12 to 10 with a touchdown.

Cincinnati Bengals

The Bengals don’t have a starting offensive player on the injury report on Tuesday. The outlier in snaps against the Ravens last week was the playing time of Joe Mixon. He was out-snapped by Samaje Perine 31 to 26, but Mixon still had the edge in touches (14 to 2).

Hayden Hurst regained his full-time role over the past two games.

Dallas Cowboys

Tony Pollard leads the Cowboys in running back snaps (609 to 591 on the season). Last week, Dallas had him on the field for 58% of playing time, a similar role since Week 11.

T.Y. Hilton is close to passing Noah Brown for wide receiver snaps. The Cowboys had him on the field for 25 plays vs. the Bucs (26 for Brown). His next step is to be more involved in the passing game.

Dallas looks healthy offensively after the win against Tampa.

Jacksonville Jaguars

The offensive structure of Jacksonville continues to be overlooked due to needing more star power at their skill positions, as least by name. Travis Etienne was on the field for 86% of the Jaguars’ plays (his highest snap percentage since Week 13). JaMycal Hasty stepped on the field for nine plays (12%).

Trevor Lawrence continued to battle a toe issue, limiting his practice time. In addition, he was spiked on his non-throwing hand vs. the Chargers. Jacksonville expects him to play on Sunday.

Kansas City Chiefs

Kansas City hoped to have Mecole Hardman back this week, but his pelvis injury hasn’t healed enough to trust him against the Jaguars.

Kadarius Toney has been on the field for about 30% of the Chiefs’ plays over the past three weeks. JuJu Smith-Schuster remains their WR1 despite minimal production over the past three games (3/27, 2/21, and 2/35).

In Week 18, Kansas City gave Ronald Jones 17 snaps (only 21 plays over the first 17 weeks. He played well enough (1/45/1) to get the way in the postseason at running back.

New York Giants

Isaiah Hodgins came out of last week’s matchup with an ankle issue. Over his previous six games, he has had 33 catches for 355 yards and five touchdowns. The Giants need him to play on Sunday if they want to take out the mighty Eagles.

Philadelphia Eagles

The Eagles don’t have any offensive player on the injury report in Week 20 of the football season.

San Francisco 49ers

The play of Deebo Samuel against the Seahawks has been missing in the 49ers’ passing game all year. He finished with 165 combined yards with one touchdown and six catches, resembling his play in 2021. San Francisco had him on the field for 77% of their plays.

Elijah Mitchell has been on the field for 10 and 14 plays over the past two weeks. Game flow and the scoreboard will dictate his touches in the postseason.

Jauan Jennings expects to be limited in practice this week with an ankle injury. The 49ers had him on the field for only 40% of their plays.

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Updated: January 18, 2023

DIVISIONAL WIDE RECEIVER PROJECTIONS & RANKINGS

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Jimm Sallivan