Week 3 IDP Hits: Is That the Grim Reaper or Just Small Samples?
Age Always Wins ... But Not Always at the Same Time
I’m getting old, folks.
I played two hours of pickleball last weekend for the first time in two weeks, and by the next day, I was wondering if my back would ever return to normal.
It will. There’s no serious issue here, just a middle-aged guy who fails to realize he can’t go from not getting enough activity throughout the week to pretending he’s gunning for a U.S. Open title.
Why am I bothering to tell you this? Because we’re starting this week’s Hits with a couple of star edge players who might also be fighting the clock. Of course, they’re both considerably younger than I am, but they’re also playing a much rougher sport.
Let’s get into their situations and then check on a few other IDP-relevant notes.
Did Hendrickson’s Week 2 Playing Time Tell Us Anything?
Once Edge Trey Hendrickson turned up active for Sunday’s game against the Saints coming off his finger injury, I figured we could expect full usage. He’s got nine others.
Hendrickson’s snap share fell way off from Week 1, though. He went from 74% of Week 1 snaps to just 53% against New Orleans.
That said, the snap count wound up nearly identical: Hendrickson played 40 snaps in Week 1 and 36 in Week 2. So perhaps that’s the playing-time range they’ve determined will keep the 31-year-old (32 on Dec. 5) fresh over the full season.
Too early to say that for sure, obviously -- unless there’s a report I’ve missed to that end -- but I’ll be watching over the next couple of weeks for confirmation in either direction.
After a near-silent Week 1 against the Colts (1 tackle), Hendrickson tallied a sack and 3 solos against the Saints. But Pro Football Focus credited him with 4 pressures in the opener and 6 against New Orleans, so the performances were probably closer than the obvious stats suggest.
At the same time, PFF has graded Hendrickson’s pass rushing at just 67.8 through two games. He finished each of the past five seasons at 86.9 or higher and hasn’t dipped below 77.0 for a season since 2019. Another item to watch.
Time Might be Catching Up with Hunter
Here’s something to watch: Texans Edge Danielle Hunter had just 2 pressures in each of the two games so far this season, according to Pro Football Focus. That’s not something we saw at any point last year.
Hunter finished just five games in all of 2025 with fewer than 4 pressures and three games with fewer than three of them. He had no back-to-back weeks with fewer than 4 pressures.
Hunter also had just one set of consecutive games with fewer than 3 pressures in 2024, and the second game in that set found him leaving after just nine snaps.
The veteran’s playing time is actually up so far (80.5%) vs. his previous two Houston seasons (70.0% and 70.1%), and we might see that pressure production quickly rebound. But he’s 31 -- turning 32 in late October -- and also might be declining some. Our historical aging-curve data finds age-32 D-linemen generally posting around 70% of their peak production.
Besides the lack of pressure, Hunter also has just 1 tackle through two games.
No. 2 LB Spot Probably Doesn’t Matter Right Now
The first full game without LB Henry To’oTo’o found Jake Hansen playing 88% of the snaps as the Texans’ LB2. No other non-edge LB besides Azeez Al-Shaair saw the field at all.
We’ll see how Jake Hummel factors in when he’s healthy enough to play. Of course, Hansen managed just 1 solo and 3 assists, so the situation doesn’t matter a whole lot.
Overshown Replacement Plan Carries Risk for Fantasy
LB Dee Winters tallied a team-high 9 tackles and game-high 7 solos in Sunday’s win over the Commanders, including a tackle for loss for the second straight game.
That was a predictable ascension in the wake of DeMarvion Overshown’s Week 1 hamstring injury, and Overshown remains out through this Sunday’s Ravens matchup.
Be careful about over-trusting Winters, though. He played more with Overshown out but climbed from a 58% Week 1 snap share to just 75% against Washington. Clearly that’s a level at which he can produce useful numbers. But that’s not a high enough rate to make Winters -- or just about any LB -- a reliable weekly option.
The Ravens look like a neutral matchup for LB scoring this week.
Rookie Jaishawn Barham played 63% of the snaps in Overshown’s absence, with Shemar James also working in heavily (54%).
Are the Dolphins Just Trying to be Annoying?
This is fun.
The Dolphins gave us this playing time breakdown among safeties in Week 1:
- Zayne Anderson 78%
- Michael Taaffe 75%
- Dante Trader 47%
Anderson and Taaffe started that game. But Week 2 instead gave us Taaffe and Trader as the opening tandem, with these final snap shares:
- Taaffe 85%
- Trader 77%
- Anderson 25%
- Julius Wood 15%
Wood took over the minimal role that rookie Kyle Louis filled in the opener before suffering an MCL sprain that landed him on IR for at least four games.
I’d love to tell you we can at least count on Taaffe’s role. But you probably can’t count on much in Miami right now besides the two primary LBs and the whole thing looking extremely rough.
We’re talking about a collection of mostly mediocre-to-poor players by NFL standards, on a team that has sucked for two straight games. Try to just not use any Miami defenders besides Jacob Rodriguez, Jordyn Brooks, and Zach Sieler if you can manage.
First-round rookie CB Chris Johnson probably has role safety as well but showed you his variability already with these two stat lines:
- Week 1: 11 tackles (5 solo, 1 TFL), 2 passes defensed
- Week 2: 1 solo tackle
Still Waiting for Normal Playing-Time Picture in San Francisco
LB Dre Greenlaw posted a solid 8 tackles in Sunday’s win over the Dolphins, including a team-high 5 solos. But a second straight blowout win robbed us of the chance to assess his full role once again.
Only four 49ers defenders exceeded 83% snap shares against Miami:
- S Marques Sigle 100%
- CB Renardo Green 100%
- S Ji’Ayir Brown 95%
- CB Deommodore Lenoir 95%
LB Fred Warner checked in next at 83%, while Greenlaw followed at 69%.
Perhaps this Sunday’s home date with Arizona changes things up, but the Cardinals just lost 31-7 to Seattle at their place. So we might have to keep waiting.
Greenlaw sits in LB4 territory of our rankings while we await more clarity.
Our Guy’s Back in Seattle … Just Not Quite All the Way
S Nick Emmanwori played just nine snaps in his Week 2 return from offseason ankle surgery.
“We had a plan for him to come back,” HC Mike Macdonald said afterward, according to the team site. “He was able to play more plays, but the way we wanted to play him … it was great for him to get the confidence back, get him moving. … We should be really accelerating it into next week.”
Emmanwori added: “Going forward, looking to being out there with them every play, every game.”
I have a hard time believing he’ll jump from nine snaps to full playing time a week later, so I’ll remain wary of starting Emmanwori in IDP lineups this week. But he did put in full practices every day and carries no injury designation into the game.
The second-year safety might be a comfier play as soon as Week 4.
A Couple of Buccaneers Shoulders Deserve Your Attention
The Bucs will go without their first- and second-round picks in Sunday’s game against the Vikings.
Round 1 Edge Rueben Bain Jr.’s officially out with a groin injury but has also been dealing with a shoulder injury since mid-August joint practices with the Jaguars.
HC Todd Bowles indicated after last week’s loss to the Browns that Bain’s shoulder was “good enough to play” and that the team needed more production from him. Perhaps the game off for the groin can help that area.
“It’s still a young season,” Bowles told the Tampa Bay Times on Friday. “We’ll get through this game, get him back healthy. We still have great expectations for him. We’ve just got to get him healthy.”
We’ll see about Bain’s status heading into Week 4. The Bucs don’t get their bye until Week 10.
Round 2 LB Josiah Trotter, meanwhile, is dealing with his own shoulder trouble. Bowles called it a “toleration thing,” so I guess we’ll see if it’s tolerable by the Week 4 home date with Green Bay. We might have to watch for re-injury risk when he does return, though.
Bowles says SirVocea Dennis and Christian Rozeboom will combine to fill in for Trotter, varying by package. That means you shouldn’t use either guy in IDP lineups. Expect Alex Anzalone to run as their lone full-timer at the position.
Commanders Have a Guy Doing Frankie Luvu Impressions
LB Leo Chenal played 82% of the snaps at Dallas on Sunday with Frankie Luvu out nursing a groin injury. Luvu hasn’t practiced at all the past two weeks and remains out for Sunday’s clash with Seattle.
Chenal tallied a game-high 12 tackles, including a team-high 6 solos. The former Chiefs third-round pick has flashed tackle efficiency in the past and blitzed at a high rate for the Chiefs the past two years.
Chenal rushed the passer on 24% of his snaps across those seasons, close to the 21.9% rate at which Luvu did so through his first two Washington campaigns. He looks like a solid-to-good LB3 option while Luvu’s out.
The Commanders will also miss S Nick Cross, who spent last Sunday night in a Dallas hospital getting checked for an internal injury. They released him the following morning, which indicates no serious issue. But the team lists him as out for Week 3 with an “illness.”
Quan Martin looks like the fill-in and can be a low-level IDP option for the week. We’ll see whether special-teams cult hero Tyler Owens factors in for some snaps.
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