NFL Week 16 Recap: Instant fantasy football takeaways from Thursday’s game

• Rashid Shaheed leads a late game surge: The Seattle Seahawks’ newest wide receiver was held without a reception, but he scored a punt return touchdown in the middle of the fourth quarter and had a 31-yard run minutes later to help the team score a second touchdown, playing a big role in overcoming a 16-point deficit.
• The Los Angeles Rams continue to deploy 13 staff at a historic pace: With Davante Adams injured, Los Angeles broke the record for most snaps with 13 personnel for the third consecutive week.
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Los Angeles Rams @ Seattle Seahawks

The Rams are adjusting without it Davante Adams: The leader in touchdowns was inactive due to knee and hamstring injuries.

Adams has played through a hamstring injury in recent weeks, but the injury worsened late in last week’s game. He couldn’t train all week and was away. Adams and Puka Nacua have been the Rams’ clear top two wide receivers all season. Jordan Whittington and Tutu Atwell entered the season competing for the third receiver spot, but Whittington had played less than 20% of the Rams’ offensive snaps in Weeks 14 and 15. Atwell returned from injured reserve last week and played just four offensive snaps. In their place, Konata Mumpfield and Xavier Smith have resigned. Mumpfield played mainly in 13-man, but was also the third wide receiver in 11-man last week.

This week, Mumpfield continued to consistently join Nacua with 11 men. Whittington and Smith shared the photos for the other spot. The team very rarely used twelve men, which is where Atwell was most often on the field.

The Rams mainly used the Nacua injury as an opportunity to increase their 13-personnel roster. The Rams went from never using 13 personnel to using them significantly in Week 7. The Rams used 13 personnel on 37 plays in Week 9, which was the most by any team in a game in the last 20 seasons, and possibly ever. Los Angeles broke that record two weeks ago with 42 snaps and broke that record again last week with 46 snaps. In this game, they broke their own record for the third week in a row by using 13 personnel on 57 snaps.

This meant that the three tight ends replaced Adams as well as any wide receiver. Terrance Ferguson scored his second NFL touchdown, and Davis Allen’s 27 receiving yards were his third-most for a game this season. Unfortunately, Parkinson was held to two receptions for 21 yards, and he was the only tight end several fantasy managers relied on.

If Adams misses another game, we can expect a small boost for several players, rather than one or two players specifically stepping up.

The Seahawks return to Cooper coup: He returned to playing in most twelve staff pictures, reducing Rashid Shaheed’s role.

Kupp was the Seahawks’ second wide receiver this season, behind Jaxon Smith-Njigba. He played 97.2% of 11-person snaps through his first 14 weeks when healthy, in addition to 75.4% of 12- and 21-person snaps. The only time he was consistently off the field was with 13 or 22 men. He had played at least 55% of snaps in two-receiver sets in every game except Week 10, which was his first game back from injury after not playing for two weeks. That was also a game where Seattle won 38-7 at halftime, which led to fewer second-half goals for Kupp, rather than anything that indicated he would have a smaller role in the future.

The Seahawks traded for Shaheed at the trade deadline. In his first five weeks with the team, he played primarily in 11-man positions, and his two-receiver set snaps decreased each week since joining Seattle. He played just two of 21 snaps in two-receiver sets in Week 14, but he also had his best game with the team, finishing with four receptions for 67 yards.

This led Seattle to rotate its wide receivers more often in two-receiver sets last week. Kupp played eight of 18 snaps, while Shaheed made seven, with other backups getting involved as well. Shaheed had another big game, finishing with five receptions for 74 yards. This meant both receivers had two games with at least 60 yards this season.

This week, Kupp was consistently on the field for two-receiver sets to start the game. Shaheed ended up playing in a snap, but it was still mainly Kupp in 12 and 21 men during this match. Kupp had three receptions for 39 yards in addition to a lost fumble and a two-point conversion, while Shaheed was held without a reception. Shaheed made a huge difference late in the fourth quarter, with a punt return touchdown and a 31-yard run.

The Seahawks play a game against the Carolina Panthers next week. That matchup isn’t good enough for Shaheed to be trusted in his current role in Seattle’s offense. Shaheed is a free agent after the season, and while there is likely mutual interest in Shaheed returning, he would be one of the top free agent wide receivers if he leaves.

Miscellaneous notes

• The Rams used a true running back rotation per drive last week, which led to Blake Corum setting a career-high in offensive snap rate. This week the team’s rotation was similar to other recent weeks over the past month, with Kyren Williams filling in more often on longer Corum rides. Williams also grabbed the final drive of the first half and the first drive of the second half, giving him a clear lead in snaps and opportunities.
• Puka Nacua caught 12 passes for 225 yards and two touchdowns, 40 more receiving yards than any other receiver in a game this season. Nacua has three games with over 170 yards, while the rest of the receivers in the league have two combined.
• Los Angeles wide receiver Jordan Whittington was limited in practice Monday due to a back injury.
• Rams tight end Nick Vannett was limited Monday and Tuesday with an oblique injury.
• Seattle running back Kenneth Walker III matched his career-high with 64 receiving yards. He made a 64-yard touchdown catch in a game in 2023, and that was his only reception in that game.
• The Seahawks signed running back Cam Akers from the practice squad for this game on Thursday, making this their third running back. They had taken Velus Jones to the next level in recent weeks.
• Seattle fullback Robbie Ouzts returned to the Seahawks’ primary fullback role after being a healthy scratch last week. It’s unclear why Seattle made Ouzts inactive last week instead of Brady Russell, as Ouzts has been the primary fullback all season.
• The Seahawks activated wide receiver Dareke Young from injured reserve on Thursday. He was a full participant in training all week after dealing with a quadriceps injury. Young’s return left Jake Bobo a healthy inactive.
• Cody White, Seattle’s other backup wide receiver, was unable to participate in practice Monday due to an abdominal injury.
• Seahawks tight end AJ Barner set a career best in speed as it was his first game above 90%. This was a combination of Elijah Arroyo recently landing on injured reserve and the game script. Barner had one of his better fantasy performances of the season, thanks in large part to a 26-yard touchdown reception in the fourth quarter.

Table notes

• Snaps include plays called back due to penalties, including offensive holding or defensive pass interference. These plays have been removed from the other three statistics.
• Objectives may differ from official NFL sources. The most likely discrepancy would be the result of an obviously thrown pass, where the NFL could give the target to the nearest receiver, while this data does not.
• Carries are only possible on designed plays. Quarterback scrambles do not count toward the total number of carries in the game.