The snaps counts are out from the Jets’ loss to the Minnesota Vikings in Week 13 and they tell a couple of interesting stories.
Starting on offense, we can see that, just two games in, rookie Zonovan Knight looks to have asserted himself as the No. 1 running back in the absence of Michael Carter, and you can make the argument he deserves to be so even when Carter returns from his ankle injury.
Knight saw the most snaps among the running backs with 47 offensive snaps compared to 28 for Ty Johnson and just nine for James Robinson.
Knight carried the football 15 times against the Vikings. Robinson (4) and Johnson (1) combined for just five rushing attempts.
Knight also touched the football 20 times Sunday. Johnson had seven touches and Robinson had just four.
How the Jets divvy up the touches when Carter returns will be interesting to follow, but Knight has earned the right to remain the top back for the rest of the season.
Among the wide receivers, it’s interesting to see the gap in snaps between Elijah Moore and Denzel Mims. Perhaps it was just Moore’s turn to see more playing time, but Moore out-snapped Mims 58-16. This is out of 85 total snaps.
Not surprisingly, Garrett Wilson saw the field the most among the wide receivers, seeing 78 snaps, followed by Corey Davis with 69, then Moore’s 58, then Berrios with 20 and then Mims with 16.
With the tight ends, Tyler Conklin out-snapped C.J. Uzomah 61-39 and saw seven targets to Uzomah’s one. But there are times you wonder why isn’t Uzomah getting more playing time and more targets, especially in the red zone. Kenny Yeboah didn’t see the field Sunday.
We also saw a flip at right tackle. “Felt like (Max Mitchell) was struggling a little bit,” head coach Robert Saleh said after the game. “So just trying to get George (Fant) out there.”
Fant wound up seeing 60 snaps after Mitchell was taken out after 25 snaps.
Over on defense, Sauce Gardner, C.J. Mosley, Jordan Whitehead and Lamarcus Joyner played all 68 snaps, while D.J. Reed played 67.
The Jets went back to a 10-man rotation on the defensive line with the return of Sheldon Rankins. The snaps broke down as such:
Quinnen Williams – 49
John Franklin-Myers – 43
Carl Lawson – 40
Sheldon Rankins – 35
Nathan Sheperd – 21
Jermaine Johnson – 19
Solomon Thomas – 18
Bryce Huff – 17
Micheal Clemons – 15
Vinny Curry – 15
Quincy Williams saw 58 snaps followed by Kwon Alexander with 22 among the linebackers after Mosley.
Michael Carter saw 31 snaps as he was banged up a bit with an injury, so Brandin Echols saw time at nickel and played 18 snaps. The Jets also ran a few sets out of “big nickel” or three-safety sets, with Will Parks as the third safety. He played eight snaps.