LeQuintAllen Jr.

Oct 12

Tuten’s early-down snap rate reached a career high this week.

The Jaguars started the season with Tuten and Chris Rodriguez Jr. splitting early-down snaps, with Tuten holding a slight lead. Tuten played 54. 8% of early-down snaps in Week 1, with that rate rising to the mid-60s in Weeks 2 and 3 and 71. 1% last week. It climbed even higher this week, reaching 87. 5%. That included Tuten playing each of the Jaguars' first 13 offensive snaps. It was the first time this season he played 100% of snaps on the first two drives. His box score reflected this: he set a career high with 22 carries and a season high with 22 receiving yards. He averaged just 3. 3 yards per carry, but he was facing a strong Eagles run defense. While Tuten's utilization isn't perfect, as he's still splitting short-yardage and goal-line opportunities and LeQuint Allen continues to play in most clear passing situations, it's becoming increasingly safe to put Tuten in fantasy starting lineups. He's a fine buy-low candidate, as his fantasy production hasn't caught up to his improved utilization.

Sep 21

This week, Allen rotated in more frequently, most notably taking most of the snaps in two-minute-drill situations. Tuten saw his playing time decline in those clear passing situations, but his snap rate in normal early-down situations jumped to 67.6%, which is the most important situation for running backs by far. Tuten ran 13 times for 65 yards and a touchdown against a strong run defense, while Rodriguez had six carries for 13 yards. Tuten also played on half of the goal-line snaps after there was some thought that Rodriguez could take a clear majority of those snaps this season.