Snap Counts: Houston Texans v. San Francisco 49ers

Offense:

A few key things worth noting here:

• With Alfred Blue on the shelf due to a shoulder injury, there was an emphasis on playing the other running backs behind Lamar Miller.  All of them looked to make a statement for a roster spot. In terms of snap percentages, Akeem Hunt accumulated a third of total running back snaps with 23. We then had a group of 3 backs, Lamar Miller, Tyler Ervin and Kenny Hilliard, each getting around 12-15 snaps. In terms of usage rate, Hilliard and Hunt were both utilised the most when they were on the field. Hilliard in particular saw the ball 13 times (12 carries, 1 reception) in his 15 total offensive snaps. Hunt also saw a lot of the ball during his 23 snaps, rushing seven times while being targeted 3 times in the passing game. While Hilliard and Hunt were both impressive in their time on the field, the backfield will get more crowded with the return of Blue this week. As of right now, it seems Jonathan Grimes might be the RB on the bubble after getting the least amount of snaps of any of the running backs.
• For all the talk of Stephen Anderson (rightly so), Anderson's snap count was below that of former UTEP TE Eric Tomlinson, who had seven more snaps than Anderson despite not posting a single target or reception.

Defense:

• Much like a lot of Texans fans, I was a bit perplexed when the Texans selected Reshard Cliett in the 6th round of the 2015 NFL Draft. Cliett lost his rookie season to a knee injury, so his first real NFL snaps came this last Sunday against the Niners. Yet Cliett only charted 2 defensive snaps, the lowest of any active Texans player, and 3 special team snaps. While Cliett is still making a recovery, it should be noted that UDFAs Eric Lee and Shakeel Rashad both posted high snap counts. It might be that playing time could be restricted for Cliett moving forward. There is still plenty of preseason left, but if Cliett does not get an increased amount of snaps over the next few weeks, it might be time to consider his future as a Texan.
• When the Texans drafted Kevin Johnson in the first round of the 2015 NFL Draft despite already having Kareem Jackson and Johnathan Joseph on the roster, it was a signal that the growing prominence of the passing game in the NFL required growth in quality DBs on any given team. The snap count is a reflection of this mentality, with 4 of the top 6 defensive snap counts belonging to cornerbacks. Kevin Johnson in particular posted a remarkably high snap count for someone who sees as much first team action as KJo does. I personally like the idea of getting that playing time for Johnson on the perimeter, but it'll be interesting to see if he posts similar numbers for playing time for the rest of the pre-season.

What say you about last week's snap count? Any trends that you find worrying or exciting? Let us know the comments below.

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