Instant fantasy football takeaways from Saints-Chiefs Monday Night Football

• Kareem Hunt led the Kansas City Chiefs' Backfield: Hunt ran the ball more than 20 times in 2017, six times with the Kansas City Chiefsonce in 2018 and once in his five-year career with the Cleveland Browns in 2020 before doing so on Monday Night Football against the Saints.

• JuJu Smith-Schuster Leads the Chiefs' wide receivers: Smith-Schuster had four 130-yard games in 2017 and 2018 and scored his fifth on Monday Night Football.

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PFF's fantasy football roundup focuses on player usage and stats, breaking down all the key information you need to achieve fantasy success in 2024.

New Orleans Saints @ Kansas City Chiefs

Kareem Hunt leads the Chiefs backfield: In his first start for Kansas City, Hunt recorded double-digit carries in the first half.

Isiah Pacheco landed on injured reserve in Week 2, leading the Chiefs to sign Hunt to their practice squad for Week 3. Carson Steele started in Weeks 3 and 4, but Hunt had a lot of time in Week 4, which led to him taking over this game.

Hunt didn't get quite as much playing time in the first half of this game as Pacheco did earlier in the season, but the split in the backfield was reminiscent of the Chiefs' rotation in 2023. Hunt had taken over Pacheco's role as lead back in 2023 while Steele had done so Clyde Edwards HelaireRole as an early-down backup. Samaje Perine continued his passing role. In the second half, the backfield was more reminiscent of the beginning of the season, with Hunt dominating the early down snaps.

This separation has left Perine with no early down work, allowing him to be dropped in most fantasy leagues. Jerick McKinnon Last season, that role had some value as he played near the goal line and scored touchdowns. In the games McKinnon played last season, McKinnon made 53.8% of offensive shots when the Chiefs were just five yards from goal, while Perine shot 17.6%.

In leagues with lighter benches, Steele can also be omitted. Clyde Edwards Helaire returned to practice last week and the Chiefs have their bye next week, so it wouldn't be a surprise if he was back in Week 7. He'll likely take snaps of Steele initially, but could also take snaps of Hunt. It should be relatively safe to start Hunt in Week 7 with Edwards-Helaire coming in relief, but Edwards-Helaire could be a problem for Hunt in the long run.

Chiefs adapt without Rashee Rice: It has been confirmed that Rice is out for the season with a knee injury.

Rice was injured early last week, which led to the Chiefs sticking with it Xavier Worthy, Justin Watson And JuJu Smith-Schuster as their top three wide receivers. They had a week to adjust this strategy and they didn't change many things. The frequency with which they used different personnel groups didn't change significantly, and if anything, they rotated their backup wide receivers less often.

Justin Watson has the third-lowest target rate among NFL wide receivers who have run at least 700 routes over the last three seasons. Most of them Xavier WorthyTargets fall on long throws and throws behind the line of scrimmage, which doesn't necessarily result in many targets overall.

That works Travis Kelce And JuJu Smith-Schuster as the two Kansas City receivers who will see a lot of scoring in the future, and that's exactly what happened in this game. Both totaled more than 70 receiving yards while no one else had more than 35. There's still a chance the Chiefs add a wide receiver, but as things stand, Smith-Schuster may be the biggest target for a wide receiver waiver this week after his seven-catch, 130-yard performance.

Juwan Johnson turns out to be New Orleans' top tight end: Johnson was substituted earlier this season due to injury.

Johnson suffered a broken foot in mid-June and returned to training in late August. He played 50% of the offensive snaps or fewer in each of the first three games Foster Moreau serves as lead tight end. Last week was the first time Johnson played more than Moreau, and this week he was on the field for an even higher percentage of snaps and routes.

He caught five passes for 31 yards. Moreau was the one who scored a touchdown, but Johnson is clearly the tight end between the two given his volume of offense and target share. Johnson's target rate generally hasn't been as high as last season. He will need a higher target rate to be considered in fantasy leagues, but regaining playing time was the first step to becoming a fantasy starter.

Various notes

• Derek Carr left the game late in the fourth quarter with a reported oblique injury.

• Kendre Miller returned to practice this week but was not named to the 53-man roster for this game.

• Taysom Hill was inactive for this game due to a rib injury.

• Tight end Jody Fortson spent 2019 and 2020 on the Chiefs' practice squad, spent 2021 and 2022 as the Chiefs' third receiver tight end and spent 2023 on injured reserve. He signed with the this offseason Miami Dolphinsbut he was cut in August and didn't make the Chiefs' practice squad until September 26th. He was added to the active roster on Friday and played heavily in this game.

• While Fortson was active, the Chiefs ran several plays with four tight ends on the field and joined in Pittsburgh Steelers And Seattle Seahawks were the only teams this season to use four tight ends.

Table notes

• Snaps include plays that are called back due to penalties, including offensive holding or defensive pass interference. These plays have been removed from the other three statistics.