2018 NFL Rosters: Snaps Gained and Lost

While we go into every season expecting similar results to the year before the fact is teams change year to year, often dramatically. Now that the 53 man rosters are set I wanted to look at the amounts of snaps that were lost and gained by each team.

The teams that look to be the most similar to last year are the Falcons (2,863 snaps lost), Steelers (3,153), Saints (3,508), Jaguars (3,943), and Titans (4,898). The teams with the most changes from last years roster are the Cardinals (12,404), Giants (12,378), Bills (9,943), Colts (9,671), and Raiders (9,307).

Some of these teams turned to free agency while others turned to the draft to try to fix things. The teams that added the most snaps in via free agency, trades, claims, etc… are the Browns (9,260), Raiders (8,402), Giants (8,232), Seahawks (7,083), and Dolphins. The teams that avoided the more proven free agents are the Chargers (1,742), Ravens (1,760), Steelers (1,801), Bengals (1,898), and Bears (1,903). The Bears made me do a double take because I knew they signed a lot of players but it was high risk types like Allen Robinson and Trey Burton who were injured or part timers last year.

If you use the two sets of numbers you can also get an idea of how many snaps teams need to be replaced by players who were perhaps injured last year (think Sam Bradford) and draft choices. The team with the most snaps to replace overall by those players are the Cardinals (7,220), Colts (6,518), Bills (6,254), Chiefs (6,060), and 49ers (5,323). Those with the least to replace are the Saints (-679), Browns (-224), Jaguars (265), Falcons (572), Titans (624), and Packers (792).

When looking at that Bears stat I then decided to look at how much contract money per year each team added on a per snap basis. The Bears paid a whopping $32K per snap due to the type of targeted players. The next closest team, was at $13K, so the Bears put a lot of money in Allen Robinson, Trey Burton, Aaron Lynch, Chase Daniel, and Taylor Gabriel. The group maxed out at 508 snaps for Gabriel. It was a risky offseason. The other teams that added a lot of money to the teams and likely have increased expectations were the Browns, Giants, Cardinals, Jets, and Raiders.

The two tables will give a breakdown of the snaps lost and gained this year as well as spending on new players this season. Please note that the contracts used here were current as of Monday September 3rd.

2018 Snaps Gained and Lost from Prior Season

TeamOff. Snaps LostDef. Snaps LostOff Snap GainedDef Snap GainedNet Off Snap LostNet Def Snap LostNet Snaps Lost
Cardinals6934547025722612436228587220
Colts4284538718561297242840906518
Bills5574436921121577346227926254
Chiefs3675555210042163267133896060
49ers491233962413572249928245323
Cowboys424524561945107230023494649
Ravens51578591760033978594256
Texans61782238160525894573-3514222
Giants6252612646943538155825884146
Bengals303929708001098223918724111
Redskins319132622083604110826583766
Chargers308323541574168150921863695
Bears282627488161087201016613671
Patriots454327261900190726438193462
Broncos46421141204534925977923389
Eagles2114303310201392109416412735
Dolphins5448269342611297118713962583
Lions312936932255208687416072481
Jets254032581342237011988882086
Rams141943511058272736116241985
Buccaneers243936451086309513535501903
Panthers32792619229417869858331818
Steelers1574157911816831456-1041352
Seahawks45573832369234018654311296
Vikings3685231233921650293662955
Raiders2802650524515951351554905
Packers2927306927572447170622792
Titans183730611745252992532624
Falcons1224163912361055-12584572
Jaguars27091234269798112253265
Browns4654438253683892-714490-224
Saints1979152916382549341-1020-679

2018 New Veteran Player Contracts

TeamNew PlayersAnnual Contract TotalSnaps$/Snap$/Player
Browns17$75,347,6359260$8,137$4,432,214
Bears6$61,000,0001903$32,055$10,166,667
Giants19$54,356,7928232$6,603$2,860,884
Cardinals15$48,955,0005184$9,443$3,263,667
Raiders21$45,749,5728402$5,445$2,178,551
Jets11$45,219,2943712$12,182$4,110,845
Dolphins10$45,102,1485558$8,115$4,510,215
Buccaneers7$43,271,3834181$10,350$6,181,626
Rams5$42,846,0403785$11,320$8,569,208
Vikings8$42,787,1965042$8,486$5,348,400
Jaguars9$41,290,6043678$11,226$4,587,845
Texans10$38,326,2544194$9,138$3,832,625
Chiefs9$35,534,3563167$11,220$3,948,262
Redskins5$34,870,0002687$12,977$6,974,000
Saints8$33,305,0004187$7,954$4,163,125
Broncos6$30,902,7432394$12,908$5,150,457
49ers7$29,364,7042985$9,837$4,194,958
Titans9$29,267,4104274$6,848$3,251,934
Bills9$29,215,0003689$7,919$3,246,111
Panthers9$26,857,8104080$6,583$2,984,201
Packers8$26,442,0805204$5,081$3,305,260
Colts11$24,670,9533153$7,825$2,242,814
Lions11$24,497,0774341$5,643$2,227,007
Seahawks14$22,701,1827093$3,201$1,621,513
Cowboys8$21,212,6032052$10,338$2,651,575
Patriots10$20,293,6253807$5,331$2,029,363
Bengals4$19,680,0001898$10,369$4,920,000
Eagles8$18,319,3692412$7,595$2,289,921
Ravens3$15,500,0001760$8,807$5,166,667
Chargers4$12,246,6671742$7,030$3,061,667
Falcons5$9,457,8872291$4,128$1,891,577
Steelers5$8,870,5791801$4,925$1,774,116
Summary
2018 NFL Roster Turnover
Article Name
2018 NFL Roster Turnover
Description
Examining how much NFL teams changed between 2017 and 2018 by looking at player snaps gained and lost plus new contracts signed.
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Over the Cap
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