As we head into draft season I like to look at what teams are in the most and least need of snaps to replace from the last season. While the number of snaps can be skewed by returning injured players more often than not it does help give us an indication of which teams may be focused more on immediate help in the draft and better opportunities for undrafted free agents as well as teams that may be more interested in street free agents come summer time.
Leading the way on offense are the Minnesota Vikings who need to replace about 24% of their offensive snaps. About a third of this will be covered by the returning JJ McCarthy who takes over for the departing Sam Darnold, but the team still has a high number of offensive snaps that will need to be filled. Number 2 are the Steelers at 22% who will have to make a play for a QB and add more security for their offensive line. The Browns come in third in the NFL with about 20% of their offensive snaps lost. They are followed by the Colts at 17%, the Dolphins at 16.5% and the Chiefs and Jets around 16%.
On defense the Dolphins lead the NFL with a whopping 33% of their snaps lost so far. I think if we took a two year overview no team would have lost more players than Miami. While some of their snaps lost have been to retirements they have quietly been ravaged by the cap in free agency the last two seasons. The Raiders are just under 30% with a good chunk of those coming from the secondary. The Vikings come in third at 28% with the Eagles close behind at 27.4%. The other teams over 20% are the Ravens and 49ers.
With the NFL average at just 8% the Vikings and Dolphins both really stand out at 26.4% and 24.5% of all snaps needing to be replaced this year. Minnesota has a really low amount of draft capital so this may be a team that looks at summer signings and the trade market to keep building off of last season. Miami needs a home run draft to get back on track this year. The Patriots and the Giants, on the other hand, have both already added a lot to the mix and are teams where some players may need to battle even harder to keep roster spots or maintain playing time.
Here is the full list of the teams in the NFL.
| Team | Off Snaps | Def Snaps | Tot Snaps |
| Vikings | 24.8% | 28.1% | 26.4% |
| Dolphins | 16.6% | 32.8% | 24.5% |
| Raiders | 6.0% | 29.7% | 17.9% |
| 49ers | 10.5% | 22.6% | 16.6% |
| Seahawks | 15.0% | 17.1% | 16.1% |
| Jets | 16.0% | 15.3% | 15.6% |
| Colts | 17.0% | 13.4% | 15.1% |
| Ravens | 6.4% | 22.8% | 14.5% |
| Bengals | 4.6% | 19.8% | 12.2% |
| Steelers | 22.2% | 0.7% | 11.6% |
| Browns | 19.9% | 2.0% | 11.3% |
| Chiefs | 16.2% | 5.6% | 11.1% |
| Eagles | -4.8% | 27.4% | 11.0% |
| Falcons | 4.2% | 15.6% | 9.8% |
| Rams | 6.3% | 13.0% | 9.7% |
| Bears | 15.9% | 2.4% | 9.3% |
| Jaguars | 15.2% | 3.8% | 9.1% |
| Titans | 7.7% | 9.6% | 8.7% |
| Buccaneers | 2.7% | 13.4% | 8.1% |
| Cowboys | 4.5% | 11.1% | 7.7% |
| Packers | 7.0% | 8.3% | 7.7% |
| Broncos | 4.9% | 8.1% | 6.5% |
| Bills | 6.1% | 6.9% | 6.5% |
| Lions | 7.6% | 2.7% | 5.2% |
| Cardinals | 0.2% | 4.1% | 2.2% |
| Saints | 3.1% | -0.9% | 1.0% |
| Chargers | -7.3% | 8.8% | 1.0% |
| Commanders | -1.4% | -0.8% | -1.1% |
| Panthers | -0.8% | -2.3% | -1.6% |
| Texans | -1.8% | -15.1% | -8.3% |
| Giants | -14.4% | -8.8% | -11.6% |
| Patriots | -20.8% | -13.1% | -16.8% |