Instant fantasy football takeaways from Buccaneers-Chiefs Monday Night Football

• DeAndre Hopkins leaves traces in the Kansas City Chiefs: The veteran wide receiver scored multiple receiving touchdowns for the 14th time in his Hall of Fame career.

• The Tampa Bay Buccaneers Rely on unoccupied wide receivers: The Buccaneers' top four wide receivers have struggled with injuries, so their top two wideouts in snaps were free agents they signed after the 2023 NFL Draft.

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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.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers @ Kansas City Chiefs

Buccaneers adjust while shutting down multiple wide receivers: The Buccaneers were down their three best wide receivers and their next best option was questionable for this game.

Chris Godwin is out for the season with an ankle injury. Mike Evans has missed the last two games with a hamstring injury and could miss another game or two. Jalen McMillan appeared on the injury report Saturday with a hamstring injury and was questionable for that game before ultimately being inactive. Sterling Shepard He was also dealing with a hamstring injury that kept him out of practice on Thursday and Friday and restricted his ability to play on Saturday. He was also listed as questionable.

Trey Palmer started the season as the team's fourth wide receiver. After Evans was sidelined due to his injury, Palmer served as the primary X-receiver. Last week, Rakim Jarrett was activated from injured reserve and began rotating with Palmer. Jarrett was the team's most productive receiver in Week 8, rushing for 58 yards on three receptions. This earned him the lead role in that game, replacing Palmer. He should remain in that role until Evans returns from injury.

Shepard had taken over Godwin's role in the slot but was unable to start this week due to his injury. Ryan MillerInstead, , who was released from the practice squad when Godwin landed on injured reserve, started. He was the primary replacement for Shepard and McMillan last week. Miller was the primary slot receiver for most of this game, but with the Buccaneers having to make plays in the final two minutes, Shepard nearly outnumbered Miller in snaps. This role will return to Shepard as he approaches 100%.

That left Palmer primarily playing the role of Z receiver, the role for which he competed with McMillan during training camp. Both Shepard and Miller played the Z role at times in Palmer's place, while the other played the role in these plays. Once McMillan is healthy, he will return to that role.

This leaves Jarrett as the strange man once everyone is healthy. He had more experience in the Z role last season, so he could take up some of McMillan's time there later in the season, in which case McMillan could take up some of Shepard's time. McMillan has the most potential of the Buccaneers' young wide receivers, and more snaps from the slot could increase his fantasy value.

DeAndre Hopkins shines in the second game: Hopkins was on the field significantly more this week than in his first game with the Chiefs.

The Chiefs traded for Hopkins before Week 8, and he played 23 of 72 snaps in his debut and ran 14 routes on 44 pass plays. He shared most of the time Mecole Hardman. This week his playing time increased significantly. The Chiefs rotated their wide receivers much less than usual until they ran the ball in the fourth quarter and maintained the lead. Since they rarely had a lead, they stayed with 11 players for most of the game, but mixed in around 12 players, especially early on.

Hopkins has been subbed out for a decent amount of passing plays, but given his age and how often he's been subbed out in recent seasons, this is probably the best route involvement we can expect. He was Patrick Mahomes' clear favorite destination outside Travis Kelce. He can safely be added to the fantasy starting lineup in the future, although there will likely be a few weeks where he doesn't produce much because of other Chiefs scoring and the team can hang on.

Hopkins has been an X receiver in the past, but Mahomes traditionally doesn't throw to X receivers very often. Hopkins had six receptions while standing way up front at the line of scrimmage. This was the first time in Mahomes' career that a receiver had six or more turnovers while high on the line. It seems like Mahomes and the Chiefs can easily adapt their strategy to take advantage of Hopkins' strengths.

The big question now is how the Chiefs will distribute the snaps on a one-off basis JuJu Smith-Schuster is back. While Hopkins was primarily an outside wide receiver in his career, he played about a third of his snaps in the slot and two-thirds on the outside. This also applied to Xavier Worthy And Justin Watson. Other than a 35-yard reception for Hopkins, none of Kansas City's wide receivers were effective out of the slot. Chances are Smith-Schuster will be the Chiefs' primary slot receiver upon his return, which would result in a decrease in snaps for Worthy, Watson or both.

Various notes

• Patrick Mahomes suffered an ankle injury in the second half. He returned to the game on the following trip, but still seemed unwell at times. It's worth keeping an eye on this week just in case his injury is more serious than first thought.
• The Buccaneers came calling Marquez Callaway from the practice squad to serve as their fifth wide receiver. He has only been with the team for two and a half weeks. He didn't play in the first half but took a few snaps Rakim Jarrett in the second half.
• Sean Tucker has been largely released from the offense as his playing time has decreased significantly each week. He didn't play on offense in the first half and his snaps in the second half came after a 46-yard kickoff return Bucky Irving. He can be cut in most leagues.
• Over the last two weeks, the Chiefs have been supporting tight ends Jody Fortson And Jared Wiley were placed on injured reserve. This led to the team signing Peyton Hendershot to the active squad. The Chiefs traded for Hendershot in August, released him in September and have had him on the practice squad ever since.
• While Clyde Edwards Helaire Although he has been eligible to play for Kansas City for a few weeks, he has always been a healthy inactive player.
• Mecole Hardman was the fourth wide receiver for Kansas City in that game, but missed most of the first half after suffering an injury on his first punt return.
• The chiefs rose Justin Ross From the practice squad for the first time this season. He was their fifth wide receiver.

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.