Slate StatsNFLInjury impact

If Ian Thomas is out, who gets his targets?

The Las Vegas Raiders room absorbs +0.19 receptions, and Michael Mayer takes the largest single share at +0.19. The work stays overwhelmingly inside the tight end room.

Where the work goes

Change in projected receptions for every other player in the offense. The bars are small on purpose — a vacated role is shared out, and any tool showing one replacement absorbing a whole target load is telling you something the data does not support.

Receptions gained if Ian Thomas sitsMichael Mayer+0.2TE 82% snapschange in projected receptions

Every player in the room

PlayerNowIf outChange
Michael Mayer TE · 82% snaps3.603.79+0.19
Ashton Jeanty RB · 78% snaps3.403.40+0.00
Tre Tucker WR · 65% snaps3.403.40+0.00
Jalen Nailor WR · 60% snaps2.402.40+0.00
Jack Bech WR · 47% snaps2.002.00+0.00
Ian Thomas TE · 48% snaps1.10OUT
Malik Benson WR · 12% snaps0.700.70+0.00
Dareke Young WR · 17% snaps0.600.60+0.00
Cody White WR · 0% snaps0.500.50+0.00

What the data says happens

Measured across every regular-season game from 2018 onward, each beneficiary compared against his own trailing four-game form and net of what the same players do in weeks the room’s number one actually plays.

RoomReceptions gainednt
Receivers+0.1072,1602.29
Tight ends+0.4921,0249.57
Backs-0.0451,259-0.92

The room total is predictable. Which player takes it is not. Every candidate predictor of who gains — pecking order, snap share, route depth, trailing targets — correlates at roughly r = 0.02. In any single week one player usually takes about 60% of what was vacated; it is simply not predictably the same one.

Ian Thomas’s full stats and usageSnap share, target share, game log and this week’s projection

Cascade effects 2018–2026, paired within player, net of control · projections as-of-week with no lookahead · 2026 week 3