Targets, targets, targets and more..targets! That's what we're looking at here. We had some interesting things take place in Week 3 that hasn't been the case the first two weeks. Who's stock is on the rise due to their target share and who's is plummeting? I broke down EACH team below! Enjoy!
Arizona Cardinals
Hopkins was used as more of a decoy in Week 3 as we saw both AJ Green and Christian Kirk flourish. Yeah Hopkins and Green both finished with six targets, Green paced the team with 112 yards. It’s quite interesting to see Green averaging six targets per game. What’s even more interesting is that Green averaged nearly 19 yards/target and over 22 yards/reception in this game.
The weekly debate of Rondale Moore versus Christian Kirk was settled in Week 3. Kirk dominated Moore in terms of snaps, volume, receptions, yards and routes run. It’s been more Kirk than Moore more often, which has been the case from the start. Moving forward, after Hopkins, I have interest in both Kirk and Green and would temper my expectations on Moore.
The guys who score the touchdowns always get the glory, but Edmonds involvement in the passing game is a wonderful thing to see in PPR formats. Edmonds 17 targets is actually only one behind AJ Green for the team lead. Murray is comfortable with checking down and Edmonds is always there for him. He’s had 13 or more touches in each of the first three games of the year.
Atlanta Falcons
The results may not be the WR1 we were hoping for, but there is no denying the volume is still there. He’s seen eight or more in all three games and has seen a steady increase each time out. There’s no reason to think Ridley can’t be amongst the league leaders in targets by years end and there’s no reason to think there isn’t positive regression on the way.
Russell Gage did not play in Week 3 and hasn’t practiced yet this week, likely meaning we see another heavy workload from Cordarrelle Patterson and Olamide Zaccheaus. Patterson is far more appealing if he has RB/WR eligibility and Zaccheaus’ value is in deeper formats only.
Everyone who wants to sell Kyle Pitts right now, r-e-l-a-x, like Aaron Rodgers told us to do. Even with only three targets in Week 3, he’s tied for sixth in targets at the position. He’s playing a boatload of snaps and running a ton of routes. He’ll be fine.
What’s interesting is that everyone is so enamored with what Cordarrelle Patterson is doing, they’re ignoring Mike Davis’ output right now. He’s notched 17 targets through three games and has 15 or more touches in each contest as well. We’re just not seeing that volume from very many running backs these days.
Baltimore Ravens
It was a tough game for Marquise Brown as he dropped two touchdown passes against the Lions, but still had seven targets nevertheless. He’s currently sixth in target share in the entire league. Sammy Watkins isn’t too far behind, his results just haven’t been close to what Brown’s has been. The interesting dynamic to this receiving corps will be Rashod Bateman, who was activated off of IR and is practicing this week. Where does he fit in? Who’s role will he take over, if any? A lot of questions will be answered in the upcoming weeks.
Andrews’ best game came in Week 3 and the $56M dollar man, aka the third highest paid tight end in the league, will have many more of these this season. If anyone’s target share is impacted the least by Rashod Bateman, it’s Andrews. The only player on this offense that has run more routes than Andrews this year is Watkins and we know Watkins' role could be different with Bateman’s presence.
Buffalo Bills
A year after the Bills and Josh Allen attempted the sixth most pass attempts, Allen ranks fourth in attempts through three weeks. Allen showed last year that he can support multiple pass catchers and is doing so once again. Three receivers are averaging over six targets per game and two -- Stefon Diggs and Cole Beasley -- are averaging 10 or more. After Diggs, Emmanuel Sanders has staked his claim as the most valuable pass catcher in this offense.
The graphic above shows you one thing and one thing only; Josh Allen does not check down. The five targets in Week 1 is the most you’ll see a Bills running back get. The tight end position, however, has been a little more interesting of late. He ran 39 routes in Week 3 and five targets followed. 39! Hard to ignore considering he was on the field more than even Cole Beasley.
Carolina Panthers
This is a one man show through three games. DJ Moore has been the alpha and simply one of the best offensive weapons in the game. He has 31 targets through three games, more than half of Terrace Marshall whose second on this list. Robby Anderson has been irrelevant thus far, but is it time to cut him? I don’t think so, at least not yet, but a week or two more of this production, he’s gone. It’s worth noting that Terrace Marshall played just two snaps fewer than Anderson in Week 3 and ran just five less routes. Red flag city.
Chicago Bears
Week 3 was, well, a disaster in every sense of the word. Allen Robinson saw six targets but did absolutely nothing with them. Much is the same for Darnell Mooney. Nothin’.
It’s nice to see Kmet playing mostly all of the snaps, but with Justin Fields under center he hasn’t been fantasy relevant. Unless they make a switch back to Dalton -- seven targets in Week 1 -- Kmet’s fantasy value is best served for someone else’s team. Not yours.
Cincinnati Bengals
The Bengals just didn’t throw a lot in Week 3, but Tyler Boyd and Ja’Marr Chase dominated all the targets. If Jacksonville figures out that Cincy is missing two key members of it’s secondary, maybe their Week 4 can turn into a shootout and the Bengals revert back to 40 pass attempts per game like it was for Joe Burrow in 2020. Boyd has actually out paced Chase in targets this year, but Chase is the one consistently finding the end zone. Some positive regression coming for Boyd in that category here? Sure could be.
Cleveland Browns
You just love to see it. In his first game back, Odell Beckham Jr. looked sharp, notching five of nine targets for 77 yards. He participated on over 93% of Cleveland’s passing snaps in his first game back! Without Jarvis Landry around, expect Beckham to absolutely dominate the target share in this offense. He had a very respectable 22.2% target share last year in seven games that we just all forget about. Nobody else worth rostering from this receiving corps.
The tight ends are a mess too. David Njoku didn’t register a single target but played 50 snaps and ran 21 routes, both more than Austin Hooper, but Hooper saw three targets and scored. Harrison Bryant also played a bunch of snaps. Not great Bob, not great. Hooper is the guy to own, if I must answer that question.
Dallas Cowboys
Dallas went up big early and turned to the running game often, which game scripted both CeeDee Lamb and Amari Cooper out of the game. I’m not all that worried about either
Through three weeks, it would seem as if Schultz has pulled away from Blake Jarwin, but when you did a little deeper, it’s much closer than it would appear. Schultz has ran just one more route than he has this year and he’s also been the one blocking far more than Jarwin has. Just keep that in mind when deploying Schultz in seasonal this week and beyond.
Denver Broncos
It was a terrible day for Broncos receiver K.J. Hamler here as he was lost for the season due to a torn ACL. That leaves Courtland Sutton and Tim Patrick as the two alpha’s from this group. Patrick hasn’t been a volume machine, but he’s making them count notching 3.18 FP/target, which is the sixth best mark in the league. Sutton’s near seven targets a game is solid and there’s no reason to think that won’t continue. We saw Teddy Bridgewater support two 1,000 yard receivers last year and there’s no reason to think he can’t do it again here.
It wasn’t a great game from Fant in Week 3 but let’s face it, Denver just ran the ball and controlled the clock in the second half during their dredging of the Jets. His 58 snaps in Week 3 was the most of any skill position player on the Broncos and his 20 routes were third to Patrick and Sutton. With so much uncertainty at tight end outside of the top six or seven guys, Fant still offers TE1 upside in this offense.
Detroit Lions
This was a wild, wild game for the Lions in terms of passing volume. Quintez Cephus had been the clear number one option in terms of receivers and he took a massive step back in Week 3 and was likely dropped in a lot of leagues. It’s hard to ignore Kalif Raymond’s target share in this game and his route participation this year in general. The problem is, it’s not exactly equating to production.
Look, let’s face facts. We don’t have to like it, especially for those that weren’t in the Swift camp at the start of the campaign, but he’s an RB1. Look at this volume just through the air! 23 targets?! Man, if you’re a D’Andre Swift owner right now, you’re in the driver's seat. Jamaal Williams is still relevant too, but he’s falling behind Swift who has already been green lighted by head coach Dan Campbell to start moving forward.
It was a weird game for Hockenson, one that I’m basically going to act like it didn’t happen. He still led the team in snaps and was second in routes run. We’re onto Week 4. He’ll be just fine.
Green Bay Packers
Nothing to see here, just Davante Adams and a bunch of fantasy irrelevance outside of that. MVS is DeSean Jackson-esque and should only be owned in bestballs.
In case you were wondering; yes, Robert Tonyan is 100% replaceable.
Houston Texans
I think most of the fantasy industry left Brandin Cooks out for dead, yet he’s still just 28-years young and has five 1,000 yard seasons in his seven year career. Cooks is THE guy in this offense and the way Houston is utilizing him and getting him the ball has been masterful, to be candid. He’s currently a WR1 and that’s with 1.5 games of Davis Mills under center.
It’s worth mentioning Anthony Miller, in his first game, played 35 snaps and ran 28 routes, seeing six targets and scoring a touchdown. He was the clear number two option. I’m not sure Davis Mills can support multiple pass catchers, but the Texans will often be game scripted into throwing a lot, so it’s something to monitor moving forward.
Indianapolis Colts
This passing attack continues to feature two guys; Michael Pittman and Zach Pascal. Pittman has been a target hog the last two games, notching 12 in each outing. Pittman has been on the field for every pass snap Indy has had, has run the seventh most routes in the league and has a 26.7% target share.
Pascal has been the one that has snuck into the end zone however. He’s been the clear number two option in this passing attack and with T.Y. Hilton still on the shelf, that doesn’t seem to be changing anytime soon.
Jacksonville Jaguars
This offense has been throwing a lot, but it’s been ending up in the arms of the defender more than the arms of the Jags receivers. The volume has been tremendous for all three guys and there’s no reason to think it’ll slow down anytime soon, especially with how bad this team is and how often they’re going to be playing from behind.
Marvin Jones has been the alpha and there’s no way around it. D.J. Chark may have him beat in air yards, but that’s it. Jones was drafted the latest in all drafts too while Shenault was the first off the board.
Maybe getting the ball to James Robinson is a good idea, ay? Robinson saw six targets to Carlos Hyde’s goose egg in Week 3 and the Jaguars saw massive dividends from that. Robinson played 40 snaps to Hyde’s 23 in Week 3, so Hyde’s still around, but Robinson widening the gap.
Kansas City Chiefs
Look, things are going to drastically change once Tyreek Hill is being force fed volume like he was in Week 1 and could change even more when Josh Gordon is eventually brought into the fold as well. Look at the rest of the team’s targets when Hill saw double-figures in Week 1. Not a single fantasy relevant wide receiver outside of Hill. Don’t fall for Hardman’s eight targets in Week 2 and don’t fall for Pringle’s six in Week 3.
Yeah, he’s the best.
Los Angeles Rams
The question on everyone’s mind; can Cooper Kupp sustain this output? The 2020 leader in target share was Davante Adams at 30% and we know what kind of season he had. Maybe he can put up Adams like numbers, but what he’s doing right now seems unrealistic. Regardless if there is a bit of regression, he’s going to be peppered with targets and is a WR1 until proven otherwise.
What to do with the rest of the receiving corps -- Robert Woods -- is the question. Woods has had 19 targets through three games which is solid and equates to about 108 targets for the year, but Woods has had 129+ in three consecutive seasons. He’s still played 155 of 176 offensive snaps this year, so positive regression seems like it’ll come Woods’ way sooner rather than later. Maybe it’s time to buy in your fantasy leagues.
Do we trust Higbee yet? No, but with no Gerald Everett in town, the snaps have been there and so have the routes run. He’s played more pass snaps than Noah Fant, Dalton Schultz and Dallas Goedert this year.
Los Angeles Chargers
Justin Herbert is le-freaking-git. Keenan Allen and Mike Williams? Le-freaking-git. This is a scary pass offense that has two top-12 weapons right now. It’s going to be really hard for defenses to stop one of these guys on a given day.
Remember the concern surrounding Austin Ekeler before the season, and then after Week 1? Think he’s doing just fine! He’s seen 15 targets the last two games and the 85 targets he’s on pace for isn’t great, the last two games are an indication that he’ll outdo that number by a wide margin.
Las Vegas Raiders
The Raiders are throwing. A lot. Derek Carr has attempted 136 passes through three games and actually leads the league in yards. Henry Ruggs is 11th in air yards and has a 17.3 aDOT. They’re using him in the Nelson Agholor role from a year ago and it’s paid dividends.
The interesting name here is Hunter Renfrow. What do we make of him moving forward? His 31 routes run in Week 3 was more than Ruggs and second on the team, which is now the second time that has happened in three games. Bryan Edwards continues to run the most routes of the receivers, but Renfrow is second and he’s leading these receivers with 22 targets. It’s time to pick him up and use him as a viable FLEX or WR3 in PPR formats.
Waller continues to see targets on top of targets on top of more targets. No reason this won’t continue moving forward.
Miami Dolphins
With Jacoby Brissett under center, there isn’t much vertical passing, which benefits Jaylen Waddle the most of the big three Miami receivers. Waddle saw, wait for it, 13 targets in Week 3, catching 12 of them for 58 yards. That’s nearly 18 FP in PPR formats averaging less than five yards per catch. He’s the preferred option for me, over the likes of Will Fuller and DeVante Parker as long as Brissett is under center.
It was hard to love Gesicki before Week 3 and then Week 3 happened. He had 12 targets, catching 10 passes for 86 yards. Gesicki ran 44 routes in Week 3 and only blocked 11 times. As long as Jacoby Brissett is under center, Gesicki has TE1 upside. We’ll have to reevaluate once Tua Tagovailoa is back, but until then, all you Gesicki stans rejoice!
Minnesota Vikings
A once consolidated target tree has opened up a bit, wouldn’t ya say? Kirk Cousins is eighth in pass attempts and we’ve already seen FOUR guys other than Jefferson and Thielen receive seven targets in a game. Jefferson and Thielen are still the alpha’s and still carry top-15 upside, but it’s interesting to see how much more open this offense is under the son of Gary Kubiak.
The running back is involved in the passing game this year. Dalvin Cook had seven targets in Week 1 and Alexander Mattison had eight in Week 3. Dalvin Cook is practicing this week and should be back for Week 4, so Mattison goes back to being the best handcuff in the biz and that’s it.
What do we make of Tyler Conklin? It’s hard to really get excited about him. He played 54 snaps, blocked 29 of them and ran just 25 routes. That’s not exactly inspiring that this type of production could continue or be consistent.
New England Patriots
The Patriots put the ball up 50 times in Week 3 which led to an elevated target share for everyone involved. James White, aka Mac Jones’ safety blanket, has been lost for the year. That greatly benefits the already heavily targeted Jakobi Meyers who has now seen a team leading 29 looks through three games. That equates to 164 targets per game. Will he get there? No, but Meyers’ high target share could really stick around with the loss of White.
As for the other two receivers, it had been all Agholor the first two weeks in terms of snaps and targets, but Week 3 changed that. Agholor ran one more route than Bourne and both guys saw eight looks, with the latter getting into the end zone. Hard to trust either, but interesting to see how this situation plays out and who separates themselves as the second receiver.
When you look at the targets, you would think Jonnu Smith is dominating the passing work, but that’s not the case. Henry is dominating the snaps and is running a TON of routes and Smith just...isn’t. Henry is the guy to own here.
New Orleans Saints
The Saints passing offense just...sucks? I’m not sure. The Saints just haven’t played football yet. Blowout in their favor in Week 1, blowout not in their favor in Week 2, blowout in Week 3 in their favor. Marquez Callaway is the ONLY receiver here worth rostering.
The Saints need to start force feeding their best player. Plain and simple. He’s seen 97 targets or more in each of his first four seasons of his career and yet, he’s on pace for just 79 this year. It’s something to monitor moving forward. If he can’t get it going within the next couple weeks, it could be time to sell and maximize value and fill out your roster.
New York Giants
Week 3 was the Collin Johnson breakout! Wait….what? Johnson benefitted from injuries to both Sterling Shepard and Darius Slayton. Both guys have yet to practice this week and are likely not going to play in Week 4. Johnson could have another decent showing here in Week 4 and could be a viable punt.
All that said, this HAS to be Kenny Golladay’s breakout. The Giants didn’t give Golladay all that money to have five targets in a game Shepard and Slayton left. He has to earn his due here.
It took Engram ONE game to be heavily involved. He played 39 snaps and ran routes on 31 of them. He saw six targets and with Sterling Shepard and Darius Slayton likely out in Week 4, Engram has a ton of value in fantasy leagues.
New York Jets
Corey Davis is the ONLY viable fantasy asset right now. This situation is only going to get worse once Jamison Crowder returns.
Philadelphia Eagles
Philadelphia has been a decent passing offense through three games and DeVonta Smith and Jalen Reagor have turned into WR3/4 types. They have 40 targets between them and both have had decently productive games. Smith is more of a priority than Reagor at this point, however.
Miles Sanders is still the one to own in this backfield, but it continues to be a split in terms of the passing work. Gainwell only trails Sanders by one reception.
Goedert is just too valuable to the Eagles in the pass blocking game to ever fully deploy him and we saw it again in Week 3. Ertz stole the show and nearly doubled his target share AND was the one who got into the end zone.
Pittsburgh Steelers
We saw what life was like without Diontae Johnson and it was...interesting. Chase Claypool was absolutely peppered with targets, 15 to be exact, giving him 29 on the year. He’s tied for 12th in targets amongst pass catchers right now. Is it sustainable with Diontae Johnson practicing in full for Week 4? That remains to be seen.
If uncle Ben Roethlisberger continues to check the ball down over and over and over again, Harris is going to have an insane year in the volume department. Through three weeks, he’s on pace to have 153 targets. He’s a running back. One can only hope, for his sake, Big Ben and his rotting arm stays under center.
Seattle Seahawks
This is a two-man show. DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett. They’re just not throwing enough for anyone else to truly play a big enough role for fantasy value at this point in the season.
San Francisco 49ers
Welcome to 2021, Brandon Aiyuk! Aiyuk not only saw six targets while scoring a touchdown, but he also played 60 snaps -- only three less than Deebo Samuel -- and ran more routes than George Kittle. Samuel and his 30 targets is still the alpha here, but Aiyuk is likely going to take some looks away moving forward.
After being game scripted out for most of the first two weeks of the year, Kittle showed us why he is still a dynamic playmaker and top-five tight end in fantasy. His nine targets in Week 3 equaled his total from the first two games and with his team in two potential shootouts against the Seahawks and Cardinals the next two games, he should once again be heavily involved in the passing game.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Who’s the alpha? It’s anyone’s guess and it really varies from week to week, but Tampa Bay is throwing more than anyone else in football, so who says we can get two, maybe all three of these guys to contribute in the same game? Antonio Brown has the revenge game narrative on his side in Week 4 while Godwin gets a tasty match-up in the slot against Jonathan Jones who ranks 76 of 108 qualified corners this year.
We finally saw a game script for Giovani Bernard and boy did he answer the bell. He ran 28 routes compared to Fournette’s 20 and Jones’ four. Ronald Jones is droppable in all formats while I’d still suggest holding onto Fournette and taking a look at Bernard in full-point PPR formats.
Rob Gronkowski isn’t seemingly a very spiteful guy and this probably isn’t any type of revenge game for him, but one he can REALLY get up for. Anyways, outside his Week 4 match-up, he should continue to be a top-10 option at the position moving forward.
Tennessee Titans
This is one of the more underwhelming pass catching groups in the league thus far and things aren’t getting any better with both A.J. Brown and Julio Jones missing practice all week. We saw the emergence of Nick Westbrook-Ikhine when Brown went down in Week 3, you’d think he’d be Ryan Tannehill’s primary target in Week 4.
Hell has officially frozen over. Derrick Henry, the league winner, is receiving legit work in the passing game. His career high for targets before this year was 31, last year. He’s already at 13 through three games and has 12 receptions while his career high is 19! Henry is the best asset in fantasy right now. Christian McCaffrey and Dalvin Cook are hurt and Alvin Kamara is underwhelming. There’s no denying this guy any longer.
Washington Football Team
It’s hard to be excited for anyone not named Terry McLaurin amongst these Washington receivers. There has zero consistency outside of him and there’s no signs of that changing. There second best receiver is their tight end and three and four come out of the backfield.
It’s disappointing to see Gibson’s targets mirror his backup’s, but it’s what we should have expected after McKissic’s monster year in the passing game last year and his reliability as a blocker. He’s on the field in those situations more than Gibson because of his reliability.
Thomas is still playing a LOT of slot snaps and is still VERY valuable considering his position is hot trash outside about seven or eight guys. The production hasn’t been great, but the targets are fine and the route participation is as good as ever.