2017 NFL Target Analysis: Week 14

With just three weeks left and team’s falling out of the playoff picture it’s likely we begin seeing some of the league’s youth getting more reps and more chances on the field. That could hurt and impact some of the leagues leaders in targets, especially if they’re on a team playing for nothing other than their future. We will see the leaders at the top continue to see a heavy workload, it’s just something worth keeping in mind on a week-to-week basis until the season’s over.

Target Leaders 

Another week in the books and it’s no surprise Antonio Brown and DeAndre Hopkins were first and second in targets this past week. Brown not only saw 18 targets, but he eclipsed 200 yards as well. Hopkins turned his 16 targets into 149 yards and two scores, so the two league leaders in receptions showed up and showed out in a big way. All they did by having weeks like this is extend the gap between them and everyone else by a pretty significant margin. Jarvis Landry, who’s third in targets, is 27 behind Hopkins and 30 behind Brown on the year.

Travis Kelce continues to separate himself from the pack as far as tight ends are concerned after a 13 target week. He now is ahead of Evan Engram by eight targets on the year but that number seems like it will only grow by years end and Kelce could even crack the top-10 if he keeps putting up weeks like he has been. He’s had eight targets or more in five of the last six games and three of those have surpassed 10 targets total. 

We have an interesting race coming down to the wire between Le'Veon Bell and Christian McCaffrey in terms of who’s going to lead the running backs in targets by years end. McCaffrey currently holds a two target lead but Bell has come on strong of late. Bell has had five straight games of six targets or more and three of them have been 10-plus while McCaffrey hasn’t had more than seven since Week seven against Chicago. The way both offenses feature their running backs make it impossible to know who will edge the other one out, but we’re likely going to see both backs eclipse the 100 target mark which on top of their running work loads is such an impressive feat in itself.

Target Percentage

I know I’ve touted the guys up near 30-percent all year long, but anything over 20-percent is quite good. Close to 30 — or over it like Brown, Hopkins, Landry — is elite status that only a handful of receivers get achieve each year. It’s not likely we see anymore than five players in the years to come over 30-percent seeing how offenses incorporate so many different players on a week-to-week basis.

Red Zone Targets

Jimmy Graham’s lead atop the boards has shrunk to three due to Keenan Allen’s recent stretch of dominance. Allen has been a monster lately and and has all of a sudden turned into the second highest targeted player in the red zone on the year. Just over the last two games alone Allen has seen nine targets inside the 20-yard line. 

Maybe the two most impressive numbers in the red zone by players on our list is Kyle Rudolph’s and Jarvis Landry’s catch percentages inside the 20. Landry has caught 14-of-18 which is 77.78-percent while Rudolph’s catch percentage is 86.67, catching 13-of-15 passes thrown his way. These are two guys that flash touchdown upside every single game due to their ability to seemingly focus even more than they do the other 80-yards down the field and catch everything thrown their way.

Drops

Amari Cooper has some company up top! The Giants rookie tight end Evan Engram has 10 drops to tie Cooper for the league lead. Engram has had an impressive rookie year catching 55-of-100 passes thrown his way, but he’s dropped 10-percent of his targets which is not good at all. Engram has really good hands and there is a reason why he’s been Eli Manning and Geno Smith’s favorite target all year long, he’s just had his rookie moments here and there. These drops have not stopped Giants’ quarterbacks to stop feeding him the ball as he leads the team in targets and is 18th in the entire league.

There are some big names at the top of the leaderboard and I understand drops happen, especially when you see a lot of volume, but c’mon man. Dez Bryant, Demaryius Thomas and Keenan Allen have all dropped nine passes a piece this season, some being crucial drops. One of Bryant’s drops last week was a deep ball that would have resulted in the end zone but instead it hit him right in the spot wide receivers hate the most…their hands.

My prediction of Davante Adams seeing the most targets in Week 14 fell just short as he was fourth last week, but never fear, we’re back at it for Week 15 with another pick! Julio Jones gets the dream matchup against the Tampa Bay Bucs who rank dead last defending the pass. Jones has been over 10 targets in three of his last four games and has done just that five times over his last eight contests. Jones might surpass his Week 12 15-target game here if it stays close and Atlanta is still throwing the ball in the fourth.