Week 13 is in the books and now it’s time to turn our attention to the fantasy playoffs in most leagues. Some leagues are in do or die spots in Week 14 and focusing on receivers and tight ends who see a lot of action in the red zone could make the difference in your matchups. This week saw a few pass catchers see more targets in a game than a lot of guys have seen all season, so lets get reading.

 

Target Monsters

Keenan Allen- Allen posted the first seven-target game of the season in the league on Sunday against a Browns secondary that didn’t get thememo about him being the top target for Philip Rivers. Of those seven looks he caught four of them including a score. The monster game vaulted him into a tie with Antonio Brown (three targets Monday) for second in the league with 20 targets. It’s unlikely Allen will post another game like this the rest of the way, but he is without a doubt the top target in the Chargers’ passing scheme, which is always valuable.

A.J. Green- Like Allen, the Steelers must have missed the memo about covering Green on Monday night. Andy Dalton had six red zone passing attempts all game, five of which went in Green’s direction. He caught two of them, both for scores, including one wide open one on a shallow out route. The game on Monday puts Green into double-digits for targets inside the 20 this season with 14 looks, eight of those are from inside the 10, making him tied for third in the league with 36.4% of his team’s targets from that range. Six of his touchdowns on the season have come on his seven red zone catches, which also ties him for third in the league for red zone scores.

Stephen Anderson- Anderson broke through on Sunday with a four-target game against the Titans, doubling his previous total for the season. Anderson only managed to haul in one of those targets but it was for a four-yard touchdown. In fact that catch on Sunday was his only one of the season inside the 20. That kind of inefficiency is why he has been sporadically targeted this season, getting looks in just five of the Texans games, and these were his first since Week 10. A nice game for sure, but don’t expect any more like it.

Carlos Hyde- The switching of quarterbacks in the Bay Area has stifled Hyde’s performance this season, but now he seems to be returning back to form. Against the Bears, Hyde saw four targets, catching three of them, which nearly doubled his season total from five to nine. These targets were his first in more than a month with the last one coming against the Eagles. Now that Jimmy Garoppolo is at the helm, he should go back to seeing 2-3 targets per game the rest of the way.

 

Most Efficient

Larry Fitzgerald- Fitz is back on the list again this week, as he just keeps putting up consistent numbers week after week. This week he could technically fit under the heading above, since he saw all of his team’s targets and was thus a target monster for his team. The two targets Blaine Gabbert through his way were both caught and one turned into a touchdown. He sits at 16 targets on the season, six better than the next closest on his team, and has become a near must start each week due to the volume he sees.

Dez Bryant- It was another two target game for Dez in Week 13, his seventh game with multiple targets this season. He caught both of the balls thrown his way against Washington and one for a 13-yard touchdown. Bryant has caught just over half the targets (10-of-19), which isn’t great, but he does rank second in target share from inside the 10 at 40% of his teams 25 attempts from there.

Gerald Everett- At this point it’s pretty well understood that Cooper Kupp leads the Rams in red zone targets, but could you guess who’s second? If you guessed Everett, congrats, but most probably wouldn’t. He had two more targets thrown his way on Sunday, catching both and one for a touchdown. This was his first two-target game since Week 4, when he saw his first targets of the season, and half of his eight on the season have come in the last four games. There are a lot of mouths to feed in L.A. but Everett continues to carve out a small role for himself.

Jimmy Graham- Graham had another two-target game, his seventh multiple-target game of the season. He scored another touchdown, giving him nine on the season in the red zone, tops in the league. Graham is also tops in the league at target percentage inside the 10 at 40.5% and second in the league at overall target share at 36.2% (0.3% behind Davante Adams) which all tell you that he’s the most dominant tight end in the league right now.

 

Ones to watch

Zay Jones- The rookie wide out has now unexpectedly found himself at the top of the receiver depth for the Bills. Kelvin Benjamin is nursing an injury and Jordan Matthews is on IR. Jones had his second three-target game of the season on Sunday against New England and his first since October 8th against Cincinnati. Jones didn’t catch any of the passes thrown his way, which is a continuing theme for him with just three catches, on 11 targets, in the red zone this season. He and Charles Clay will continue to split looks inside the 20, but if he can’t catch them, don’t be shocked if they go to Clay more often.

Dede Westbrook- Westbrook has only been in three games this season, the last three, but has already amassed 25 targets overall. He saw his first red zone look in Week 13, but more should be heading his way given the lack of depth in Jacksonville in the receiving corps. He should be added to your roster for the playoffs, if he’s still available that is.

Kyle Rudolph- Rudolph maybe an odd name to put in the “ones to watch” section but it’s appropriate given the lack of talk about him during the run the Vikings are on. Adam Thielen and the running backs are getting a lot of love, but the guy who is tied with Thielen in red zone targets, 13, isn’t really being talked about. Rudolph had just one target against the Falcons, but it went for a touchdown, his fifth inside the 20 on the season. The Vikings’ tight end leads the league in catch-rate for players with more than six red zone targets at an impressive 92.3% (12-of-13). He is really kicking it into gear in time for the playoffs with three total touchdowns in the last three games, two of which were from the 6-yard line or closer.

Bilal Powell- Powell had his best week of the season, in terms of red zone looks, with three balls thrown his way, two of which were caught. He doubled his season total with that effort against the Chiefs, tying him for third on the team. Powell is also tied for the most catches inside the 10 with Austin Seferian-Jenkins at four at piece. It’s unlikely he will have another three-target game but the uptick is encouraging.