ARI
With DeAndre Hopkins, A.J. Green and Kyler Murray all missing, the Cardinals offense was led by Colt McCoy and McCoy didn’t look all that bad. With McCoy under center, Christian Kirk paced the Cardinals in targets, snaps and routes run from the wide receiver position. Rondale Moore saw five targets too, but his fantasy relevance is really contingent upon the statuses of DeAndre Hopkins and A.J. Green.
With Chase Edmonds going on, James Conner looked fantastic through the air catching all five of his targets, which shouldn’t shock anyone considering how good he was catching the ball out of the backfield when he was a three-down back in Pittsburgh. The Cardinals offense is one that throws to the running back often, so don’t be surprised when Conner is more involved moving forward. Maybe Eno Benjamin too. Zach Ertz continues to be a consistent safety blanket for Arizona quarterbacks, but he’ll never be the highest targeted guy in this offense with how many options they have at full strength.
ATL
After laying a goose egg, Russell Gage led the team in targets with eight, out-pacing both Kyle Pitts and Cordarrelle Patterson. Both he and Tajai Sharpe ran the most routes for the Falcons (31) on Matt Ryan’s 37 drop backs. Olamide Zaccheaus is the guy who had a big day, but he only ran 21 routes and is very hard to trust on a week-to-week basis. He’s had five targets in the last three games. Total.
If you’re still in denial about Cordarrelle Patterson, I’m not sure why, but it’s time to figure it out. Without Calvin Ridley, with Calvin Ridley, it doesn’t matter. This guy is elite. He’s a receiver that has learned how to play running back and is used in both areas. He ran 20 routes and also had nine carries. He’s a WEEKLY RB1 just like Kyle Pitts is a WEEKLY TE1. Despite a down week in terms of production, he had seven targets in Week 9 and hasn’t had less than six since Week 3. Positive production regression is coming.
BAL
For the fourth time this season, Marquise Brown had double-digit targets. For the third consecutive game, Rashod Bateman had six or more targets. These are two relevant receivers in Baltimore right now. Could things get slightly murkier with the return of Sammy Watkins imminent? Sure, but not really something I’m overly concerned about.
Because of course Patrick Ricard had five targets in this one. Of COURSE he scored a touchdown too. I’m not holding my breath that anyone in the backfield will play a role in the passing game moving forward. Mark Andrews joined Marquise Brown in the double-digit target category with his 10 in Week 9. It was just the second time all year Andrews had accomplished that feat but he has yet to have a week in which he hasn’t had at least five targets in a game.
BUF
There were a LOT of targets to go around in Buffalo considering Josh Allen threw the ball 47 times, but the Bills scored six total points...to the Jaguars. That being said, Cole Beasley led the receivers with 11 targets while Stefon Diggs and Emmanuel Sanders had eight. Beasley is the team leader in targets over the last three games with 33 while Emmanuel Sanders continues playing the most snaps.
It was shocking to see how involved the Bills running backs were in the passing game here considering they’re rarely ever featured. Devin Singletary saw eight targets, which matched his career high, while Zach Moss saw four before his injury. Dawson Knox should bring relevance to this tight end group as he likely returns in Week 10.
CAR
With Sam Darnold under center it’s been tough sledding in recent weeks for Panthers receivers. DJ Moore, per usual, led the group with seven targets, but Terrace Marshall and Robby Anderson combined for four. Darnold is injured, so PJ Walker will take over and hopefully inject some life into this aerial attack.
It took no time for Christian McCaffrey to come back and look fantastic while logging only half the team's offensive snaps. He caught all five of his targets in this one, but he wasn’t the only running back who saw five targets. No, not Chuba Hubbard either. Ameer Abdullah was who I was looking for. CMC should ramp up his snap share this week and it’ll leave less time for Abdullah to make an impact.
CHI
Sure Allen Robinson had six targets this week, but so did Darnell Mooney and Cole Kmet had more than him. With Justin Fields looking better as a passer as the weeks go on, it’s hard to out right drop Robinson, especially if you have held onto him for this long. Fields to Mooney is the connection at the wide receiver position worth looking at here.
Andrew Cooper has been screaming from the rooftops about Cole Kmet and he’s starting to pay off in gold. Kmet has had six or more targets in three straight games and had a season-high eight in Week 9. Even head coach Matt Nagy has praised Kmet in recent weeks.
CIN
When we look at this offense as a whole, it’s a really condensed target tree. Sure Tyler Boyd has a couple good games here and there, but so has KJ Osborn. It reminds me of what the Vikings are running in Minnesota. Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins are playing the roles of Justin Jefferson and Adam Thielen. They’re all just so heavily targeted it’s hard for anyone else to get much love. Chase had 13 looks and Higgins had eight. Expect that to continue from now until the end of time.
It is definitely worth noting that Joe Mixon continues to be a factor in the passing game and that’s great news and only further solidifies his status as a true RB1. He’s had five or more targets in three straight games.
CLE
Cleveland didn’t really need to throw all that much here considering the beating they handed the Bengals, but in their first game without Odell Beckham Jr., Jarvis Landry led the receiving group in targets with five. Landry played the most snaps and ran the most routes at wide out. Donovan Peoples-Jones had the big day, but Anthony Schwartz actually ran more routes than him.
The Browns don’t often get Nick Chubb involved in the passing game and he only had two targets here. The Browns tight ends played a lot of snaps, but they each had between two and three targets. All three of them. None of them can be trusted!
DAL
It was a complete dud for the Dallas offense here and the receiving corps provided us with nothing. It was nice to see CeeDee Lamb get nine targets, but he didn’t do anything with them. Both Amari Cooper and Cedrick Wilson saw five each, but like Lamb...nothing came from them. Michael Gallup should be back in Week 10, so Wilson’s volume will take a significant hit.
Usually dependable Ezekiel Elliott and Dalton Schultz weren’t all that involved either. Blake Jarwin was placed on IR, however, which bodes well for Schultz moving forward.
DEN
It’s unfortunate to say, but very clearly Jerry Jeudy is the alpha in this passing attack. It’s unfortunate because Courtland Sutton’s production has fallen off a cliff. He had two targets in Week 9 and four in Week 8, both weeks Jeudy has played in. Oh, he had three in Week 1 while Jeudy had seven.
For the first time all year, Javonte Williams did not have a single target in the passing game. For the fourth straight game, Melvin Gordon had three targets. Gordon now has just one fewer targets than the rookie they’ve compared to Alvin Kamara. Gordon isn’t going anywhere, folks. With Noah Fant out in Week 9, Albert Okwuegbunam saw five looks through the air.
DET
Week 9 bye week.
GB
The ONLY thing that wasn’t normal in terms of volume was that Aaron Jones only saw two targets. The targets will turn to production, but really nothing out of the ordinary in terms of distribution.
HOU
For the third time this season, Brandin Cooks had at least 13 targets in a game. He’s had 11 or more four times and continues to be Houston’s top dog. He’s been targeted six or more times all but once this year and the one time he failed to reach six he had five. It’s worth mentioning Danny Amendola has played in three straight games and has five or more looks, including seven in his last game.
IND
Michael Pittman may have ended up being the more productive of the two, but Zach Pascal was targeted one more time than Pittman. Pascal has been a safety net for Carson Wentz all year as he’s failed to reach five targets in all but one game. The issue with trusting Pascal in fantasy is that T.Y. Hilton, once again, has returned to practice and could suit up in Week 10.
From weeks four to seven, Nyheim Hines had eight targets and in the last two weeks he has 11. The Colts have found themselves calling Hines’ number more recently than they were. Despite that fact, Jonathan Taylor still ran more routes than Hines did in Week 9.
JAC
It’s hard to throw on the BIlls and that was apparent in Week 9. Jamal Agnew, Marvin Jones and Laviska Shenault all had between four and five targets and not a single one of them had double-figure fantasy points. Jones and Shenault ran the most routes, but over the last three weeks Jamal Agnew led them in targets.
After seeing eight targets in Week 8, Carlos Hyde was a non factor in the passing attack, seeing just two targets when everyone had just acquired him through waivers and were using him in place of James Robinson. Hey, Dan Arnold has been littered throughout the Fantasy Alarm and DFS Alarm airwaves the last few weeks and he keeps producing. He’s had 17 targets the last two games after his seven target performance led the team in Week 9.
KC
There’s Tyreek Hill, Travis Kelce and a splash of Mecole Hardman but that’s that.
LAR
With his 13 target day, Cooper Kupp regained his target lead over Tyreek Hill and continues to shovel out overall WR1 production each and every week. Robert Woods has crept into the top-24 of wideouts in PPR as well and it helps when you’re peppered with 10 targets like Woods was in Week 9. The Rams have thrown a lot and although the production hasn’t been consistent, the targets have for Van Jefferson. He’s not seen seven, six and seven the last three games and that should continue with DeSean Jackson departing for Las Vegas. Gamble responsibly, DJax.
There were seven targets shoveled out between Darrell Henderson and Sony Michel in Week 9 and it was actually fairly close in terms of routes run between the two. Henderson dominated the snaps 47 to 31, but Michel ran 23 routes compared to Henderson’s 29. The real story was Tyler Higbee seeing 10 looks. Higbee ran a route on 55 of the 58 passing snaps for the Rams and although there are a lot of weapons here, that’s great to see. He’s a high-end TE2 at this point.
LAC
Something Andrew Cooper said this week on his “Coops Scoops” video about Justin Herbert stood out. He got the ball out quickly and with that, Keenan Allen was the beneficiary of that while anyone streaking down the field, running the deeper route -- looking at you Mike Williams -- didn’t factor in. If that’s going to continue, we can expect Allen to be one of the most heavily targeted receivers in football down the stretch of the year.
It was a down week for Austin Ekeler in the passing game as well, seeing just three targets, which was his lowest output since Week 1. He’s still fifth in the league amongst all running backs in targets. What a nightmare in the tight end room, ay? Jared Cook four targets, Stephen Anderson four targets and Donald Parham three targets. Cook ran the most routes, but it was Stephen Anderson who played the most snaps.
LV
It was obviously intriguing to see who would stand out with Henry Ruggs out of the lineup for Las Vegas and nothing really changed. At least in the receiving group. Hunter Renfrow continues to lead this group in targets by a wide margin as his nine led the way while Bryan Edwads and Zay Jones saw four. Edwards was in a tough spot against James Bradberry, so we should get a better idea about things in Week 10.
Without Henry Ruggs ability to stretch the field, Derek Carr leaned on the running backs a LOT in the passing game here. Kenyan Drake had EIGHT targets and ran 24 routes compared to Josh Jacobs 17. The snaps were super close too as Jacobs played 34 to Drake’s 31. Jacobs, however, saw four targets as well as he developed into a better pass catcher than he was in previous years. Oh by the way, welcome back Darren Waller who had his first double-digit target game since Week 1. He’s a top three player at the position moving forward.
MIA
If DeVante Parker and Will Fuller don’t play, it’s the Jaylen Waddle show. It’s been that way all year long. With his 10 targets in Week 9, Waddle has had back-to-back 10+ target games and has hit that mark in three of his last four contests. Well, Parker’s on IR and Fuller has been ruled out for Week 10. It’s all Jaylen Waddle all the time once again here. It’s worth mentioning Mack Hollins had six targets and played the second most snaps out of the receiver position.
With Parker and Fuller down and out, Myles Gaskin and Mike Gesicki are the second and third options in no particular order. Gaskin is a top-five targeted running back in football this year whether we want to believe it or not. Gesicki had eight targets for the third time in four games in Week 9 and is locked into TE1 status with Fuller and Parker out.
MIN
The Vikings really haven’t thrown the ball all that much the last two weeks and when Kirk Cousins has, he hasn’t necessarily looked Justin Jefferson’s way, which isn’t the best approach if you ask, well, anyone with eyes. He had just five targets in Week 9 and four in Week 8. Adam Thielen actually lead the receiving group each of the last two weeks with seven and nine targets. He’s now shrunk the lead Jefferson built and is trailing by just two targets on the year.
Dalvin Cook hasn’t really been involved in the passing game, but Tyler Conklin continues to look good notching seven targets in back to back games. The only players that ran more routes than Conklin in Week 9 were Jefferson and Thielen.
NE
Yikes. The passing attack is...bad. All the receivers are WR4 or worse at this stage of the year. Whichever running back suits up in Week 10 -- considering there were multiple injuries -- is viable as well as touchdown machine, Hunter Henry. That’s really all you can trust. If all the running backs are healthy, well, it’s really just Henry.
NO
The Saints receivers survived another week avoiding Taysom Hill throwing them the passes..or not throwing at all. As long as Trevor Siemian is the quarterback, Marquez Callaway and Deonte Harris have some value. Each guy saw six or more targets with the latter leading with eight. Tre’Quan Smith saw four targets too, but he’s a fantasy afterthought at this point.
It wasn’t just Alvin Kamara out of the backfield for the Saints this week. Mark Ingram had five targets himself and Kamara came out of Week 9 banged up, so if Ingram is the lead dog in Week 10, he showed he can be valuable catching passes too. With Juwan Johnson a healthy scratch, Adam Trautman saw seven targets and has now topped six targets in back to back weeks.
NYG
The Giants receiver with the most targets was Kenny Golladay! Great news, right? Well, he led with two stinkin’ targets. TWO. Kadarius Toney had ONE. The Giants won the game, but fantasy owners lost the war.
The leading target getter for the Giants was actually Kyle Rudolph. Evan Engram had three and scored the touchdown, but Rudolph was targeted more. Don’t expect that to continue as Rudolph ran just 10 routes total. Maybe the Week 10 bye week will do this passing attack some good.
NYJ
The Jets were down big early and it led to a LOT of passing. Josh Johnson dropped back 48 times and Mike White, before his injury, dropped back 11 times. With Corey Davis out, Elijah Moore, Keelan Cole and Jamison Crowder dominated the target shares in the receiver room. Cole and Moore saw eight looks while Crowder had seven. Things are trending upwards for Davis’ status for Week 10, so it’ll definitely impact the rest of the guys. Something else of note is that Mike White has been named the starter. In Week 8 with White under center, it was all quick passing and Crowder (nine targets) and Moore (six targets) benefitted from that.
You know who else benefited from White under center? Michael Carter and Ty Johnson. White checked in against New England and Carter had nine targets and eight receptions. He then started versus Cincinnati and he caught nine of 14 targets. He leaves the game in Week 9 and Carter has just two targets. Johnson had 13 targets himself with White under center. Just three last week. They couldn’t have been happier to see White named the starter for this game.
PHI
We are nine weeks into the year and it’s abundantly clear that DeVonta Smith is the ONLY receiver on Philly we can roster. Jalen Hurts has now thrown 31 times in the last two weeks COMBINED. The Eagles have made a decision to run the football down teams throats and that has impacted Hurts’ ability to really be a difference maker through the air.
Not a SINGLE Philly running back saw a target in Week 9. None, zero, zilch. Hurts keeps plays along too long and outside a few anomalies for Kenneth Gainwell, it’s just not in this group's cards. Despite the low output from Hurts, Goedert’s volume has not been impacted in the slightest.
PIT
This was not a high output game for Ben Roethlisberger and it was one that was distributed across the board. Diontae Johnson led the receiving corps with six targets while Chase Claypool had five. Claypool suffered a toe injury late in Week 9 and that could lead to someone else like James Washington or Ray-Ray McCloud getting into the mix if Claypool is forced to miss an extended period of time. It only solidifies Johnson’s stature as one of the top PPR options at the WR position for the remainder of the season.
Although it’s now been two down games in a row for Najee Harris in the pass, he remains one of the more heavily used running backs through the air. Thanks to his 19 target Week 3, Harris is second trailing only D’Andre Swift. How about Pat Freiermuth, huh? He quickly became one of Roethlisberger’s favorite weapons and the only Steelers that ran more routes than him in Week 9 were Johnson and Claypool.
SEA
Thank god Russell Wilson is back in Week 10. Fire up your DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett shares, sit back and appreciate what we have.
SF
Looky looky. What do we have here?! That Brandon Aiyuk fellow has made some noise the last two weeks. He has 15 targets in those games and although Deebo Samuel has 18, has the gap closed at all? Yes Samuel was a little banged up, but Aiyuk played one more snap and ran more routes than Samuel in Week 9 for what that’s worth.
Can we trust Elijah Mitchell receiving five targets in a game again? Not very likely. He had FOUR total targets coming into this game and hadn’t had more than 20 receptions in any one of his four seasons in college either. You know who we can trust, however? George Kittle. Kittle had eight targets here and the last three games he’s played in he has nine, 11 and eight targets. Can the 49ers support THREE viable fantasy assets? Not many offenses do it, so I think we have decisions to make about who’s in Jimmy Garoppolo’s bubble of trust and who will fall out of it.
TB
Week 9 bye week.
TEN
You can deny it all you want, the Chipotle incident of 2021 has turned A.J. Brown’s season around. Since his sickness, Brown has had nine, nine, 11 and 11 targets in four games. He’s quickly ascending to the top of the wide receiver food chain and with Derrick Henry out, there is no doubt this type of target share will continue. He’s really the only worth rostering right about now.
WAS
Week 9 bye week.