ARI

In the final few weeks of the year, Christian Kirk really balled out and became Kyle Murray’s favorite receiver. It was a very inconsistent season from him up to this point, but he had nine or more targets in the last three weeks and didn’t even need Week 18 in order to hit 100 targets. Antoine Wesley is the other Cardinals receiver that made a splash down the stretch. He’s had eight, four and five targets in the last three games and scored twice over that span as well.

Chase Edmonds got back to his old ways as the featured back in Arizona earlier in the year, especially in the passing game. He notched his second consecutive game with at least six targets and it was the ninth time this season he had at least four. If Zach Ertz is in Arizona next year, he’s a top-12 TE at the position.

ATL

It was a solid run for Russell Gage once Calvin Ridley stepped away from the game – outside of the Donut he gave us in Week 8 – but that’s the extent of the love for the Falcons receiving corps. 

It was a horrible ending to a great year for Cordarrelle Patterson as Atlanta just kind of stopped using him in the passing game, which I don’t understand in the slightest bit. He had six targets in the last three games? Really? Despite a tough Week 17 and disappointing year not getting into the end zone, Kyle Pitts has 105 targets going into Week 18. That’s the fourth most at the position.

BAL

Who know what to expect from Rashod Bateman anymore. I’m not sure Rashod Bateman knows. It’s been a rollercoaster ride and not one you want to be on in fantasy land. What’s been great, however, is Marquise Brown, for pretty the whole damn year. The ending was rocky and that’s unfortunately due to playing with three separate quarterbacks, but he was largely great all year long. 138 targets is impressive.

Do you know who has a small claim as the overall TE1 going into next year? Mark Andrews. Most people probably disagree here and still go Travis Kelce and you know what, that’s fine, but Andrews’ 138 targets clears Kelce by eight heading into the final week of the year.

BUF

Stefon Diggs? Animal. Cole Beasley? Looked good in his return from Covid. And that was your Week 17 passing game in a nutshell for Buffalo.

CAR

For three straight weeks it’s been DJ Moore AND Robby Anderson, but only Moore is standing on the podium this week. Anderson was a forgotten man in this one seeing just two targets, which was pretty much what happened to him throughout the entirety of the campaign. Moore was the only standout in this passing game for Carolina this year and for his sake, hopefully Carolina gets him a competent QB in 2022.

CHI

Even with the return of Allen Robinson, it was the Darnell Mooney show as Mooney saw 13 targets to Robinson’s six. Mooney failed to have less than five targets just once this year and you’ve have to go back to Week 3 to find out when that was. He had four. We don’t know how this is going to shake out for Mooney and the Bears’ receivers, but assuming Robinson’s gone, the future is looking bright for the young receiver.

CIN

JA’MARR CHASE. THAT IS FREAKIN’ ALL.

CLE

The Browns threw the ball a lot in this game, way more than anyone was expecting I’m sure, and Jarvis Landry was the recipient of 10 targets, which doubled up both Donovan Peoples-Jones and Rashard Higgins. 

We don’t know what the future holds for CLE at the quarterback position, but we have sees signs from both Austin Hooper and David Njoku at the tight end spot this year, but Njoku is mainly who, if either of them, we should keep our eye on for 2022 and beyond.

DAL

There’s no way around it, but Dak Prescott struggled mightily down the stretch with getting the ball to his playmakers. Even with Michael Gallup going down and tearing his ACL, Amari Cooper with only seven targets and CeeDee Lamb with four? Unacceptable, especially considering both of those guys were drafted in the top four or five rounds this year.

One of the more surprising developments this year has been Dalton Schultz and how good of a rapport he has had with Dak Prescott. He’s had eight or more targets in three straight games and is now at 101 through 17 weeks of the year.

DEN

EVEN without Jerry Jeudy, Courtland Sutton could get NOTHING going, seeing just five targets. He’s only had one game with more than seven targets since Week 6, which is disappointing. He was drafted VERY early this year and has been extremely disappointing, much like the Denver passing game as a whole this year. Get this team a quarterback please.

DET

Amon-Ra St. Brown. League winner. Five straight games with 11+ targets.

GB

It has been an impressive finish to the year for Allen Lazard who’s now had four straight games of four or more targets, with six in Week 17. Depending on who’s around for Green Bay next year, Lazard could really have a big role with this team considering he’s signed next year.

HOU

So turns out Brandin Cooks is a monster when he has a quarterback able to deliver him the football. Davis Mills has been very impressive and has thrown the ball to Cooks a LOT lately, notching 10+ targets in three straight games.

IND

It was a breakout season for Michael Pittman and it continued in Week 17 as he had as many targets as the rest of his receivers combined. The most disappointing thing about this season for the Indy passing game is that Jonathan Taylor wasn’t utilized enough, but I’m really nitpicking one of the better fantasy seasons of the year.

JAX

I cannot wait for Trevor Lawrence in a new system in 2022. Bart Scott can’t wait.

KC

It was all Tyreek Hill all the time in this one as he had 10 targets for the 10th time this year. It's insane that in 10 games, he’s had over 100 targets this year. Very few players can say that. Travis Kelce had seven targets and that’s really the extent of the Chiefs Week 17 passing attack. We know the running backs do get involved, but Darrel Williams had just three looks.

LAR

Odell Beckham has really been good in a Rams uniform and Van Jefferson has a role too, but all eyes are on Cooper Kupp. He needs 11 receptions and 134 yards to break the respective records. Now, they were done in 16 game seasons and Kupp gets a 17th week to try and do it, but we shouldn’t lose sight on how special this season is regardless.

It’s been impressive to see Sony Michel actually handle work out of the backfield and that’s just a part of the game plan now. He’s had four or more targets in back-to-back games and has done so three times in his last five outings. Tyler Higbee had nine targets here. OK, time to move on.

LAC

With Mike Williams back in action in Week 17, Keenan Allen still led the charge with nine targets, which put him one shy of 150 for the year. He’d have cleared 150 with ease if he hadn’t missed a game earlier in the year and would have likely crushed the 160 mark thanks to a Week 18 in which his team NEEDS to win.

LV

After a few down games, Hunter Renfrow stormed back with nine targets in a must-win game for Las Vegas. It wasn’t only Renfrow that looked good though, it was Zay Jones AGAIN, as he had a season high 10 targets. He has now had four straight games in which he’s been targeted at least seven times. He’s been impressive and has completely out played Bryan Edwards and DeSean Jackson in every facet of the game. We may need to monitor Zay Jones and see where he ends up next season if this is the type of player he can be.

One last shout out to Josh Jacobs for his 2021 campaign and improvements in the passing game. His four targets in Week 17 pretty much sums him up in the passing game. He’s tied for EIGHTH in the league amongst running backs.

MIA

With their season on the line, the Dolphins turned to their main guys for all of the work through the air. DeVante Parker had a team – and season – high 13 targets while Jaylen Waddle had seven. Waddle was as good as it gets as a rookie, but unfortunately Ja’Marr Chase this year and Justin Jefferson have set such lofty expectations it’s kind of flying under-the-radar.

Shout out to Mike Gesicki this year as well as he’s had quite the season, notching 109 targets heading into Week 18.

MIN

Justin Jefferson is special. Special special. 

NE

The Pats laid a smackdown here and Jakobi Meyers continued to be THE guy in the New England passing attack. He has 28 targets over his last three games, in the last four games he’s played in he’s put up eight or more and has accomplished that feat 10 times this year. Kendrick Bourne also had his moments here seeing six looks in this contest and both have benefited tremendously from Nelson Agholor being out. 

NO

For much of the year, when you look at the Saints’ receiving corps, it was Marquez Callaway and then everyone else. He had 10 targets here and the rest of the receivers had four. He has 83 on the year and Deonte Harris, who’s in second, has 55.

It’s been a weird year for Alvin Kamara in terms of the passing game and yet, here we are, five targets away from 70. He’s still one of the best fantasy assets in the game playing with FOUR different quarterbacks and also getting hurt. Machine.

NYG

Nightmare. Disaster. OK, already spent enough time here.

NYJ

Braxton Berrios’ SZN has been upon us and in a podcast last week, I asked Matt Selz if he could be a league winner and I meant it. The Jets just had nobody left and Zach Wilson, for as tough as it was at times, has looked pretty damn good down the stretch of the season. Berrios has had a monster finish to the year and could be playing himself into a nice role in the future.

PHI

With Jalen Hurts under center, there isn’t a lot of volume to go around. DeVonta Smith had a decent game from a volume standpoint, which could really be a seasonal statement as well. The 100 targets led the team and almost doubled up Quez Watkins and Jalen Reagor, but I think there was just more expected from a production standpoint.

Speaking on production, it was good to see Dallas Goedert really shine down the stretch of the year and really play himself into potentially being drafted as a top-six tight end heading into 2022. The hesitation is definitely Jalen Hurts’ development as a passer, but he took a liking to Goedert as soon as Ertz left town.

PIT

We knew Diontae Johnson was going to get his, but something we talked about last week was the slot receiver and a specific one in Ray-Ray McCloud who did it again here. He had 10 targets, which was the third time in four games in which he’s had at least eight. He actually had more targets than Chase Claypool did through his previous four games, interestingly enough.

SEA

I mean, WHERE WAS THIS DK Metcalf ALL YEAR, DAWG? Gosh the dude was incredible in this one and we know that’s in his bag. Russell Wilson wants to stay in Seattle and he’s the best option to maximize Metcalf’s ceiling moving forward.

SF

With Trey Lance under center, the aerial attack just wasn’t great. It wasn’t terrible either, but most of the targets centered around Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel. Lance has not been great for his tight ends when he’s played, which obviously hurts considering who the 49ers have there.

TB

I mean, business was NOT boom’ for the Bucs for most of this game considering everything that happened with Antonio Brown AND the fact that they were losing for essentially the entire game to the Jets! With Antonio Brown released and Chris Godwin hurt, Mike Evans and Rob Gronkowski are going to shoulder a HEAVY postseason load.

TEN

After a 16 target week, A.J. Brown had FIVE looks. That’s all. That’s still more than Julio Jones has had his last three games. What a zero he’s been this year.

WFT

Terry McLaurin and everyone else can kick rocks. Curtis Samuel has been a BUST this year and that has killed this offense.