Now that we are three weeks through the NFL regular season, we are starting to see some trends emerge, and while the red zone may only occupy 20 yards for the offense, these are the important touches for fantasy football managers. What teams are pass-happy in the red zone? What running backs have struggled with their red zone carries? What quarterbacks are poaching red zone rushes from their star running backs? Who should I be trying to sell high or buy low in fantasy football trades? From red zone passing, to rushing, to receiving, we’ll take a look at some notable numbers from the first two weeks of the season that can help your fantasy football teams the rest of the way. Using the red zone report here at Fantasy Alarm, here are the key numbers and notes in this week’s red zone analysis.

 

 

 

NFL Red Zone Passing for Week 3

Derek Carr, LV

The Raiders have the second-highest pass rate in the NFL this season, so it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to see Carr averaging nine pass attempts in the red zone this season. However, his 33 percent completion percentage in the red zone is tied with Kyler Murray for the worst mark amongst quarterbacks with at least 15 red zone attempts. Fortunately for Carr, six of his nine completions have gone for touchdowns, but to say he’s been both efficient and effective would be a lie.

 

Lamar Jackson, BAL

Jackson’s opportunity share in terms of red zone work is setting the floor for a massive fantasy season. He’s tossed seven touchdowns in the red zone this year on just 14 pass attempts, and he also has 38 percent of the team’s red zone carries, including half of the carries inside the five-yard line! Jackson is balling out right now to say the least, and he’s been incredibly effective (and efficient) in fantasy football’s most lucrative area.

 

NFL Red Zone Rushing for Week 3

Nick Chubb & Kareem Hunt, CLE

Cleveland is run-heavy in the red zone, as Hunt and Chubb are first, and tied for third respectively in red zone rushing attempts this season, and they are two of just six players with double-digit red zone carries this season. Hunt may lead in carries, but there’s no denying who has been the far more effective back.

Player

Att

Yds

TD

%Rush

TD %

%Rush <10

%Rush <5

Kareem Hunt

11

21

0

47%

0%

40%

40%

Nick Chubb

10

45

4

43%

40%

60%

60%


 

Hunt’s usage in the passing game certainly helps his PPR floor, but Chubb is thriving in this run-heavy offense, and he could be unleashed for fantasy purposes if the tides turn in the red zone, and the team commits to Chubb more often than Hunt.

 

Dameon Pierce, HOU

Here’s what you need to know with Pierce in the red zone this year:

 

Inside Red Zone

Inside the 10-Yard Line

Dameon Pierce Rushing Attempts

10

6

Davis Mills Passing Attempts

7

4


 

Pierce is the only one in this offense with any sort of juice or explosion at the moment, and as long as this hip injury isn’t a severely limiting factor, he’ll continue to be the bell cow for this team on early downs and in the red zone. Hopefully they cancel this Rex Burkhead experiment sometime soon.

 

Antonio Gibson, WAS

His snap count has dropped each week, largely due to game script most likely, and he’s watched his carries trend downwards, as have his targets, receptions, and receiving yards. When Brian Robinson is able to return to the field, he seems like a legitimate threat to step right into considerable red zone work, seeing that while Gibson has two touchdowns on seven carries inside the red zone, those seven carries have resulted in negative two yards. He has not been effective in the red zone whatsoever, and Robinson could be a red zone guy for the team when healthy enough to return.

 

 

 

NFL Red Zone Receiving for Week 3

Rashod Bateman, BAL

Bateman doesn’t have a red zone target this year, which I think is more of just an interesting factoid more so than a precursor of what’s to come for the entire season. Bateman has at least 59 yards in each game this season, and he scored in each of the team’s first two games. Again, the tight ends are heavily utilized in the red zone passing attack for Baltimore, but I’m hard-pressed to believe that Bateman takes a backseat to Demarcus Robinson and Devin Duvernay inside the 20s for the rest of the season.

 

Brandin Cooks, HOU

It hasn’t been a great start to the year for Cooks, largely due to the fact that Davis Mills hasn’t built upon the success he had from the end of last season. Also, Pep Hamilton’s offense is so boring that it hasn’t allowed the offense to have any sort of juice or explosion, outside of Dameon Pierce. However, the good thing here is that Cooks has still averaged nearly 10 targets per game, and he remains the clear-cut alpha in this passing attack.  He has a 42 percent target share in the red zone, and while he has yet to catch a pass inside the 20s, those receptions will come, and things would look drastically different had he caught that one pass that would have been a score in Week 2 against Denver. My faith in the Houston offense is waning a bit, but Cooks is a guy I’d be willing to buy low on.


Allen Lazard, GB

Romeo Doubs is the big name right now, since he had a bigger game than Lazard in Week 3, but when you look at the two games these guys played together, they both have the same number of red zone targets (3), but Lazard has two touchdowns to Doubs’ one. Listen, I like Doubs, but Aaron Rodgers loves Allen Lazard, and how smart and dependable he is. Listen to the way Rodgers talks about Lazard, and that’s my big takeaway. Even if Lazard doesn’t fully emerge as the WR1 in Green Bay, he’s going to be heavily utilized, and he’ll constantly be on the field, health willing. Don’t sleep on Lazard, just because Doubs had the big game in Week 3.

 

 

 

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