Hidden Stat Line: Targets, Routes & Snaps from Week 5

Hidden Stat Line: Targets, Routes & Snaps from Week 5

This article is part of our Hidden Stat Line series.

If you haven't already, check out the twin brother to this article, Hidden Stat Line: Week 5 Backfield Breakdown, complete with sortable stat leaderboards, team-by-team usage recaps and waiver-wire recommendations for running backs. Now, let's do the same thing for wide receivers and tight ends...

Week 5 Sortable Stat Leaderboards

Tight Ends

(Bold indicates Top 5 for the week)

 SnapsRoutesRoutes/DropbackTargetsTarget Share
1TE Travis Kelce89%440.861228.60%
2TE Austin Hooper79%290.741026.30%
3TE Hunter Henry94%310.82825.00%
4TE Mark Andrews68%330.85925.00%
5TE Jonnu Smith86%180.58725.00%
6TE Darren Waller91%280.88723.30%
7TE George Kittle100%300.75822.90%
8TE Mike Gesicki45%260.84622.20%
9TE Trey Burton45%180.53618.80%
10TE Eric Ebron77%270.77617.60%
11TE Hayden Hurst83%320.82617.10%
12TE Zach Ertz95%360.86616.70%
13TE Tyler Eifert61%330.6715.90%
14TE Rob Gronkowski80%280.64614.60%
15TE Cameron Brate46%180.41614.60%
16TE Logan Thomas87%360.90414.30%
17TE Irv Smith68%310.74513.20%
18TE Jimmy Graham76%360.8511.90%
19TE Chris Herndon42%160.4139.70%
20TE Dalton Schultz88%290.8339.10%
21TE Drew

If you haven't already, check out the twin brother to this article, Hidden Stat Line: Week 5 Backfield Breakdown, complete with sortable stat leaderboards, team-by-team usage recaps and waiver-wire recommendations for running backs. Now, let's do the same thing for wide receivers and tight ends...

Week 5 Sortable Stat Leaderboards

Tight Ends

(Bold indicates Top 5 for the week)

 SnapsRoutesRoutes/DropbackTargetsTarget Share
1TE Travis Kelce89%440.861228.60%
2TE Austin Hooper79%290.741026.30%
3TE Hunter Henry94%310.82825.00%
4TE Mark Andrews68%330.85925.00%
5TE Jonnu Smith86%180.58725.00%
6TE Darren Waller91%280.88723.30%
7TE George Kittle100%300.75822.90%
8TE Mike Gesicki45%260.84622.20%
9TE Trey Burton45%180.53618.80%
10TE Eric Ebron77%270.77617.60%
11TE Hayden Hurst83%320.82617.10%
12TE Zach Ertz95%360.86616.70%
13TE Tyler Eifert61%330.6715.90%
14TE Rob Gronkowski80%280.64614.60%
15TE Cameron Brate46%180.41614.60%
16TE Logan Thomas87%360.90414.30%
17TE Irv Smith68%310.74513.20%
18TE Jimmy Graham76%360.8511.90%
19TE Chris Herndon42%160.4139.70%
20TE Dalton Schultz88%290.8339.10%
21TE Drew Sample94%260.6726.90%
22TE Tyler Higbee82%150.4726.90%
23TE Evan Engram81%300.8626.90%
24TE Jared Cook54%340.6736.40%
25TE Darren Fells86%270.7125.70%
26TE Greg Olsen83%310.7613.30%
27TE Ian Thomas65%290.7412.90%

  

Wide Receivers

(Bold indicates Top 15 for the week)

 SnapsRoutesRoutes/DropbackTargetsTarget Share
1WR Allen Robinson87%410.911638.10%
2WR Darius Slayton94%340.971137.90%
3WR Robby Anderson72%330.851337.10%
4WR DK Metcalf96%390.951136.70%
5WR Travis Fulgham78%340.811336.10%
6WR Stefon Diggs83%430.881635.60%
7WR Jeff Smith99%391.01135.50%
8WR Brandin Cooks83%340.891234.30%
9WR Adam Thielen93%410.981334.20%
10WR CeeDee Lamb55%250.711133.30%
11WR Chase Claypool69%230.661132.40%
12WR Jamison Crowder75%360.921032.30%
13WR A.J. Brown71%260.84932.10%
14WR T.Y. Hilton95%320.941031.30%
15WR Emmanuel Sanders59%380.751429.80%
16WR Calvin Ridley74%330.851028.60%
17WR Marquise Brown86%370.951027.80%
18WR Cooper Kupp82%250.78827.60%
19WR Tee Higgins81%360.92827.60%
20WR Terry McLaurin100%401.0725.00%
21WR Mike Williams77%310.82825.00%
22WR Odell Beckham86%370.95923.70%
23WR Jarvis Landry77%320.82923.70%
24WR Deebo Samuel89%360.9822.90%
25WR Will Fuller83%330.87822.90%
26WR Mike Evans85%380.86922.00%
27WR Tyler Boyd69%340.87620.70%
28WR Gabriel Davis100%491.0920.00%
29WR DeAndre Hopkins87%340.89720.00%
30WR Larry Fitzgerald80%310.82720.00%
31WR Christian Kirk59%300.79720.00%
32WR Preston Williams60%250.81518.50%
33WR Laviska Shenault69%380.85818.20%
34WR Robert Woods87%290.91517.20%
35WR Golden Tate59%250.71517.20%
36WR Brandon Aiyuk97%390.98617.10%
37WR Randall Cobb60%270.71617.10%
38WR Tyler Lockett96%400.98516.70%
39WR John Hightower81%360.86616.70%
40WR JuJu Smith-Schuster76%340.97514.70%
41WR Tyler Johnson79%370.84614.60%
42WR Tyreek Hill88%430.84614.30%
43WR DJ Moore78%340.87514.30%
44WR Curtis Samuel74%340.87514.30%
45WR Russell Gage62%260.67514.30%
46WR Greg Ward69%310.74513.90%
47WR Keelan Cole80%470.87614%
48WR Cole Beasley61%320.65613.30%
49WR Justin Jefferson80%400.95513.20%
50WR Michael Gallup97%351.0412.10%
51WR Amari Cooper64%250.71412.10%
52WR Darnell Mooney65%330.73511.90%
53WR James Washington71%320.91411.80%
54WR Olamide Zaccheaus97%391.0411.40%
55WR DeVante Parker79%311.0311.10%
56WR Henry Ruggs64%200.63310.00%
57WR Demarcus Robinson68%380.7549.50%
58WR Jalen Guyton92%350.9239.40%
59WR DJ Chark67%350.6949.10%
60WR Mecole Hardman69%360.7137.10%
61WR Tre'Quan Smith78%430.8436.40%
62WR Zach Pascal91%320.9426.30%
63WR Scotty Miller63%320.7300

    

Game-by-Game Usage Breakdowns

(Snap totals, snap shares, carries and targets come from pro-football-reference.com. Data on dropbacks and routes run comes from Pro Football Focus.)

Buccaneers (19) at Bears (20)

Bucs

 SnapsRoutesRoutes/DropbackTargetsTarget ShareReceiving Line
WR Mike Evans 85%  38 .86922.0%  5-41-1
TE Rob Gronkowski 80%  28 .64614.6% 3-52-0
WR Tyler Johnson 79%  37 .84614.6%  4-61-0
WR Scotty Miller 63%  32 .73 0 0
TE Cameron Brate46% 18 .41614.6%5-44-0
  • Evans now has five TDs on five targets inside the 10-yard line. He's accounted for 33 percent of Tampa's target volume in that area, and 23.1 percent in the red zone as a whole. His target shares in the three games with Godwin (hamstring) out of the lineup have been 28.6 percent (Week 2), 17.8 percent (Week 4) and 22.0 percent (Week 5), i.e., not really any different from usual.
  • Evans finished Thursday's game as the league leader with six receiving TDs, but his per-game averages for catches (4.4), yards (54.2) and targets (7.0) would all be career lows. It's hard to say if that's a product of the QB change from Jamies Winston to Tom Brady, or more about Evans battling hamstring and ankle injuries. Whatever the case, Evans won't continue to score touchdowns every week if his target share doesn't come up from its current mark of 18.3 percent.
  • Gronkowski's 80 percent snap share was actually his smallest since Week 2, but the six targets were his second most of the season, and .64 r/db was nearly identical to his .67 from the game against LA four days earlier. Gronk's pass-blocking usage is trending down a little, accounting for only 15.2 and 15.8 percent of his pass snaps the past two weeks, compared to 22.6 percent Weeks 1-3, per PFF.
  • Cameron Brate's role looked pretty similar to what O.J. Howard (torn Achilles) handled over the first four weeks of the season (48 percent snap share, .37 routes/db). Don't expect Brate to see six targets per week, unless he starts poaching more work from the ol' Gronkster.
  • Gronk and Brate saw six snaps apiece on 3rd-and-medium/long, out of 13 possible plays. Gronk played 30 of 31 snaps on first down, 20 of 24 on second down, and six of 14 on third downs. The Bucs' usage of Gronk/Brate was similar to how the Titans use Jonnu Smith and Anthony Firkser.
  • Despite everyone else in this offense being in and out of the lineup, Miller's playing time hasn't varied much — his snap share has landed between 43 and 69 percent each week. The Bucs have used Justin Watson (out - chest) and now Johnson as replacements for Godwin, which means they get most of the snaps in two-wide formations and then shift to the slot for three-wide looks. Miller mostly lines up outside, yet rarely gets snaps when the Bucs aren't in 11 personnel — he's  played only 36 of the team's 144 snaps (25 percent) in all other personnel groupings this year.
  • Johnson, the fifth-round rookie out of Minnesota, recorded all four of his catches and five of his six targets in the first half. In terms of playing time, his role was a slightly lesser version of what Godwin usually handles. Johnson played each of the team's 41 snaps in 11 personnel, but only 11 out of 20 in 12 personnel (Evans - 16, Miller - 5, Cyril Grayson - 5, Jaydon Mickens - 3). Johnson ran 73 percent of his routes from the slot, per PFF, but his big play — a 35-yard gain — came when he was lined up outside. (FWIW, Godwin has run 72 percent of his routes from the slot in two games this year.)

  

Bears

 SnapsRoutesRoutes/DropbackTargetsTarget ShareReceiving Line
WR Allen Robinson 87%  41 .9116 38.1% 10-90-0 
TE Jimmy Graham 76%  36 .8011.9%  3-33-1
WR Darnell Mooney 65%  33 .7311.9%   2-15-0
WR Anthony Miller41%  20 .449.5%  4-28-0
  • Robinson's efficiency stats for the season (61.4 percent catch rate, 7.4 YPT, 12.0) are nearly identical to last year's, but his role in the Chicago passing game has somehow been even more dominant so far, with his target share rising from 27.2 percent (2019) to 28.9 percent (2020). His per-game average has gone from 9.6 targets to 11.4 — partially due to the increased share, but more so because the Bears are averaging an extra 3.5 pass attempts per game compared to last season.
  • Robinson is tied for third with 12 targets 20-plus yards downfield (2.4 per game), though his 10.6 aDOT is actually slightly shallower than last year's 10.9. He saw 29 targets 20-plus yards downfield last year, 1.8 per game.
  • The snap share was Graham's largest since 80 percent in Week 1, though he hasn't gone lower than 2 percent in any game this year. For the season, he's at 70 percent snap share, .76 r/db and 5.6 targets per game. He's producing only 6.0 YPT on a 60.7 percent catch rate, but he finished Thursday tied for the NFL lead with five targets from inside the 10-yard line (three TDs).
  • Graham has accounted for 38.5 percent of Chicago's inside-the-10 targets and 29.6 percent of the red-zone targets. The first number is 15th-best in the league, and the second number is 14th-best. Of course, some teams are still dealing with extremely small samples on the red-zone stats, so we get weird stuff like Logan Thomas and Zach Ertz accounting for 100 percent of their respective teams' inside-the-10 targets.
  • The .44 r/db for Miller was a new season low. He hasn't seen many snaps outside of 11 personnel (3 WR, 1 RB, 1 TE), and in Thursday's game he wasn't even full time in the three-wide sets, playing 26 of 36 snaps (Robinson - 33, Mooney - 32, Graham - 29, Javon Wims - 11).
  • For the season, Miller is at 50 percent snap share, .59 r/db and 4.6 targets per game. He also has two game-winning touchdowns, and has now scored 37 percent of his career fantasy points in the fourth quarters of games... but the heroics don't make up for a lack of steady volume in fantasy-football world.
  • Mooney roasted the Bucs' top cornerback, Carlton Davis, for what should've been a 52-yard touchdown on the first play of the second quarter, only to watch Nick Foles throw the pass about 10 yards off target.
  • Per PFF, Mooney has been targeted deeper than 20 yards downfield seven times in the past three games, but only one of those was completed — a 33-yard gain Week 4. The rookie's deep-ball volume is promising, but less encouraging is the fact that Foles has completed only 12 of his 37 throws (plus two drops) traveling 20-plus yards downfield since the beginning of last season. That 37.8 "adjusted completion percentage", which includes drops as catches, would've placed him 24th out of 35 QBs last year.
  • This was Mooney's second straight game above .70 r/db, and his fourth in a row above .60. He was close to a full-time player Thursday night, taking 40 of the 53 snaps (75 percent) where Chicago had more than one WR on the field.

  

Panthers (23) at Falcons (16)

Panthers

 SnapsRoutesRoutes/DropbackTargetsTarget ShareReceiving Line
WR DJ Moore 78%  34 .87 5  14.3% 4-93-1
WR Curtis Samuel 74% 34 .87 5 14.3% 5-36-0
WR Robby Anderson 72% 33 .85 13 37.1%8-112-0 
TE Ian Thomas 65% 29 .74 1 2.9% 0
  • Samuel added four carries for 28 yards, and Anderson took one for three yards. The 74 percent snap share was Samuel's second-largest of the season, as he essentially replaced Reggie Bonnafon (IR - ankle) as the backup RB behind workhorse Mike Davis. Samuel played 27 snaps in the slot, 13 out wide and seven in the backfield, per PFF.
  • Anderson and Moore both put up big stat lines, but it's Anderson who now has a commanding lead with 27.3 percent target share for the season, good for No. 6 in the NFL. Moore's 21.5 percent is technically second on the team and 22nd in the league, but the combined numbers for Davis and Christian McCaffrey (IR - ankle) work out to 24.4 percent.
  • Anderson hasn't scored a TD since Week 1, but he's on pace for 115 catches and 1,565 yards on 150 targets. Meanwhile, Moore is on pace for 70 catches and 1,219 yards on 118 targets, also with only one TD this year.

  

Falcons

 SnapsRoutesRoutes/DropbackTargetsTarget ShareReceiving Line
WR Olamide Zaccheaus  97% 39 1.0 4 11.4% 1-13-0
TE Hayden Hurst  83% 32 .82 6 17.1% 2-8-0
WR Calvin Ridley  74% 33 .85 10 28.6% 8-136-0
WR Russell Gage  62% 26 .67 5 14.3% 2-16-0
  • A pre-game report suggested Ridley only played Week 4 because Julio Jones (hamstring) also was banged up. The same report said Ridley was back healthy for Week 5, and while the stat line seems to support that notion, his snaps and routes still didn't return to the level from Weeks 1-3 (86, 84, 93 percent snap share, with 0.93 routes per dropback). The Falcons often have used Jones in a similar way, cutting back his snap share to ~75 percent while targeting him on a huge share of his routes. So maybe Ridley will continue to see limited snap shares (but huge target numbers) if Jones misses more time beyond Week 5?
  • Zaccheaus played nearly every snap but couldn't match his Week 3-4 production. Boo.
  • Hurst had season highs for both snap share and routes/db, but he was limited to six targets for a second straight week and finished with fewer than 10 yards for a second time in the past three weeks. He's averaging 3.0 catches for 34.0 yards on 5.6 targets per game, reaching double-digit PPR points in just one of five contests (Week 2 at Dallas). Bench him, if you can.
  • Gage now has three straight games below 30 yards, though the first of those (Week 3 vs. CHI) he left early with a concussion. He's still dominating slot snaps (39 in Sunday's loss) but hasn't been getting targets since Week 2.

  

Bengals (3) at Ravens (27)

Bengals

 SnapsRoutesRoutes/DropbackTargetsTarget ShareReceiving Line
TE Drew Sample  94% 26 .67 2 6.9% 2-22-0
WR Tee Higgins  81% 36 .92 8 27.6% 4-62-0
WR Tyler Boyd  69% 34 .87 6 20.7% 4-42-0
WR Mike Thomas  49% 14 .36 1 3.4% 1-6-0
  • A.J. Green left the game early due to a a hamstring injury, finishing without a catch on one target. He played 42 percent of snaps, and Auden Tate got 39 percent (with a 12-yard catch on his lone target).
  • Sample played 85+ percent of snaps for a third straight week but has seen only eight targets in that span, in part because he's been used as a blocker on 27 of his 112 pass snaps (24.1 percent), per PFF.
  • Higgins recorded a third straight game with four or more catches, seven or more targets and at least .74 routes/db. The snap share was a career high, though not a huge difference from Week 3 (79 percent). The rookie was already emerging ahead of Green, whose injury could lead to even more targets for Higgins.

  

Ravens

 SnapsRoutesRoutes/DropbackTargetsTarget ShareReceiving Line
WR Marquise Brown  86% 37 .95 10 27.8% 6-77-1
TE Mark Andrews  68% 33 .85 9 25.0%6-56-1 
  • Devin Duvernay had a 42-yard rush and two catches for 17 yards on two targets, but he played only 29 percent of snaps.
  • Brown and Andrews were the only Ravens with more than three targets, even though Lamar Jackson threw a season-high 37 passes, including 28 in the first half alone. It was pretty clear the Ravens wanted to work on their passing game, but it wasn't exactly a success, producing only 4.9 YPA.
  • Brown and Andrews accounted for 52.8 percent of the targets, 73.9 percent of the receiving yards and both of Baltimore's offensive TDs.
  • Miles Boykin has played 57 and 54 percent of snaps the past two weeks, after logging 68-to-82 percent in the first three games of the season. He's caught only three of eight targets for 36 yards the past three weeks, and an apparent miscommunication with Jackson led to an INT during the Week 4 win over Washington.
  • Brown had season highs for snap share, routes, routes per dropback and targets. He's seen six or more targets each week this year, and is on pace for a 70-1,021-3 receiving line.
  • Brown is 10th in the league with 26.9 percent target share, while Andrews (21.6 percent) is No. 3 among TEs. But the Ravens didn't throw many passes before Week 5, and their offense isn't nearly as dominant as the 2019 version.
  • Brown and Calvin Ridley are tied for the league lead with 15 targets 20-plus yards downfield, per PFF. But only four of Brown's have been catchable, while Ridley has seven receptions and a drop on his.

  

Jaguars (14) at Texans (30)

Jaguars

 SnapsRoutesRoutes/DropbackTargetsTarget ShareReceiving Line
WR Keelan Cole 80%  47 .87 6 13.6% 2-25-1
WR Laviska Shenault 69% 38 .85 8 18.2% 7-79-0
WR DJ Chark 67% 35 .69 4 9.1% 3-16-0
TE Tyler Eifert 61%  33 .60 7 15.9%  3-16-0
  • Chark left with an ankle injury in the fourth quarter, adding to the disappointment of a poor stat line.
  • The Jags had nine different players with multiple targets; the four listed above, plus RB James Robinson (7), WR Collin Johnson (4), TE James O'Shaughnessy (3), RB Chris Thompson (3) and WR Chris Conley (2). The tendency to rotate players and spread out targets makes sense for a rebuilding franchise, but it's suboptimal for fantasy purposes. No player on the team has reached 100 receiving yards or 10 targets in a game this year (though Chark came close to both marks Week 4 at Cincinnati).
  • Shenault established new highs for snap share and routes/db, among other things. He saw only .49 routes/db in Week 4 and .63 in Week 3, so the Week 5 usage was a significant change, even if his snap increase wasn't huge (54, 68 percent the previous two weeks).
  • Cole caught fewer than four passes for the first time this year, but he landed in the 5-to-7 target range for a fifth straight week, and caught his third TD of the year. The touchdowns are a major surprise, coming from a 195-pound receiver who is mostly playing the slot and averaging 5.8 targets per game in a subpar offense...
  • Cole has seen only two red-zone targets (both TDs) this year, accounting for 7.4 percent of the team total. Eifert (six), Chark (five), Collin Johnson (four) and Shenault (3) all have seen more RZ looks. On the other hand, Cole does have five targets 20-plus yards downfield (including one of his TDs), tying Chris Conley for the team lead.
  • Johnson, the fifth-round rookie, has played only nine of Jacksonville's 45 red-zone snaps this year, but he's been targeted on four of those. In other words, it hasn't been a regular thing to sub him in for one of the other receivers near the goal line. He did score his first TD in Sunday's loss, finishing with 3-30-1 on four targets but only 31 percent of snaps. The Jags' desire to mix in Johnson and Conley partially explains why Shenault hasn't quite been a full-time player most weeks.

  

Texans

 SnapsRoutesRoutes/DropbackTargetsTarget ShareReceiving Line
TE Darren Fells 86%  27 .71 2 5.7% 2-57-1
WR Brandin Cooks 83%  34 .89 12 34.3% 8-161-1
WR Will Fuller 83%  33 .87 8 22.9% 4-58-1
WR Randall Cobb 60%  27 .71 6 17.1% 6-47-0
  • TE Jordan Akins (ankle/concussion) was inactive, allowing Fells to handle season-high snap share. Fells made a living on short TD catches last season, but his score in Sunday's win came from 44 yards out.
  • The greasy wheel got a whole lot of grease, with Cooks immediately bouncing back from his Week 4 goose egg to catch a deep ball for 36 yards on Houston's first offensive snap. He finished the days with gains of 36, 36, 28, 23 and 22.
  • Cooks now leads the team with 20.9 percent target share, ahead of Fuller (19.0) and Cobb (15.2). Cooks and Fuller both had games where injuries limited their playing time (Week 1 for the former, Week 2 for the latter).
  • Cooks now has nine targets 20-plus yards downfield, tied with Tee Higgins for ninth most in the league, per PFF. Oddly enough, Fuller only has six deep targets, and his aDOT is down a little from — 14.2 in both 2018 and 2019 to 12.9 in 2020.

  

Raiders (40) at Chiefs (32)

Raiders

 SnapsRoutesRoutes/DropbackTargetsTarget ShareReceiving Line
TE Darren Waller 91% 28  .88 7 23.3% 5-48-1
WR Nelson Agholor 79%27 .84 2 6.7% 2-67-1
WR Henry Ruggs 64% 20 .63 3 10.0% 2-118-1
WR Hunter Renfrow 34% 15 .47 1 3.3% 1-42-0
  • Renfrow was still the No. 3 receiver, but his playing time took a huge hit with the Raiders using more heavy formations — and fewer three-wide sets — while they played with a lead. The slot man played 13 of 29 snaps before halftime, but only 11 of 41 in the second half. Renfrow played each of the team's 23 snaps in 11 personnel, so it's not like he lost his slot job or even shared it. Dude is just very sensitive to game script and personnel groupings.
  • Ruggs and Agholor put up the big stat lines thanks to deep-ball TDs, but Waller continued to be the target hog. Waller's 28.1 percent target share is fifth largest among all players and 4.2 percentage points ahead of any other tight end (Travis Kelce, 23.9).
  • Ruggs has played 67, 61 and 64 percent of snaps in his three NFL appearances, with five, three and three targets. He's a great bench stash, but there's still a ton of 'bust' potential if you put him in a starting lineup.
  • The rookie played only 16 of the 23 snaps in 11 personnel Sunday, fewer than both Renfrow (23) and Agholor (20). The Raiders gave seven of those snaps to Rico Gafford, and three to Zay Jones. It's not the end of the world for Ruggs, by any means, but it'll be something to keep an eye on in future weeks.

  

Chiefs

 SnapsRoutesRoutes/DropbackTargetsTarget ShareReceiving Line
TE Travis Kelce  89% 44 .86 12 28.6% 8-108-1
WR Tyreek Hill  88% 43 .84 6 14.3% 3-78-0
WR Mecole Hardman  69% 36 .71 3 7.1% 2-50-0
WR Demarcus Robinson  68%  38 .75 4 9.5% 2-2-0
  • Sammy Watkins left early due to a hamstring injury, catching both of his targets for 24 yards and a TD. He finished with 36 percent snap share. Hardman and Robinson both played 22 of 26 snaps in the second half.
  • Hill added three carries for 15 yards and a TD, finding the end zone for a fifth consecutive game. He also had a 58-yard TD on the opening drive called off due to an offensive holding penalty.
  • The Chiefs were flagged for three holding penalties on offense and two more on special teams. The NFL has drastically scaled back those penalties this year, but the Chiefs were pressing their luck with the repeated, blatant holding against Baltimore and New England in Weeks 3-4. It's not really fair to have Patrick Mahomes AND a separate rulebook, right?
  • Kelce leads the league with seven targets from inside the 10-yard line, accounting for 35.0 percent of the team total. Watkins has five, and Hill three.
  • Kelce also has a big lead in overall target share, with 23.9 percent putting him well ahead of Hill (18.5). Kelce's per-game numbers look nearly identical to his career-best 2018 campaign, in which he caught 103 passes for 1,336 yards and 10 TDs.

  

Cardinals (30) at Jets (10)

Cardinals

 SnapsRoutesRoutes/DropbackTargetsTarget ShareReceiving Line
WR DeAndre Hopkins 87%  34 .89 7 20.0% 6-131-1
WR Larry Fitzgerald 80% 31 .82 7 20.0% 4-35-0
TE Darrell Daniels 67%  17 .45  2 5.7% 2-37-0
WR Christian Kirk 59%  30 .79 7 20.0% 5-78-0
  • Andy Isabella caught two of three targets for 30 yards, playing 31 percent of snaps and running 19 routes (.50 r/db). He got 17 of his 23 snaps in four-wide formations, so it wasn't really a matter of stealing playing time away from Kirk or Fitz. Isabella is still a clear fourth in the pecking order.
  • Kirk had his best game of the season and saw more than five targets for the first time all year, but he still didn't get much playing time in 12 personnel (three of 24 snaps, compared to 16 for Hopkins and 11 for Fitzgerald). The Cardinals have passed the ball on only 41 percent of their snaps from 12 personnel this year, but that's still at least a handful of routes Kirk is missing out on each week.
  • Hopkins was having a slow day until he caught two passes for 82 yards and a TD on a game-sealing drive in the middle of the fourth quarter. The gains of 45 and 37 yards were his two longest plays in a Cardinals uniform. He now has four catches of 30-plus yards, and six of 20-plus, averaging 11.7 per reception overall.
  • Hopkins leads the league in target share (31.4 percent), catches (45) and receiving yards (528), hauling in 84.9 percent of his opportunities for 11.7 YPR and 10.0 YPT. Only four his of 53 targets have travelled 20-plus yards downfield, but the massive quantity of shorter passes has been more than fine for fantasy purposes.
  • Dan Arnold dropped to 36 percent of snaps and finished without a target, ceding more work to Daniels. The Cardinals hope to have Maxx Williams (ankle) back in the lineup sometime around their Week 8 bye. Regardless, the Arizona tight ends remain irrelevant for fantasy purposes.

   

Jets

 SnapsRoutesRoutes/DropbackTargetsTarget ShareReceiving Line
WR Jeff Smith 99%  39 1.0 11 35.5% 3-23-0
WR Jamison Crowder 75%  36 .92 10 32.3% 8-116-1
WR Chris Hogan 65%  27 .69 3 9.7% 3-20-0
TE Chris Herndon 42%  16 .41 3  9.7% 2-24-0
  • Ryan Griffin didn't get any targets but handled season-high 61 percent snap share, taking some work away from Herndon, who had a drop and a near-fumble.  The 42 percent snap share was a huge step back from Herndown's Week 1-4 workloads (71, 74, 80, 71 percent). (It's not like he was doing anything with all the snaps anyway.)
  • Smith had two drops contributing to his extremely inefficient stat line. He has back-to-back weeks with snap share in the 90s and nine or more targets, while Breshad Perriman (ankle) is uncertain to be ready for Week 6, and Hogan is now dealing with a high-ankle sprain. The heavy workloads for Smith could continue out of sheer necessity.
  • Crowder has 30.8 percent of Jets targets in his three appearances, putting him third in the league for target share (though he was only fourth before Keenan Allen suffered a back injury Monday night).
  • Crowder's season lows so far: 10 targets, 7 catches, 104 yards. Good stuff.

  

Eagles (29) at Steelers (38)

Eagles

 SnapsRoutesRoutes/DropbackTargetsTarget ShareReceiving Line
TE Zach Ertz 95% 36.86  6 16.7%1-6-0 
WR John Hightower 81% 36.86  6 16.7% 2-18-0
WR Travis Fulgham 78%  34.81 13 36.1% 10-152-1
WR Greg Ward 69%  31.74  5 13.9% 4-26-1
  • Fulgham caught two of three targets for 57 yards and a touchdown the previous week, and he suddenly has an excellent case to maintain a full-time role even after DeSean Jackson (hamstring) and Alshon Jeffery (foot) are both available (if that ever happens at the same time).
  • Fulgham was rewarded with a larger role, after logging 60 percent snap share and .60 routes/db the previous week. He's now at 25.8 percent target share the past two weeks, ahead of Ward (19.4), Ertz (17.8) and Hightower (12.9).
  • Ertz has still seen five or more targets in every game, but the efficiency stats (57.1 percent catch rate, 7.3 YPR, 4.1 YPT) are a complete disaster. He has just one game with 50 yards, currently on pace for a 64-464-3 stat line. There's a volume-based argument to "buy low", but even the volume has been trending down — five and six targets the past two weeks.
  • Ertz was never really a downfield guy, but his 6.8 aDOT is significantly shallower than last year's 8.4, and he's averaging only 2.1 YAC (compared to 3.2 last season).
  • Four of Hightower's six targets came 20-plus yards downfield, but he dropped the only catchable one, per PFF. Fulgham, on the other hand, only saw two targets in that range but converted them into two receptions for 51 yards.
  • Ward's snap share dropped off a little, but the .74 routes/db wasn't much different from the previous two weeks (.82 and .77). He has three straight games with five or more targets and four or more catches, averaging 5.3 receptions for 45.4 yards and 0.67 TDs on 7.7 targets in that stretch.
  • Ward played five of 14 snaps in 12 personnel, so he wasn't strictly the slot guy for three-wide formations (though he might be after what Fulgham did Sunday... Fulgham played eight of 14 snaps in 12 personnel).
  • No. 4 receiver J.J. Arcega-Whiteside played 14 percent of snaps, while No. 2 TE Richard Rodgers got 32 percent.

  

Steelers

 SnapsRoutesRoutes/DropbackTargetsTarget ShareReceiving Line
TE Eric Ebron 77%  27 .77 6 17.6% 5-43-0
WR JuJu Smith-Schuster 76%  34 .97 5 14.7% 4-28-0
WR James Washington 71%  32 .91 4 11.8% 3-25-0
WR Chase Claypool 69%  23 .6611 32.4% 7-110-3
  • Diontae Johnson left the game with a back injury after he took a hard hit on a punt return in the first quarter. He played only six snaps on offense before he left.
  • Claypool filled in for Johnson and spent most of his day in the end zone, posting a 3-6-1 rushing line on top of the prolific receiving stats (four TDs total).
  • Claypool played only three of 14 snaps in 12 personnel (two-TE), while Washington got nine and JuJu took 11.
  • Claypool played 29 of 37 snaps (78 percent) after halftime, most among Pittsburgh wide receivers. JuJu played 26, and Washington got 25.
  • Claypool caught only one of four targets 20-plus yards downfield, going 6-for-7 on the shorter stuff.
  • Ebron lost a fumble and fell shy of 50 yards, but it was his third straight game with at least .74 routes/db, 75 percent snap share and five targets. The usage, if it continues, should make him a mid-to-low-end TE1, while general perception probably has him more in TE2 range. Buy low!
  • Smith-Schuster dropped below 80 percent snap share the past two games, but he still put up .97 and .87 routes/db, i.e., he pretty much only comes off the field for run plays.

  

Los Angeles Rams (30) at Washington Football Team (10)

Rams

 SnapsRoutesRoutes/DropbackTargetsTarget ShareReceiving Line
WR Robert Woods  87% 29 .91 5 17.2% 4-71-1
WR Cooper Kupp  82% 25 .78 8 27.6% 5-66-0
TE Tyler Higbee  82% 15 .47 2 6.9% 2-12-0
WR Josh Reynolds  72% 23 .72 4 13.8% 2-46-0
  • Gerald Everett had his best game of the season with four catches for a team-high 90 yards on four targets, but his role wasn't much different from usual in terms of snap share (44 percent). He's finished between 33 and 58 percent each week.
  • Van Jefferson had no targets on 26 percent snap share. He hasn't been a significant part of the offense since Week 2, with Reynolds consistently working as the No. 3 receiver and Sean McVay consistently making 12 personnel a big part of his offense.
  • The Rams have attempted only 30.4 passes per game, 30th in the league. Kupp and Woods haven't been disappointing in terms of target share — 24.7 and 21.2 percent, respectively — and the fantasy production has been solid thanks to impressive efficiency. But it is a little surprising to see both of them below eight targets per game. A soft early schedule has played a role in that, to be fair.
  • Higbee has seven catches for 72 yards over the past three weeks. Don't say we didn't warn you! Higbee leads all TEs with 38 pass-block snaps this season, accounting for 30.9 percent of his total pass snaps, per PFF. Plus, the Rams sometime sub Higbee out for Everett in obvious passing situations.
  • Everett got 10 of 14 snaps on 3rd-and-medium/long in Sunday's win, compared to five snaps for Higbee in those same situations. Everett picked up three catches for 50 yards on those plays.

  

Football Team

 SnapsRoutesRoutes/DropbackTargetsTarget ShareReceiving Line
WR Terry McLaurin 100% 40  1.0 7 25.0% 3-26-0
TE Logan Thomas  87%36  .90 4 14.3% 1-4-0
WR Isaiah Wright  78%33  .83 1 3.6% 1-3-0
WR Dontrelle Inman  57%25  .63 1  3.6% 1--2-0
  • Running backs J.D. McKissic and Antonio Gibson accounted for 13 of the 28 targets (46.4 percent) and 70 of the 111 receiving yards (63.1 percent).
  • Kyle Allen replaced Dwayne Haskins as the starting QB but was removed from the game with an arm injury late in the second quarter, thus allowing Alex Smith to make his first NFL appearance since Nov. 2018. Coach Ron Rivera said after the game that Allen will get the Week 6 start if he's healthy enough to play.
  • Allen completed nine of 13 passes for 74 yards and took two sacks — not great, but he at least managed a 73-yard TD drive. The offense was a complete disaster under Smith, who completed nine of 17 passes for 37 yards and took six sacks for a loss of 31 yards... that works out to 0.26 NY/A.
  • McLaurin's 27.1 percent target share is ninth-largest in the NFL. This was his first game all year with less than 61 yards.

  

Dolphins (43) at 49ers (17)

Dolphins

 SnapsRoutesRoutes/DropbackTargetsTarget ShareReceiving Line
WR DeVante Parker 79% 31 1.0 3 11.1% 2-50-1
WR Preston Williams 60% 25 .81 5 18.5% 4-106-1
TE Mike Gesicki 45% 26 .84 6 22.2% 5-91-0
WR Isaiah Ford 36% 20  .65 2 7.4% 2-23-0
  • Shaheen actually played more snaps () than Gesicki and caught a one-yard TD, but he didn't see any other targets, primarily serving as a blocker.
  • With the Dolphins unexpectedly nursing a large lead for the second time in three weeks, Ford saw a huge drop off from his Week 4 workload (63 percent of snaps, .69 r/db, 22.2 percent target share). He only plays in 11 personnel and almost always lines up in the slot, but the Dolphins aren't as spread-heavy as they were last season, instead preferring heavier formations when playing with a lead. Looking back to a Week 3 blowout win over Jacksonville, Ford got 44 percent of snaps, .56 r/db and 10 percent target share (two targets). In other words, his workload is highly dependent on game script.
  • The Dolphins called a pass play on 26 of Gesicki's 30 snaps, while they passed only six times on the 37 plays where he wasn't on the field. That's how you end up with 45 percent route share and 84 percent route share. We saw the same thing in the aforementioned blowout win Week 3 (49 percent snap share, .84 routes/db). Anyway, Gesicki has run routes on 142 of 194 dropbacks (73 percent) this year — solid for a tight end.
  • Williams has landed between 57-to-61 percent snap share for three straight weeks, but his routes/db rebounded from .60 in Week 4, largely because the Dolphins used more multi-TE formations while nursing a lead. Williams still lost some work to Jakeem Grant in three-wide sets, playing 19 of 25 snaps in 11 personnel (Parker played 25, Ford got 24, Grant took 7).
  • Parker still leads the team in targets (32), but his share is down to 19.0 percent, making Miami one of three teams that doesn't have a single player at 20 percent or higher.
  • Ford and Gesicki are tied for second on the team with 16.7 percent target share, ahead of Myles Gaskin (14.9) and Williams (13.1).

  

49ers

 SnapsRoutesRoutes/DropbackTargetsTarget ShareReceiving Line
TE George Kittle 100%  30 .75 8 22.9% 4-44-0
WR Brandon Aiyuk 97%  39 .98 6 17.1% 3-44-0
WR Deebo Samuel 89%  36 .90 8 22.9% 2-19-0
WR Kendrick Bourne 66%  30 .75 4 11.4% 2-30-1
  • Samuel returned to a full workload in his second game of the season, including one carry for three yards.
  • Kittle played every snap on offense, but he tied Tyler Higbee for the Week 5 TE lead in pass-blocking snaps (10, per PFF). That accounted for 25 percent of Kittle's pass snaps, up from 14 percent over his first two games.
  • Trent Taylor played only four snaps on offense. Samuel and Aiyuk are three-down players, with Bourne coming on as the slot man in three-wide formations. Bourne played 32 of his 42 snaps (76.2 percent) from the slot in Sunday's loss, compared to 61 of 216 (28.3 percent) over the first four weeks of the season.
  • Bourne has been more productive on a per-route basis when playing outside the past two years, but it's hard to draw any conclusions, as he tends to line up outside when the 49ers are missing other receivers, whereas he mostly plays the slot when the team has its other players healthy. The more important point is that he's now the No. 3 receiver in an offense with a target-hogging TE, so the Week 5 volume (four targets) is about what we should expect moving forward.
  • Aiyuk has seen his snap share increase each week, from 72 to 73 to 88 to 97. He has five or more targets in three straight games.

  

Colts (23) at Browns (32)

Colts

 SnapsRoutesRoutes/DropbackTargetsTarget ShareReceiving Line
WR T.Y. Hilton 95%  32 .94  10 31.3% 6-69-0
WR Zach Pascal 91%  32 .94 2 6.3% 2-15-0
WR Marcus Johnson54%  23 .68 3 9.4% 3-53-0
TE Trey Burton 45%  18 .53  6 18.8% 5-33-0
  • Burton shared playing time with Jack Doyle (61 percent, two targets, no catches) and Mo Alie-Cox (38 percent, one target, no catches).
  • Johnson now has four catches for 80 yards on four targets in his two-week stretch filling in as the No. 3 receiver. The volume isn't there, however.
  • Pascal has run 76.3 percent of his routes from the slot the past two weeks, catching four of five targets for 37 yards when lined up inside, per PFF. He ran only 37.1 percent of his routes from the slot last year, but he was extremely efficient with those chances, producing 1.89 yards per route and three TDs. Maybe he puts up some numbers the next few weeks? Or maybe not...
  • Hilton saw more than five targets for the first time since Week 1, also handling his largest snap share of the season, though he was at .93 routes/db the previous game, so it's not like he was missing out on a ton of pass-catching chances prior to Sunday.
  • Hilton has drawn only four targets 20-plus yards downfield this year, including one (an incompletion) in Sunday's loss. He's getting a lot of intermediate work, with his 11.8 aDOT actually significantly deeper than 2019 (9.9) and similar to 2018 (11.2).

  

Browns

 SnapsRoutesRoutes/DropbackTargetsTarget ShareReceiving Line
WR Odell Beckham 86%  37 .95 23.7% 5-58-0
TE Austin Hooper 79%  29 .7410 26.3% 5-57-0
WR Jarvis Landry 77% 32 .82 9 23.7% 4-88-0
WR Rashard Higgins 55% 22 .56 3 7.9% 3-31-1
  • Landry had a big first half, but his three targets after the break produced two drops and an interception. A breakout game it was not.
  • Higgins got significant playing time for the first time this season, taking over the No. 3 WR role after Donovan Peoples-Jones had handled it the previous week (KhaDarel Hodge is on IR with a hamstring injury). Peoples-Jones barely played in this game, finishing without a target on 14 percent of snaps.
  • Hooper has 17 targets over the past two weeks, with .70 and .74 routes/db. Now he just needs some yards!
  • This was Beckham's first game of the year with target share below 25 percent. Of course, 23.7 percent is still pretty good, and his 27.5 percent mark for the season is eighth best in the league (sixth among WRs).

  

Giants (34) at Cowboys (37)

Giants

 SnapsRoutesRoutes/DropbackTargetsTarget ShareReceiving Line
WR Darius Slayton  94% 34 .97 11 37.9% 8-129-0
TE Evan Engram  81% 30 .86 2 6.9% 1-16-0
WR Golden Tate  59% 25 .71 5 17.2% 4-42-0
  • Damion Ratley (50 percent snap share) and C.J. Board (41 percent) split the No. 3 WR role again, combining for zero catches on on one target.
  • Engram wasn't a big part of the passing game, but he added two carries for nine yards and a TD, scoring from three yards out on an end-around. He also scored a 27-yard TD on a fake field goal, only to see it wiped out by an illegal-shift penalty.
  • In addition to his huge stat line, Slayton had a 31-yard, would-be TD nullified by an OPI penalty on Ratley. This wasn't the best stat line of Slayton's career, but it may have been his best real-life performance. He looked like a real-deal, big-dog, body-snatching, cornerback-eating, alpha, No. 1 receiver, not just a big-play weapon. Spare no compound adjective.
  • Slayton is now up to 23.4 percent target share for the year, 20th among all players and 17th among wide receivers. He's producing 9.1 YPT in an offense that's at 6.1 YPA overall.
  • Tate has seen 5-to-7 targets each week this season, catching either four or five passes for no more than 47 yards. Yawn.

  

Cowboys

 SnapsRoutesRoutes/DropbackTargetsTarget ShareReceiving Line
WR Michael Gallup  97% 35 1.0 4 12.1% 4-73-0
TE Dalton Schultz  88% 29 .83 3 9.1% 1-6-0
WR Amari Cooper  64% 25 .71 4 12.1% 2-23-0
WR CeeDee Lamb 55% 25  .7111 33.3% 8-124-0
  • Watching the game, you never would've guessed that Lamb played only 55 percent of snaps.
  • Noah Brown played 32 percent of snaps without seeing any targets, while Cedrick Wilson got 23 percent and was targeted on four of his six routes (catching four passes for 22 yards). The involvement of Brown/Wilson wasn't a problem for Cooper and Lamb when Dak Prescott was chucking 55 passes per week, but it could be an issue with Andy Dalton playing QB.
  • Gallup was quiet all game until the final drive when he caught two passes for 58 yards on back-to-back plays to set up the game-winning FG. Things couldn't have been going much worse for his fantasy managers, so maybe the switch to Dalton actually helps Gallup? We'll also note that Gallup is the one WR who rarely leaves the field, though the reduced playing time with a higher rate of targets per route has worked out pretty well for Cooper and Lamb.
  • Even after the dud, Cooper is 18th in target share (23.9 percent), second in receptions (39) and sixth in receiving yards (424).

  

Vikings (26) at Seahawks (27)

Vikings

 SnapsRoutesRoutes/DropbackTargetsTarget ShareReceiving Line
WR Adam Thielen 93%  41 .98 13 34.2% 9-80-2
WR Justin Jefferson 80%  40 .95 5 13.2% 3-23-0
TE Kyle Rudolph 74%  24 .57 2 5.3% 1-10-0
TE Irv Smith 68%  31 .74 5  13.2% 4-64-0
  • No. 3 receiver Chad Beebe played 31 percent of snaps, and FB C.J. Ham got 33 percent.
  • Smith nearly doubled his 2020 target total, after seeing only six over the first four games. Smith's mark of .74 routes/db was a significant boost from what he got Weeks 1-4 (.53 routes/db). It might not be enough for fantasy viability in a run-heavy offense, but it's at least a step in the right direction.
  • Jefferson has accounted for 19 of Minnesota's 84 targets (22.6 percent) in three weeks as a starter. Thielen has 28 (33.3 percent) during the same stretch.

  

Seahawks

 SnapsRoutesRoutes/DropbackTargetsTarget ShareReceiving Line
WR Tyler Lockett 96%  40 .98 5 16.7% 4-44-0
WR DK Metcalf 96%  39 .95 11 36.7% 6-93-2
TE Greg Olsen 83%  31 .76 1 3.3% 1-20-0
  • Will Dissly caught a TD but played only 37 percent of snaps. David Moore (43 percent) and Freddie Swain (39 percent) split the No. 3 WR role again.
  • Metcalf is now 15th in target share (24.2 percent), with Lockett dropping to 19th (23.6 percent). The Patriots are the only other team with two players in the Top 20 (Julian Edelman, N'Keal Harry).

  

Chargers (27) at Saints (30) - OT

Chargers

 SnapsRoutesRoutes/DropbackTargetsTarget ShareReceiving Line
TE Hunter Henry 94%  31 .82 8 25.0% 4-23-1
WR Jalen Guyton 92%  35 .92 3 9.4% 1-49-0
WR Mike Williams 77%  31 .82 8  25.0% 5-109-2
  • Keenan Allen played only 17 percent of snaps, exiting in the first half with a back injury. He caught both of his targets for 29 yards and a TD. K.J. Hill filled in with 49 percent of snaps but caught only one pass for eight yards on two targets.
  • Williams appeared unhindered in his first game back from a hamstring injury. He'll now have a Week 6 bye to rest up.
  • Henry bounced back from a Week 4 dud with his first TD of the season. He's averaging 4.4 catches for 53.6 yards and 0.2 TDs on 7.0 targets per game, with 35 targets tying Zach Ertz for third among TEs. It may not be flashy, but Henry is a mid-range TE1, and he has more upside than what we've seen so far, given that Justin Herbert is apparently awesome.

  

Saints

 SnapsRoutesRoutes/DropbackTargetsTarget ShareReceiving Line
WR Tre'Quan Smith 78%  43 .843 6.4% 2-8-0
WR Marquez Callaway 68%  35 .69 12.8% 4-34-0
WR Emmanuel Sanders 59%  38 .7514 29.8% 12-122-0
TE Jared Cook 54%  34 .67 3  6.4% 2-52-1
  • Sanders is now up to 20.7 percent target share, despite sharing snaps with Callaway and Bennie Fowler (six targets apiece) on Monday night.
  • Cook handled his usual role in terms of snaps/routes, but he was quiet apart from a 41-yard TD in his first game back from a groin injury. He's averaging 2.8 catches for 41.5 yards and 0.5 TDs on 4.5 targets per game... relying on big plays and TDs, just like last season.
  • Callaway got his first extended playing time, after seeing one target on 30 offensive snaps in his previous three games. The undrafted rookie also handled kick and punt returns, averaging 28.5 on the former and 11.5 on the latter.

  Bills (16) at Titans (42)

Bills

 SnapsRoutesRoutes/DropbackTargetsTarget ShareReceiving Line
WR Gabriel Davis 100%  49 1.0  9 20.0% 5-58-0
WR Stefon Diggs 83%  43 .8816 35.6% 10-106-0
WR Cole Beasley61%  32 .65 6 13.3% 6-53-0
  • John Brown (knee) was inactive, allowing Gabriel Davis to handle an every-down role (literally).
  • TE Dawson Knox was forced out of the game with a calf injury, but Tyler Kroft finished without a target on 49 percent of snaps.
  • Isaiah McKenzie played 31 percent of snaps, catching four passes for seven yards and a TD.
  • Beasley has landed between four and seven targets each week this year, with no fewer than 9.8 PPR points and no more than 16.0. Believe it or not, Beasley is on pace for a 1,000-yard season (ok, 1,002, and he probably won't get there, but still... he's been good!).
  • Diggs is now up to 27.0 percent target share, eighth largest in the league. He's fourth in targets (51), t-fourth in catches (36) and second in receiving yards (509), i.e., locked in as a high-end WR1.

  

Titans

 SnapsRoutesRoutes/DropbackTargetsTarget ShareReceiving Line
TE Jonnu Smith 86%  18 .58 7 25.0% 5-40-2
WR A.J. Brown 71%  26 .84 9 32.1% 7-82-1
  • TE Anthony Firkser played 35 percent of snaps and caught three of five targets for 19 yards. He ran 14 pass routes, only four fewer than Smith.
  • Nick Westbrook-Ikhine played 68 percent of snaps, catching his lone target for seven yards. Kalif Raymond played 55 percent, catching both of his targets for 26 yards.
  • Brown was close to a full workload in his first game of the year, and he got the best of a Buffalo secondary that was missing its top two cornerbacks (Tre'Davious White, Levi Wallace).
  • For whatever reason, the Titans still prefer Firkser over Smith on third downs. Firkser got 11 of 13 third-down snaps, while Smith played only seven (including just one of three on 3rd-and-long).
  • Smith blocked on five of his 23 pass snaps (21.7 percent), right in line with his rate from Weeks 1-3 (18.1 percent). The combination of blocking work and losing some pass snaps to Firkser isn't ideal, but Smith has made up for it by drawing targets on 27 of his 86 routes (31.4 percent), a rate that would make Travis Kelce jealous.
  • Smith also has half of Tennessee's inside-the-10 targets, converting 4-of-4 into touchdowns. Each of his five TDs this year has come in the red zone, but we also know he can score from distance. While some of the aforementioned volume indicators are worrisome, we're still talking about an extremely talented player who has four or more catches and 11.1 or more PPR points in every game this season. Don't think too hard... just start him, at least for now.

Top Waiver/FAAB Targets (WR/TE)

(Limited to players rostered in less than 50 percent of Yahoo leagues.)

  1. Chase Claypool
  2. Mike Williams
  3. Brandin Cooks
  4. Laviska Shenault
  5. Travis Fulgham
  6. Mecole Hardman
  7. Jimmy Graham

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jerry Donabedian
Jerry was a 2018 finalist for the FSWA's Player Notes Writer of the Year and DFS Writer of the Year awards. A Baltimore native, Jerry roots for the Ravens and watches "The Wire" in his spare time.
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