Wide Receiver Sleepers, Risers, Fantasy Football Breakouts - Targets, Air Yards, Snaps Trends Analysis For Week 17

by Kevin Tompkins

Targets are paramount when it comes to evaluating pass-catchers for fantasy football. There are no air yards, receiving yards, receptions, or touchdowns without first earning a target. There’s a reason the biggest and most consistent target earners are among the top fantasy point scorers: they can be relied on by not just their team’s offense to earn targets and produce on those targets.

We’ll take a weekly team-by-team look into these target earners and separate the wheat from the chaff. To properly lead into what we’ll be looking at this season, we’ll have to establish a baseline of the most important things we’re looking at with targets and other receiving metrics that paint the full picture for who we should be rostering, who we should be adding, and who we can drop.

Everything we’ll discuss in this season’s WR/TE/RB Targets, Air Yards, and Snaps trends analysis article will be some of the best metrics correlating to fantasy production. Think of targets as a page in a coloring book, representing the outline yet to be colored. Coloring on that page adds context and flavor to that page. That’s what we’ll do with targets -- adding more context than just some target totals and box score stats.

Note: Statistics from our player pages at RotoBaller were included during the compilation of data, while Pro Football Reference, PFF, Fantasy Points Data, rbdsm.com/stats, NFELO, NFL NextGenStats, NFL Pro+, RotoViz, ESPN Stats and Info, SumerSports, and Nathan Jahnke's Immediate Fantasy Football Takeaways article for that particular week were also used as resources in the creation of this article.

Important Links

We're also providing a full table with statistics for each week HERE besides the tables you see in this article, which feature even more statistics!

Largest Target Share % Increases from Week 15 To Week 16

Name	Pos.	Team	WK 15 Target Share	WK 16 Target Share	Diff (+/-)
A.J. Brown	WR	PHI	34.5%	62.5%	+28.0%
Tee Higgins	WR	CIN	18.8%	39.3%	+20.5%
Brock Bowers	TE	LV	17.6%	37.1%	+19.5%
Mo Alie-Cox	TE	IND	0.0%	18.2%	+18.2%
Javonte Williams	RB	DEN	9.7%	27.0%	+17.3%
Mark Andrews	TE	BAL	8.3%	25.0%	+16.7%
Jake Ferguson	TE	DAL	12.0%	28.1%	+16.1%
Darnell Mooney	WR	ATL	6.7%	22.2%	+15.6%
Puka Nacua	WR	LAR	32.0%	47.1%	+15.1%
Payne Durham	TE	TB	0.0%	14.3%	+14.3%
Patrick Taylor Jr.	RB	SF	0.0%	13.9%	+13.9%
Tony Pollard	RB	TEN	0.0%	13.8%	+13.8%
Jaylen Warren	RB	PIT	5.6%	19.2%	+13.7%
Tank Dell	WR	HOU	8.0%	21.2%	+13.2%
Dontayvion Wicks	WR	GB	7.7%	20.8%	+13.1%

Largest Target Share % Decreases from Week 15 To Week 16

Name	Pos.	Team	WK 15 Target Share	WK 16 Target Share	Diff (+/-)
Jerry Jeudy	WR	CLE	43.8%	9.7%	-34.1%
CeeDee Lamb	WR	DAL	52.0%	25.0%	-27.0%
Mike Evans	WR	TB	42.3%	19.0%	-23.3%
Trey McBride	TE	ARI	32.3%	10.3%	-21.9%
Kyle Pitts	TE	ATL	26.7%	7.4%	-19.3%
Terry McLaurin	WR	WAS	35.7%	16.7%	-19.0%
Christian Watson	WR	GB	23.1%	4.2%	-18.9%
Joe Mixon	RB	HOU	24.0%	6.1%	-17.9%
Justice Hill	RB	BAL	20.8%	4.2%	-16.7%
Brenton Strange	TE	JAC	28.6%	12.1%	-16.5%
Pat Freiermuth	TE	PIT	27.8%	11.5%	-16.2%
Colby Parkinson	TE	LAR	16.0%	0.0%	-16.0%
Courtland Sutton	WR	DEN	29.0%	13.5%	-15.5%
Jakobi Meyers	WR	LV	29.4%	14.3%	-15.1%
Keenan Allen	WR	CHI	45.2%	30.6%	-14.6%

Arizona Cardinals

Name	Pos	Targets	Rec.	Rec. Yards	TD	Air Yards %	Route %	Snap %	aDOT	Target Share %	First Read Target %	TPRR	YPRR	Rush Att.	Rush Yds.	Rush TD	PPR FPTS	PPR Finish
Marvin Harrison Jr.	WR	8	4	39	0	48.1%	90.5%	81.4%	11.8	27.6%	44.4%	21.1%	1.03				7.9	WR57
Greg Dortch	WR	1	1	19	0	-1.5%	35.7%	30.0%	-3.0	3.4%	5.6%	6.7%	1.27	1	8	0	3.7	WR89
Michael Wilson	WR	5	2	44	0	40.3%	90.5%	90.0%	15.8	17.2%	16.7%	13.2%	1.16				6.4	WR63
Zay Jones	WR						38.1%	38.6%									0.0	WR112
Trey McBride	TE	3	3	20	0	7.6%	92.9%	94.3%	5.0	10.3%	11.1%	7.7%	0.51				5.0	TE28
Elijah Higgins	TE	2	0	0	0	10.2%	19.0%	25.7%	10.0	6.9%	5.6%	25.0%	0.00				0.0	TE55
Tip Reiman	TE						26.2%	37.1%									0.0	TE55
James Conner	RB	4	4	49	0	-1.6%	28.6%	44.3%	-0.8	13.8%	11.1%	33.3%	4.08	15	117	1	26.6	RB6
DeeJay Dallas	RB	1	1	1	1	0.5%	23.8%	22.9%	1.0	3.4%	5.6%	10.0%	0.10				7.1	RB41
Michael Carter	RB	5	5	30	0	-3.6%	40.5%	35.7%	-1.4	17.2%	0.0%	29.4%	1.76	5	18	0	9.8	RB32

Cardinals Notes From Week 16:

For a game that went to overtime and the Cardinals scored 30 points on the losing end to the Carolina Panthers, a team that got 32 passing attempts only got 202 yards off that with targets spread out amongst a bunch of players.

This is a game with a great matchup that Kyler Murray should have been able to take advantage of but didn’t. That’s been one of the big marks on Murray in recent years and why he’s always a “but if he can do this, then ______”-type of player instead of a locked-in fantasy asset.

Marvin Harrison Jr. (4-39) earned a team-high eight targets but inefficiency has plagued him all season, as in the last five games alone, he’s only caught 18-of-39 targets. His rookie season for the most part has been successful, but his lofty draft capital has soured a lot of people on his future projections for 2025 and beyond. Trey McBride (3-20) also disappointed big time for fantasy managers who started him en masse.

With James Conner (15-117-1 rushing; 4-49 receiving) leaving the game (after an awesome day on the stat sheet) in the third quarter with a knee injury, Michael Carter was pressed into action and out-snapped DeeJay Dallas 25 to 16 in Week 16.

To say the Arizona Cardinals backfield is banged up is an understatement with Dallas himself questionable heading into Week 16’s game against the Panthers, plus Emari Demercado on injured reserve and Trey Benson also missing Week 16 with an ankle injury.

Atlanta Falcons

Name	Pos	Targets	Rec.	Rec. Yards	TD	Air Yards %	Route %	Snap %	aDOT	Target Share %	First Read Target %	TPRR	YPRR	Rush Att.	Rush Yds.	Rush TD	PPR FPTS	PPR Finish
Drake London	WR	8	5	59	0	33.4%	80.0%	73.1%	6.5	29.6%	38.1%	33.3%	2.46				10.9	WR41
Darnell Mooney	WR	6	5	82	0	47.4%	90.0%	89.6%	12.3	22.2%	23.8%	22.2%	3.04				13.2	WR31
Ray-Ray McCloud III	WR	5	3	19	0	9.6%	93.3%	91.0%	3.0	18.5%	19.0%	17.9%	0.68	1	8	0	5.7	WR66
Chris Blair	WR	1	1	17	0	10.9%	26.7%	37.3%	17.0	3.7%	4.8%	12.5%	2.13				2.7	WR94
Kyle Pitts	TE	2	1	7	0	5.1%	66.7%	44.8%	4.0	7.4%	4.8%	10.0%	0.35				1.7	TE46
Charlie Woerner	TE	2	0	0	0	1.9%	23.3%	50.7%	1.5	7.4%	0.0%	28.6%	0.00				0.0	TE55
Bijan Robinson	RB	2	2	9	0	-3.2%	76.7%	74.6%	-2.5	7.4%	4.8%	8.7%	0.39	22	94	2	24.3	RB8
Tyler Allgeier	RB	1	1	9	0	-5.1%	23.3%	26.9%	-8.0	3.7%	4.8%	14.3%	1.29	11	22	0	4.1	RB50

Falcons Notes From Week 16:

In Michael Penix Jr.’s debut for the Falcons, the stat sheet doesn’t pop out: 18-of-27 passing, 202 yards, one interception plus three rushing yards. However, Penix was helped massively by a defense that scored twice on interception returns and Bijan Robinson’s two touchdowns as well.

Penix did look decisive and did what he had to do on limited pass volume thanks to the Falcons pouring on 34 straight points after an early Giants touchdown. Robinson’s 103 total yards and two touchdowns represented the best offensive showing in Week 16 for the Falcons and that’s one of the best things to help a young quarterback, which is being able to hand the ball off to somebody like Robinson and even Tyler Allgeier. Allgeier even saw 11 carries thanks to the game script, but averaged just 2.0 YPC on those rushing attempts.

The Falcons were condensed in the passing game -- tell me if you’ve heard that one before -- and both Drake London (5-59) and Darnell Mooney (5-82) were solid. Both receivers combined for over half of the team’s targets with Ray-Ray McCloud III (five targets, 3-19) chipping in as well.

Penix definitely helps London and Mooney maintain their fantasy value where we had been sight unseen with Penix, and frankly, making a move like this could have gone any number of ways.

The obvious downside is that Penix wasn’t ready to be an NFL starter and was overmatched. That clearly wasn’t the case here in his first start, so while London is a must-start no matter what, Mooney can be started with some confidence, too.

Baltimore Ravens

Name	Pos	Targets	Rec.	Rec. Yards	TD	Air Yards %	Route %	Snap %	aDOT	Target Share %	First Read Target %	TPRR	YPRR	Rush Att.	Rush Yds.	Rush TD	PPR FPTS	PPR Finish
Zay Flowers	WR	9	5	100	0	46.7%	96.0%	87.1%	12.0	37.5%	44.4%	37.5%	4.17	1	3	0	15.3	WR21
Rashod Bateman	WR	3	1	14	1	13.0%	84.0%	80.6%	10.0	12.5%	11.1%	14.3%	0.67				8.4	WR56
Devontez Walker	WR						16.0%	14.5%									0.0	WR112
Tylan Wallace	WR						24.0%	40.3%									0.0	WR112
Mark Andrews	TE	6	4	37	1	32.5%	64.0%	77.4%	12.5	25.0%	27.8%	37.5%	2.31	1	1	0	13.8	TE8
Isaiah Likely	TE	3	3	29	1	10.0%	68.0%	64.5%	7.7	12.5%	11.1%	17.6%	1.71				11.9	TE10
Derrick Henry	RB	2	2	27	0	-2.2%	64.0%	74.2%	-2.5	8.3%	5.6%	12.5%	1.69	24	162	0	20.9	RB11
Justice Hill	RB	1	0	0	0	0.0%	16.0%	11.3%	0.0	4.2%	0.0%	25.0%	0.00	2	30	0	3.0	RB60
Rasheen Ali	RB						8.0%	14.5%						1	2	0	0.2	RB80
Patrick Ricard	FB						12.0%	27.4%									0.0	FB6

Ravens Notes From Week 16:

For a team that only had to throw the ball 23 times, Lamar Jackson always finds that efficiency to get the ones who matter involved. Week 16 was no secret as the Ravens hung 34 points on the Steelers on Saturday.

Zay Flowers (5-100) was awesome, especially on that 49-yard pass where he got a step on his defender, spun out of a tackle, and then got out of a leg tackle by the same initial tackler. I mean, you just have to see it. It’s such an effort play where Flowers could have just gone down but didn’t. Flowers also led the team in targets (nine), which with limited pass attempts, was awesome to see.

Zay Flowers Stats Following Week 16

• 1016 rec yards
• 70.9yds per game
• 4 touchdowns
• 4.7rec per game
• 14.3yds per rec
• 47 rush yds

Only his Second Year. pic.twitter.com/42fnwnNV4Z

— noah✞ (@zayflowersgoat) December 22, 2024

There wasn’t much volume to be had elsewhere, but Mark Andrews (4-37-1), Rashod Bateman (1-14-1), and Isaiah Likely (3-29-1) each scored touchdowns as well.

Of course, you can’t talk Ravens without Derrick Henry, as he keeps rolling in “DeHEMber," with 162 yards on the ground plus another 27 through the air. Justice Hill took a nasty concussion early on and didn’t return, so Henry ran more routes and saw more snaps than usual as Rasheen Ali was used only a little bit on some of the stuff Hill would normally take.

Buffalo Bills

Name	Pos	Targets	Rec.	Rec. Yards	TD	Air Yards %	Route %	Snap %	aDOT	Target Share %	First Read Target %	TPRR	YPRR	Rush Att.	Rush Yds.	Rush TD	PPR FPTS	PPR Finish
Khalil Shakir	WR	6	2	22	0	32.2%	91.2%	74.6%	17.7	22.2%	9.1%	19.4%	0.71				4.2	WR80
Keon Coleman	WR	2	1	17	0	20.3%	67.6%	66.1%	33.5	7.4%	9.1%	8.7%	0.74				2.7	WR94
Mack Hollins	WR	3	2	25	0	10.9%	76.5%	71.2%	12.0	11.1%	9.1%	11.5%	0.96				4.5	WR76
Amari Cooper	WR	2	1	10	0	3.0%	52.9%	54.2%	5.0	7.4%	9.1%	11.1%	0.56				2.0	WR101
Dalton Kincaid	TE	7	4	15	0	19.7%	41.2%	33.9%	9.3	25.9%	45.5%	50.0%	1.07				5.5	TE25
Dawson Knox	TE	2	2	22	0	6.1%	58.8%	55.9%	10.0	7.4%	0.0%	10.0%	1.10				4.2	TE32
James Cook	RB	3	3	26	1	-1.5%	26.5%	35.6%	-1.7	11.1%	9.1%	33.3%	2.89	11	100	1	27.6	RB4
Ray Davis	RB	1	1	17	0	0.3%	23.5%	23.7%	1.0	3.7%	9.1%	12.5%	2.13	5	12	0	3.9	RB52
Ty Johnson	RB	1	0	0	0	9.1%	47.1%	39.0%	30.0	3.7%	0.0%	6.3%	0.00	6	30	0	3.0	RB60
Reggie Gilliam	FB						5.9%	30.5%									0.0	FB6

Bills Notes From Week 16:

What a bad time for Josh Allen to lay an egg in the fantasy semifinals! Week 17 was the first time since Week 5 that Allen didn’t record at least 20 fantasy points and the first time since Week 9 that Allen didn’t score a rushing touchdown.

But frankly, this offense has gotten by as a real-life great and not-so-much fruitful fantasy offense. No pass-catcher had over four receptions or 26 receiving yards. The only player who did anything noteworthy from a fantasy standpoint was James Cook, who put up a 100-yard rushing game and scored both through the air and on the ground.

Cook’s split remains as evident as ever with Ray Davis and Ty Johnson also seeing a ton of time on the field, and while it’s not great that Cook took only 50% of the rushing attempts from running backs (excluding Allen), he was still very efficient with his touches thanks in large part to his 46-yard touchdown in the second quarter to put the Bills on the scoreboard for the first time.

Dalton Kincaid (4-15) led the Bills in targets, but it doesn’t mean much when the team spreads out all its targets across nine pass-catchers and nobody sees more than one first-look target outside of Kincaid’s five.

Carolina Panthers

Name	Pos	Targets	Rec.	Rec. Yards	TD	Air Yards %	Route %	Snap %	aDOT	Target Share %	First Read Target %	TPRR	YPRR	Rush Att.	Rush Yds.	Rush TD	PPR FPTS	PPR Finish
Adam Thielen	WR	6	5	43	1	42.4%	81.8%	58.8%	11.5	26.1%	33.3%	22.2%	1.59				15.3	WR21
David Moore	WR	3	2	39	1	30.0%	84.8%	89.7%	16.3	13.0%	16.7%	10.7%	1.39	1	0	0	11.9	WR34
Jalen Coker	WR	4	2	8	0	22.1%	90.9%	82.4%	9.0	17.4%	22.2%	13.3%	0.27				2.8	WR92
Deven Thompkins	WR						15.2%	10.3%						1	9	0	0.9	WR111
Dan Chisena	WR	2	1	23	0	9.8%	6.1%	5.9%	8.0	8.7%	11.1%	100.0%	11.50				3.3	WR91
Tommy Tremble	TE	3	3	32	0	5.5%	51.5%	75.0%	3.0	13.0%	11.1%	17.6%	1.88				6.2	TE24
Ja'Tavion Sanders	TE						63.6%	57.4%									0.0	TE55
Chuba Hubbard	RB	5	4	13	0	-9.8%	69.7%	83.8%	-3.2	21.7%	5.6%	21.7%	0.57	25	152	2	32.5	RB2
Raheem Blackshear	RB						6.1%	10.3%						3	13	0	1.3	RB70
Mike Boone	RB						6.1%	5.9%						1	1	0	0.1	RB81

Panthers Notes From Week 16:

With a career-high 68 yards rushing for Bryce Young, plus two passing touchdowns and a rushing score to boot, Young had his best fantasy performance by far this season. While there wasn’t a lot of volume available for the passing game with just 158 yards passing and 26 pass attempts, the somewhat-condensed passing options got there for the most part.

Adam Thielen (5-43-1) caught a touchdown on what was the best volume day for any of the pass-catchers and Jalen Coker (2-8) was pretty muted. Coker has work to do for fantasy relevancy, namely consistency, but he’s going to be a very trendy name in fantasy wide receiver circles come draft time.

The production began and ended with Chuba Hubbard’s monster day with 152 rushing yards and two touchdowns, including a game-winning 21-yard touchdown in overtime to seal it for the Panthers.

With the Panthers inking Hubbard to a long-term contract a few weeks ago and the unfortunate runout of Jonathon Brooks tearing his ACL again, Hubbard is going to be a steal in drafts yet again, but it will have to be in the first five rounds rather than the last five rounds as we’ve been accustomed to.

Chuba called game

📺: Fox@Hubbard_RMN | #ProBowlVote pic.twitter.com/W4EOGtZDF2

— Carolina Panthers (@Panthers) December 22, 2024

Chicago Bears

Name	Pos	Targets	Rec.	Rec. Yards	TD	Air Yards %	Route %	Snap %	aDOT	Target Share %	First Read Target %	TPRR	YPRR	Rush Att.	Rush Yds.	Rush TD	PPR FPTS	PPR Finish
DJ Moore	WR	10	7	68	0	32.3%	95.7%	95.2%	11.4	27.8%	41.7%	22.7%	1.55	1	2	0	14.0	WR28
Keenan Allen	WR	11	9	141	1	37.4%	93.5%	92.1%	12.0	30.6%	29.2%	25.6%	3.28				29.1	WR2
Rome Odunze	WR	7	4	77	0	24.4%	84.8%	82.5%	12.3	19.4%	12.5%	17.9%	1.97				9.7	WR48
Tyler Scott	WR						2.2%	1.6%									0.0	WR112
Collin Johnson	WR	1	0	0	0	3.4%	4.3%	9.5%	12.0	2.8%	0.0%	50.0%	0.00				0.0	WR112
Cole Kmet	TE	3	2	9	1	5.5%	89.1%	88.9%	6.5	8.3%	4.2%	7.3%	0.22				8.9	TE16
Gerald Everett	TE	1	1	6	0	0.6%	10.9%	9.5%	2.0	2.8%	0.0%	20.0%	1.20				1.6	TE47
Marcedes Lewis	TE						13.0%	19.0%									0.0	TE55
D'Andre Swift	RB	3	3	33	0	-3.7%	67.4%	74.6%	-4.3	8.3%	12.5%	9.7%	1.06	9	20	0	8.3	RB34
Roschon Johnson	RB						26.1%	25.4%						1	3	0	0.3	RB78

Bears Notes From Week 16:

Besides a Caleb Williams and Rome Odunze fumble, this game was one of the better games from an offensive standpoint. Mainly in the passing game, as D’Andre Swift continues to struggle like he did at the beginning of the season despite a strong role (75%). He got stuffed at the one and Cole Kmet scored on the ensuing play, but in the end, Swift ultimately succumbed to the game script as the Bears could not keep up with the Lions offensively, though who can?

Williams threw for 334 yards and two touchdowns; the first one to Kmet (2-9-1) and the other to Keenan Allen (9-141-1), who has been much more of a downfield threat with the Bears this season than in years past with the Chargers. The same goes for DJ Moore, who has seen aDOT numbers earlier in the season in the low single digits but turned in a solid, wide receiver-like 11.4 aDOT en route to a 7-68 line on 10 targets. No surprise here as Allen, Moore, and Odunze (4-77) combined for 77% of targets.

Cincinnati Bengals

Name	Pos	Targets	Rec.	Rec. Yards	TD	Air Yards %	Route %	Snap %	aDOT	Target Share %	First Read Target %	TPRR	YPRR	Rush Att.	Rush Yds.	Rush TD	PPR FPTS	PPR Finish
Ja'Marr Chase	WR	8	6	97	1	34.7%	94.4%	89.3%	10.4	28.6%	35.0%	23.5%	2.85	1	7	0	22.4	WR9
Tee Higgins	WR	11	8	58	1	34.4%	77.8%	71.4%	7.5	39.3%	40.0%	39.3%	2.07				19.8	WR13
Andrei Iosivas	WR	3	3	53	1	24.2%	69.4%	67.9%	19.3	10.7%	10.0%	12.0%	2.12				14.3	WR27
Jermaine Burton	WR						8.3%	10.7%									0.0	WR112
Isaiah Williams	WR						2.8%	5.4%									0.0	WR112
Mike Gesicki	TE	2	2	14	0	3.3%	36.1%	33.9%	4.0	7.1%	5.0%	15.4%	1.08				3.4	TE34
Drew Sample	TE	1	1	12	0	0.8%	58.3%	87.5%	2.0	3.6%	0.0%	4.8%	0.57				2.2	TE39
Cam Grandy	TE						11.1%	19.6%									0.0	TE55
Tanner McLachlan	TE						2.8%	5.4%									0.0	TE55
Chase Brown	RB	3	3	18	0	2.5%	83.3%	98.2%	2.0	10.7%	10.0%	10.0%	0.60	18	91	0	13.9	RB22
Khalil Herbert	RB						2.8%	3.6%									0.0	RB82

Bengals Notes From Week 16:

Joe Burrow has the longest streak in NFL history with seven consecutive games with at least 250 passing yards and three passing touchdowns. That’s pretty good and it helps to be not only one of the most condensed offenses in the league but be at or near the top of pass rate over expected percentages over the last half-decade.

That’s what we’ve got with the Bengals, and for those reasons and more, they have been one of the best offenses to target for fantasy production. Of course, there’s the best wide receiver in fantasy this season, Ja'Marr Chase (6-97-1), a WR1 on most other teams in Tee Higgins (8-58-1), who led the Bengals in targets (11) in Week 16, and Andrei Iosivas, who has been a bit of a forgotten man in this offense with so much attention placed on the top receivers, also catching a touchdown from Burrow and all three of his targets for 53 yards.

Chase Brown has been a utilization monster since Zack Moss went down with a season-ending injury in the middle of this season. Brown has been a league-winning running back for the second half of the season and he continued his path of destruction with 109 total yards on 21 touches -- 18 carries and three receptions. Full steam ahead for Burrow, Chase, Higgins, and Brown for the fantasy semifinals and championship round.

Cleveland Browns

Name	Pos	Targets	Rec.	Rec. Yards	TD	Air Yards %	Route %	Snap %	aDOT	Target Share %	First Read Target %	TPRR	YPRR	Rush Att.	Rush Yds.	Rush TD	PPR FPTS	PPR Finish
Jerry Jeudy	WR	3	2	20	0	13.1%	92.9%	90.9%	7.3	9.7%	13.6%	7.7%	0.51				4.0	WR82
Elijah Moore	WR	5	2	21	0	31.3%	78.6%	77.3%	10.5	16.1%	13.6%	15.2%	0.64				4.1	WR81
Jamari Thrash	WR	1	0	0	0	-1.2%	33.3%	27.3%	-2.0	3.2%	4.5%	7.1%	0.00				0.0	WR112
Michael Woods II	WR	3	0	0	0	22.7%	66.7%	68.2%	12.7	9.7%	13.6%	10.7%	0.00				0.0	WR112
David Njoku	TE	10	8	66	0	32.8%	57.1%	62.1%	5.5	32.3%	27.3%	41.7%	2.75				14.6	TE5
Jordan Akins	TE	2	1	8	0	9.0%	50.0%	47.0%	7.5	6.5%	9.1%	9.5%	0.38				1.8	TE44
Blake Whiteheart	TE						11.9%	18.2%									0.0	TE55
Jerome Ford	RB	5	5	39	0	-5.4%	69.0%	80.3%	-1.8	16.1%	13.6%	17.2%	1.34	11	92	1	24.1	RB9
Pierre Strong Jr.	RB	2	2	3	0	-2.4%	21.4%	19.7%	-2.0	6.5%	4.5%	22.2%	0.33	2	6	0	2.9	RB62
D'Onta Foreman	RB						0.0%	3.0%						2	1	0	-1.9	RB86

Browns Notes From Week 16:

I made a post about the Browns this week with Dorian Thompson-Robinson and the best fantasy outputs from receivers he’s thrown to in his previous three starts in the NFL.

Dorian Thompson-Robinson

You can add a new leader to that: David Njoku … again. Njoku’s team-leading 10 targets and 8-66 line was by far the best fantasy line DTR has supported in his now four starts in the NFL.

I just don’t know how Thompson-Robinson gets starts because the Browns could not move the ball with any regularity. DTR was sacked five times, threw for just 157 yards on 20 completions, and no other pass-catcher was of any use to fantasy managers besides Njoku.

DTR has eyes for the tight-end position, so while Jerry Jeudy (three targets, 2-20) has been awesome over the second half of this season, he’s benchable for Weeks 17 and 18.

Jerome Ford started the game out with a 66-yard rush and then had 10 carries for 26 yards the rest of the way. He did get a rushing touchdown plus 5-39 receiving, so he made a nice fantasy day out of it, but the line looks way better with that long run. Without it, it looks like Ford had a touchdown to save his fantasy day.

That said, Ford did earn a massive 69% routes and 80% snaps, so it looks like the rushing role is his, especially when D'Onta Foreman had a rushing attempt inside the 5-yard line and turned the ball over on a lost fumble.

Dallas Cowboys

Name	Pos	Targets	Rec.	Rec. Yards	TD	Air Yards %	Route %	Snap %	aDOT	Target Share %	First Read Target %	TPRR	YPRR	Rush Att.	Rush Yds.	Rush TD	PPR FPTS	PPR Finish
CeeDee Lamb	WR	8	7	105	0	38.6%	69.4%	55.0%	11.0	25.0%	30.4%	32.0%	4.20				17.5	WR16
Brandin Cooks	WR	3	3	48	0	12.8%	88.9%	76.7%	9.7	9.4%	8.7%	9.4%	1.50				7.8	WR59
Jalen Tolbert	WR	3	2	20	1	25.4%	36.1%	28.3%	19.3	9.4%	13.0%	23.1%	1.54				10.0	WR46
Ryan Flournoy	WR	3	3	41	0	11.5%	33.3%	40.0%	8.7	9.4%	8.7%	25.0%	3.42				7.1	WR62
KaVontae Turpin	WR	1	1	7	0	2.2%	41.7%	41.7%	5.0	3.1%	4.3%	6.7%	0.47	3	11	0	2.8	WR92
Jonathan Mingo	WR						25.0%	25.0%									0.0	WR112
Jake Ferguson	TE	9	6	40	0	5.1%	61.1%	61.7%	1.3	28.1%	30.4%	40.9%	1.82				10.0	TE12
Luke Schoonmaker	TE	1	1	3	0	0.9%	13.9%	31.7%	2.0	3.1%	0.0%	20.0%	0.60				1.3	TE53
Brevyn Spann-Ford	TE						13.9%	21.7%									0.0	TE55
Ezekiel Elliott	RB						2.8%	5.0%						1	1	1	6.1	RB43
Rico Dowdle	RB	3	3	28	0	0.4%	52.8%	76.7%	0.3	9.4%	4.3%	15.8%	1.47	13	23	0	8.1	RB37
Hunter Luepke	FB	1	0	0	0	3.1%	13.9%	33.3%	7.0	3.1%	0.0%	20.0%	0.00				0.0	FB6

Cowboys Notes From Week 16:

Many are saying CeeDee Lamb (7-105) is a #good football player and I would have to agree, but Lamb left the game briefly following him being shaken up after landing on his shoulder. After returning and getting to the 1-yard line, Ezekiel Elliott scored on his only carry of the game, so that wasn’t great for the Rico Dowdle truthers out there.

Dowdle (13-23 rushing; 3-28 receiving) had a down game with less than 2.0 YPC and that touchdown really could have helped things for a lot of people. I am one of those people. Not salty at all. Nope, not me.

Jake Ferguson (6-40) led the Cowboys in targets (nine), but it was mainly short-area stuff (1.3-yard aDOT) and some target compiling. Jalen Tolbert (2-20-1) caught the lone touchdown from Cooper Rush on what has become a very rotational wide receiver room after Lamb and Cooks.

Denver Broncos

Name	Pos	Targets	Rec.	Rec. Yards	TD	Air Yards %	Route %	Snap %	aDOT	Target Share %	First Read Target %	TPRR	YPRR	Rush Att.	Rush Yds.	Rush TD	PPR FPTS	PPR Finish
Courtland Sutton	WR	5	5	50	0	33.7%	90.9%	90.6%	7.8	13.5%	21.1%	12.5%	1.25				10.0	WR46
Marvin Mims Jr.	WR	5	3	62	0	31.6%	50.0%	46.9%	7.3	13.5%	15.8%	22.7%	2.82	1	3	0	9.5	WR52
Troy Franklin	WR	3	2	25	0	21.5%	43.2%	40.6%	8.3	8.1%	10.5%	15.8%	1.32				4.5	WR76
Devaughn Vele	WR	3	2	21	1	20.0%	56.8%	56.3%	7.7	8.1%	15.8%	12.0%	0.84				10.1	WR45
Lil'Jordan Humphrey	WR						31.8%	35.9%									0.0	WR112
Adam Trautman	TE	1	1	5	0	1.7%	25.0%	43.8%	2.0	2.7%	0.0%	9.1%	0.45				1.5	TE49
Lucas Krull	TE	3	3	21	0	7.0%	52.3%	43.8%	2.7	8.1%	5.3%	13.0%	0.91				5.1	TE27
Nate Adkins	TE	2	2	18	0	3.5%	20.5%	32.8%	2.0	5.4%	10.5%	22.2%	2.00				3.8	TE33
Javonte Williams	RB	10	7	29	0	-19.0%	47.7%	51.6%	-2.2	27.0%	15.8%	47.6%	1.38	4	24	0	12.3	RB25
Audric Estime	RB						9.1%	20.3%						9	48	1	10.8	RB30
Blake Watson	RB	2	1	13	0	-2.6%	13.6%	15.6%	-1.5	5.4%	5.3%	33.3%	2.17	4	10	0	3.3	RB56
Michael Burton	FB	3	3	19	1	2.6%	13.6%	15.6%	1.0	8.1%	0.0%	50.0%	3.17				10.9	FB1

Broncos Notes From Week 16:

Putting this as bluntly as I can about the Denver Broncos: For this entire group of pass-catchers and running backs, the only player you should be putting into fantasy lineups is Courtland Sutton.

Sutton (5-50) was ok in this one against a tougher Chargers defense, but everybody else is a rotational piece BUT Sutton. Only Devaughn Vele (2-21-1) earned more than 50% of routes on Bo Nix’s dropbacks and nobody else sees enough consistent work on a weekly basis for them to matter.

Yes, that goes for the running backs, too, because while Audric Estime (9-48-1 rushing) was the “starter” and was solidly efficient with a touchdown, the Broncos without Jaleel McLaughlin still made it a four-way backfield just on utilization.

I’m counting fullback Michael Burton here, too, because he scored a receiving touchdown and was the second-highest-scoring player (10.9 fantasy points) in terms of fantasy points for the Broncos next to Javonte Williams (4-24 rushing; 10 targets, 7-29 receiving), who led the Broncos in targets.

Yes, mostly on dump-off passes, but that’s not something you can set your watch to each week with so many other Broncos getting work and shuffling in and out of the lineup.

Detroit Lions

Name	Pos	Targets	Rec.	Rec. Yards	TD	Air Yards %	Route %	Snap %	aDOT	Target Share %	First Read Target %	TPRR	YPRR	Rush Att.	Rush Yds.	Rush TD	PPR FPTS	PPR Finish
Amon-Ra St. Brown	WR	8	6	70	1	32.1%	93.9%	84.6%	7.6	26.7%	30.0%	25.8%	2.26				19.0	WR15
Jameson Williams	WR	6	5	143	1	45.0%	93.9%	83.1%	14.2	20.0%	30.0%	19.4%	4.61	1	7	0	26.0	WR4
Tim Patrick	WR	1	0	0	0	10.6%	72.7%	64.6%	20.0	3.3%	5.0%	4.2%	0.00				0.0	WR112
Allen Robinson II	WR						3.0%	6.2%									0.0	WR112
Sam LaPorta	TE	6	4	43	1	18.1%	84.8%	92.3%	5.7	20.0%	20.0%	21.4%	1.54				14.3	TE6
Brock Wright	TE						24.2%	52.3%									0.0	TE55
Jahmyr Gibbs	RB	5	4	45	0	-5.3%	60.6%	69.2%	-2.0	16.7%	10.0%	25.0%	2.25	23	109	1	25.4	RB7
Craig Reynolds	RB	1	1	5	0	-2.1%	9.1%	15.4%	-4.0	3.3%	5.0%	33.3%	1.67	4	18	0	3.3	RB56
Sione Vaki	RB	2	2	20	0	1.6%	15.2%	7.7%	1.5	6.7%	0.0%	40.0%	4.00				4.0	RB51
Jermar Jefferson	RB	1	1	10	0	0.0%	6.1%	7.7%	0.0	3.3%	0.0%	50.0%	5.00	3	12	0	3.2	RB59

Lions Notes From Week 16:

The big question on everybody’s mind with the Detroit Lions in Week 16 was “Will Detroit give Jahmyr Gibbs a full snap share?” Well, while Gibbs didn’t get as high of a snap share as he did last week, his 69% was robust and he took 23-of-30 running back carries and 27-of-38 opportunities to a robust 154 total yards and a touchdown.

Gibbs is a monster and may very well just cement himself as a league-winning running back for 2024. Not that he wasn’t before, of course.

The Lions jumped out to a 20-0 lead on the back of that Gibbs touchdown and a massive 82-yard touchdown to Jameson Williams, who looking back at last season to this season, has been the transformative piece to turn this offense from good to outright dangerous.

We may have had to wait a little while for Williams (5-143-1) to hit following suspensions and lack of playing time, but we know what he is capable of and he’s going to be right there among the elite wide receivers in the first four or five rounds in 2025 drafts.

Jared Goff TO JAMESON WILLIAMS. 82-YARD TOUCHDOWN.

📺: #DETvsCHI on FOX
📱: https://t.co/waVpO909ge pic.twitter.com/x2g80Yw1vV

— NFL (@NFL) December 22, 2024

Amon-Ra St. Brown (6-70-1) was awesome as always, and Sam LaPorta (4-43-1) caught a touchdown, too. LaPorta has come on late in the second half of this season following a subpar first half of 2024.

It’s not going to be enough to make him worth his draft cost this season, as he was undoubtedly overdrafted, but he’s going to be in the middle of that elite tight-end conversation after names like Brock Bowers and Trey McBride are drafted.

Tim Patrick (one target, no catches) was on a milk carton, with 73% routes and a lack of involvement on a day where the Lions scored 34 points. His rise over the last couple of weeks has been touchdown-related, not target-earning-related. We get a little ahead of our skis when trying to pluck any sort of secondary value from high-end offenses and Patrick’s goose egg just highlights the volatility of trying to squeeze as much as we can out of the Lions offense.

Green Bay Packers

Name	Pos	Targets	Rec.	Rec. Yards	TD	Air Yards %	Route %	Snap %	aDOT	Target Share %	First Read Target %	TPRR	YPRR	Rush Att.	Rush Yds.	Rush TD	PPR FPTS	PPR Finish
Jayden Reed	WR	4	3	76	0	39.7%	80.6%	58.0%	19.8	16.7%	17.6%	16.0%	3.04	1	5	0	11.1	WR39
Romeo Doubs	WR	3	2	20	0	22.1%	80.6%	66.7%	14.7	12.5%	11.8%	12.0%	0.80				4.0	WR82
Christian Watson	WR	1	0	0	0	18.5%	41.9%	43.5%	37.0	4.2%	5.9%	7.7%	0.00	2	23	0	2.3	WR97
Dontayvion Wicks	WR	5	3	13	1	18.3%	51.6%	60.9%	7.3	20.8%	23.5%	31.3%	0.81				10.3	WR44
Bo Melton	WR	1	0	0	0	0.5%	19.4%	29.0%	1.0	4.2%	5.9%	16.7%	0.00	1	14	0	1.4	WR109
Tucker Kraft	TE	4	3	63	0	10.0%	61.3%	62.3%	5.0	16.7%	17.6%	21.1%	3.32	1	2	0	9.5	TE13
Luke Musgrave	TE						19.4%	11.6%									0.0	TE55
Ben Sims	TE						6.5%	18.8%									0.0	TE55
John FitzPatrick	TE						22.6%	37.7%									0.0	TE55
Josh Jacobs	RB	4	4	38	0	-5.6%	35.5%	40.6%	-2.8	16.7%	11.8%	36.4%	3.45	13	69	1	20.7	RB12
Emanuel Wilson	RB	1	1	4	0	-2.0%	25.8%	36.2%	-4.0	4.2%	0.0%	12.5%	0.50	11	52	1	12.6	RB24
Chris Brooks	RB	1	1	2	0	-1.5%	29.0%	34.8%	-3.0	4.2%	5.9%	11.1%	0.22	6	23	1	9.5	RB33

Packers Notes From Week 16:

The Packers barely lifted a finger and got out of dodge with a 34-0 drubbing over the New Orleans Saints. The run game did all the heavy lifting, with all three rostered running backs for the Packers scoring a touchdown and taking 30 of the Packers’ 39 total carries in the game. Josh Jacobs had 107 total yards and another touchdown, making that the sixth consecutive game that Jacobs has scored a touchdown.

The passing game didn’t need much, as Jordan Love threw for just 182 yards and a touchdown to Dontayvion Wicks, who led the team in targets despite catching only three passes for 13 yards. Jayden Reed did most of his damage in garbage time, with catches of 37 and 34 yards in the fourth quarter to account for 71 of his 76 receiving yards. Romeo Doubs (three targets, 2-20) was present and accounted for and Tucker Kraft was solid as well with a 3-63 line buoyed by a 30-yard catch to get the Packers deep into Saints territory for one of their touchdowns.

This was just a demolishing by the Packers, but everything was so spread out in the passing game, which has been the problem for fantasy and lends further credence to the “Packers have four WR2” theory.

Houston Texans

Name	Pos	Targets	Rec.	Rec. Yards	TD	Air Yards %	Route %	Snap %	aDOT	Target Share %	First Read Target %	TPRR	YPRR	Rush Att.	Rush Yds.	Rush TD	PPR FPTS	PPR Finish
Nico Collins	WR	10	7	60	0	32.2%	90.7%	84.7%	12.4	30.3%	36.0%	25.6%	1.54				13.0	WR33
Tank Dell	WR	7	6	98	1	37.6%	53.5%	50.8%	20.7	21.2%	28.0%	30.4%	4.26				21.8	WR10
Robert Woods	WR	4	3	19	0	12.3%	65.1%	59.3%	11.8	12.1%	4.0%	14.3%	0.68				4.9	WR72
Xavier Hutchinson	WR	1	1	8	0	1.6%	58.1%	57.6%	6.0	3.0%	4.0%	4.0%	0.32				1.8	WR103
Jared Wayne	WR						11.6%	13.6%									0.0	WR112
Dalton Schultz	TE	8	5	45	1	11.6%	83.7%	81.4%	5.6	24.2%	20.0%	22.2%	1.25				15.5	TE4
Irv Smith	TE						18.6%	30.5%									0.0	TE55
Joe Mixon	RB	2	1	14	0	-1.3%	48.8%	66.1%	-2.5	6.1%	4.0%	9.5%	0.67	14	57	0	8.1	RB37
Dameon Pierce	RB						7.0%	6.8%						1	4	0	0.4	RB77
Dare Ogunbowale	RB						27.9%	27.1%									0.0	RB82
Andrew Beck	FB	1	0	0	0	6.0%	7.0%	20.3%	23.0	3.0%	4.0%	33.3%	0.00				0.0	RB6

Texans Notes From Week 16:

Just when it seemed like the Texans were starting to look like the Texans again from a passing-game perspective, Tank Dell suffered a dislocated kneecap and a torn ACL in their Week 16 loss to Kansas City.

Dell was having his best game of the season with a 6-98 line plus a touchdown, and on that touchdown, Dell suffered his season-ending injury. The Texans did claim the recently released Diontae Johnson from waivers to help soften that blow, but it’s unlikely that Johnson would be too impactful right away.

The rest of the Texans' options that were started in the majority were fine for the most part with Nico Collins (7-60) leading the team in targets (10) and Dalton Schultz (5-45) getting into the end zone on eight targets. In the run game, Joe Mixon was in his usual big role with 15 carries and was solid, but not spectacular with just slightly over 4.0 YPC.

No major changes for the Texans, except John Metchie III practiced in full to start the week, so he may be available to pair with Collins in the wake of the devastating Dell injury.

Indianapolis Colts

Name	Pos	Targets	Rec.	Rec. Yards	TD	Air Yards %	Route %	Snap %	aDOT	Target Share %	First Read Target %	TPRR	YPRR	Rush Att.	Rush Yds.	Rush TD	PPR FPTS	PPR Finish
Michael Pittman Jr.	WR	3	2	19	0	28.3%	100.0%	98.4%	8.0	27.3%	30.0%	21.4%	1.36				3.9	WR86
Josh Downs	WR	4	3	61	1	-3.8%	85.7%	58.1%	-0.8	36.4%	30.0%	33.3%	5.08				15.1	WR23
Adonai Mitchell	WR	1	1	36	0	38.9%	92.9%	88.7%	33.0	9.1%	10.0%	7.7%	2.77				4.6	WR75
Kylen Granson	TE						28.6%	30.6%									0.0	TE55
Mo Alie-Cox	TE	2	1	15	0	10.6%	42.9%	48.4%	4.5	18.2%	20.0%	33.3%	2.50				2.5	TE38
Drew Ogletree	TE	1	0	0	0	25.9%	35.7%	56.5%	22.0	9.1%	10.0%	20.0%	0.00				0.0	TE55
Will Mallory	TE						7.1%	4.8%									0.0	TE55
Jonathan Taylor	RB						71.4%	75.8%						29	218	3	39.8	RB1
Trey Sermon	RB						7.1%	14.5%						8	25	0	2.5	RB63
Tyler Goodson	RB						7.1%	9.7%						4	22	0	2.2	RB66

Colts Notes From Week 16:

With Anthony Richardson having only 11(!) passing attempts for 131 yards and a touchdown, you can expect that there wasn’t much going on in the passing game. Michael Pittman Jr. (2-19) has been a pretty bad fantasy option for most of the season, but at the very least, Colts WR1 Josh Downs (3-61-1) got Richardson’s passing touchdown on a team-leading (lol) four targets.

I mean, we can’t bury the lede any further: Jonathan Taylor was a one-man wrecking crew. Taylor ripped off runs of 65 and 70 yards; both for touchdowns, added a one-yard touchdown later on, and ultimately ended up with a massive 218-yard, three-touchdown game.

Taylor and Richardson play off each other so well and that’s just nearly impossible for defenses to account for both, so if Richardson can find some footing in the passing game, it’s only going to make things more dangerous for defenses going forward.

Jacksonville Jaguars

Name	Pos	Targets	Rec.	Rec. Yards	TD	Air Yards %	Route %	Snap %	aDOT	Target Share %	First Read Target %	TPRR	YPRR	Rush Att.	Rush Yds.	Rush TD	PPR FPTS	PPR Finish
Brian Thomas Jr.	WR	12	9	131	1	56.6%	95.0%	89.6%	10.0	36.4%	47.8%	31.6%	3.45				28.1	WR3
Parker Washington	WR	6	6	54	0	19.8%	100.0%	94.0%	7.0	18.2%	17.4%	15.0%	1.35				11.4	WR37
Tim Jones	WR						2.5%	9.0%									0.0	WR112
Devin Duvernay	WR	1	1	3	0	1.9%	42.5%	31.3%	4.0	3.0%	4.3%	5.9%	0.18				1.3	WR110
Josh Reynolds	WR	1	0	0	0	5.2%	47.5%	43.3%	11.0	3.0%	4.3%	5.3%	0.00				0.0	WR112
Luke Farrell	TE	3	2	9	0	4.7%	35.0%	47.8%	3.3	9.1%	4.3%	21.4%	0.64				2.9	TE36
Brenton Strange	TE	4	2	22	0	8.1%	37.5%	50.7%	4.3	12.1%	17.4%	26.7%	1.47				2.2	TE39
Josiah Deguara	TE	1	1	4	0	0.9%	27.5%	25.4%	2.0	3.0%	0.0%	9.1%	0.36				1.4	TE52
Travis Etienne	RB	3	2	15	0	1.4%	47.5%	52.2%	1.0	9.1%	4.3%	15.8%	0.79	9	22	0	5.7	RB46
Tank Bigsby	RB	1	1	1	0	-0.5%	12.5%	28.4%	-1.0	3.0%	0.0%	20.0%	0.20	12	50	1	10.1	RB31
D'Ernest Johnson	RB	1	1	8	0	1.9%	20.0%	19.4%	4.0	3.0%	0.0%	12.5%	1.00				1.8	RB68

Jaguars Notes From Week 16:

The Jaguars offense was condensed to two targets in Week 16: Brian Thomas Jr. and Parker Washington, who were the only two pass-catchers to catch more than two balls. While seven others caught a pass on Mac Jones’ 39 pass attempts, nobody else had more than 22 yards receiving.

Thomas (9-131-1) has been fantastic all season and thrives no matter the matchup and no matter the opponent. He’s going to be a player I will rank aggressively high next season over some established receivers because the ceiling is out of control for Thomas heading into his second season with a presumably healthy Trevor Lawrence throwing him passes and what we can assume to be a new coaching staff and/or offensive coordinator.

Washington had 100% route participation for the Jaguars and had a solid, efficient game while getting out wide more than he has this season at 59% of snaps to account for some of the depth pieces who are primarily slot players like Devin Duvernay.

The encore performance for Brenton Strange never came as Strange was held in check against the Raiders with just four targets and a 2-22 receiving line. Strange split time with several other depth tight ends like Luke Farrell and Josiah Deguara, which isn’t a great sign, but with the Jaguars not playing for anything, the former 2023 second-round pick Strange should continue to get the bulk of playing time.

It turns out Strange’s playing time curbed after a late first-half fumble, and he ran only three more routes during the game afterward. However, Tank Bigsby (12-50-1 rushing, 1-1 receiving) also fumbled but stayed in to earn more carries (12 to nine) than Travis Etienne Jr. (9-22 rushing; 2-15 receiving) on the afternoon.

Etienne was solidly ahead of Bigsby on the field, but Bigsby had the edge on total touches and overall production. I’m leaning toward Bigsby here in terms of who to start going forward, but not as anything else more than a low-end flex option.

Kansas City Chiefs

Name	Pos	Targets	Rec.	Rec. Yards	TD	Air Yards %	Route %	Snap %	aDOT	Target Share %	First Read Target %	TPRR	YPRR	Rush Att.	Rush Yds.	Rush TD	PPR FPTS	PPR Finish
Marquise Brown	WR	8	5	45	0	24.0%	32.6%	27.0%	7.0	19.5%	25.0%	53.3%	3.00				9.5	WR52
Xavier Worthy	WR	11	7	65	1	30.6%	82.6%	79.7%	6.5	26.8%	28.1%	28.9%	1.71	3	10	0	20.5	WR11
Justin Watson	WR	1	0	0	0	14.1%	50.0%	52.7%	33.0	2.4%	3.1%	4.3%	0.00				0.0	WR112
JuJu Smith-Schuster	WR	1	0	0	0	4.3%	28.3%	36.5%	10.0	2.4%	3.1%	7.7%	0.00				0.0	WR112
DeAndre Hopkins	WR	4	4	37	0	13.4%	63.0%	48.6%	7.8	9.8%	9.4%	13.8%	1.28				7.7	WR60
Travis Kelce	TE	7	5	30	0	14.1%	89.1%	87.8%	4.7	17.1%	15.6%	17.1%	0.73				8.0	TE18
Noah Gray	TE	1	1	10	0	2.1%	41.3%	48.6%	5.0	2.4%	0.0%	5.3%	0.53				2.0	TE42
Anthony Firkser	TE						6.5%	10.8%									0.0	TE55
Isiah Pacheco	RB	2	1	-1	0	-2.1%	28.3%	35.1%	-2.5	4.9%	3.1%	15.4%	-0.08	9	26	0	3.5	RB54
Samaje Perine	RB	3	3	50	0	0.4%	19.6%	18.9%	0.3	7.3%	9.4%	33.3%	5.56				8.0	RB39
Carson Steele	RB						2.2%	8.1%									0.0	RB82
Kareem Hunt	RB	3	2	24	0	-0.9%	39.1%	43.2%	-0.7	7.3%	3.1%	16.7%	1.33	11	55	1	15.9	RB18

Chiefs Notes From Week 16:

Don’t look now, but Xavier Worthy has 11 targets and three rushing attempts in each of his last two games and has finished as a top-20 fantasy receiver in both of those games. The Chiefs are starting to prioritize Worthy’s role in the offense as “Ferrari Mecole Hardman,” who can take shorter-area targets and use the YAC ability to create big plays or be schemed touches to that same end.

On the other end of that seesaw is DeAndre Hopkins, who has continued running his usual 60% routes, but without touchdowns or heavy targets, he isn’t anywhere near the focal point that he had been in the middle of the season.

Making his season debut at the perfect time for the Kansas City Chiefs was Marquise Brown, who immediately made his presence known and felt by finishing second on the team in targets (eight) on a very limited routes share (33%). That’s a massive 53.3% targets per route run, so the Chiefs had clear intent to get the ball to him in Week 16 against the Texans.

Brown should continue to earn more routes, and while he may not be up to an 80% routes player next week or in Week 18, he should at the very least displace and earn some routes that are going to players like JuJu Smith-Schuster and Justin Watson as the team looks for an offensive spark to ignite at playoffs time. Like, we can do better here. The Chiefs need to start changing out of the “we don’t care about the regular season” mode and getting into playoffs mode.

Travis Kelce (seven targets, 5-30) is looking older and older by the week and hasn’t put up a double-digit fantasy point week since Week 13. Whether he’s charging his batteries for a postseason run (like last season) remains to be seen, but Kelce isn’t exactly beating the “moving like a podcaster” allegations.

In the run game, Kareem Hunt continues to look more dynamic, and for the second week in a row, ran more routes and took more snaps than Isiah Pacheco. Except this time, Hunt also saw more carries (11 to 9), was much more efficient, and scored the lone touchdown on the ground. Samaje Perine remains an always-involved part of the offense who skims off touches in the passing game.

This Chiefs backfield could turn into much more of a split for the end of the season and into the playoffs, but it’s so gross I don’t want to touch either back.

Las Vegas Raiders

Name	Pos	Targets	Rec.	Rec. Yards	TD	Air Yards %	Route %	Snap %	aDOT	Target Share %	First Read Target %	TPRR	YPRR	Rush Att.	Rush Yds.	Rush TD	PPR FPTS	PPR Finish
Jakobi Meyers	WR	5	2	41	0	33.1%	100.0%	91.9%	14.4	14.3%	18.2%	12.2%	1.00				6.1	WR64
Tre Tucker	WR	4	2	41	0	31.8%	97.6%	91.9%	17.3	11.4%	18.2%	10.0%	1.03	1	-8	0	5.3	WR69
Terrace Marshall Jr.	WR						46.3%	45.9%									0.0	WR112
Brock Bowers	TE	13	11	99	0	20.9%	95.1%	94.6%	3.5	37.1%	50.0%	33.3%	2.54				20.9	TE1
Michael Mayer	TE	1	0	0	0	4.6%	46.3%	60.8%	10.0	2.9%	4.5%	5.3%	0.00				0.0	TE55
Alexander Mattison	RB	6	4	29	0	-1.9%	48.8%	56.8%	-0.7	17.1%	9.1%	30.0%	1.45	12	27	1	15.6	RB19
Ameer Abdullah	RB	6	5	47	0	11.6%	46.3%	43.2%	4.2	17.1%	0.0%	31.6%	2.47	7	38	1	19.5	RB15

Raiders Notes From Week 16:

The Raiders passing game in Week 16 was one man: Brock Bowers. Our lord and savior at tight end continues his assault on the NFL’s receiving charts with another 12 targets, 11 catches, and 99 yards. And that’s WITH a couple of drops attributed to him. I’ve never been so excited to draft him anywhere I can next season. Probably at the beginning of the second round but some aggressive drafters will scoop him up late in the first round. I will probably be one of those aggressive drafters.

Jakobi Meyers and Tre Tucker contributed but were background players with identical 2-41 lines for each receiver. Meyers will have better weeks, but he’s been pretty solid all season and will be one of the solid veteran values in drafts next season, as he’s been for years now with both the Patriots and the Raiders.

The shuffling of backs in this Las Vegas Raiders offense has been reminiscent of swapping deck chairs on the Titanic, but at the very least, Ameer Abdullah (7-38-1 rushing; 5-47 receiving) has been very serviceable for fantasy managers over the last few weeks.

Now that Alexander Mattison (12-27-1 rushing; 4-29 receiving) is back in the lineup and Sincere McCormick is out for the season, both Mattison and Abdullah have split the backfield role for the Raiders to somewhat surprising success. The high-value touches being racked by this backfield as a tandem is honestly exciting.

Los Angeles Chargers

Name	Pos	Targets	Rec.	Rec. Yards	TD	Air Yards %	Route %	Snap %	aDOT	Target Share %	First Read Target %	TPRR	YPRR	Rush Att.	Rush Yds.	Rush TD	PPR FPTS	PPR Finish
Joshua Palmer	WR	6	3	41	0	49.9%	70.3%	60.0%	16.0	21.4%	30.8%	23.1%	1.58				9.1	WR54
DJ Chark	WR						13.5%	18.5%									0.0	WR112
Ladd McConkey	WR	6	6	87	0	18.7%	97.3%	78.5%	6.0	21.4%	30.8%	16.7%	2.42				14.7	WR24
Quentin Johnston	WR	5	3	18	0	9.9%	83.8%	67.7%	3.8	17.9%	23.1%	16.1%	0.58				4.8	WR73
Derius Davis	WR	2	2	31	1	8.8%	13.5%	12.3%	8.5	7.1%	0.0%	40.0%	6.20	1	-3	0	10.8	WR42
Hayden Hurst	TE	1	1	8	0	3.1%	13.5%	12.3%	6.0	3.6%	7.7%	20.0%	1.60				1.8	TE44
Stone Smartt	TE	3	3	37	0	8.6%	67.6%	60.0%	5.5	10.7%	7.7%	12.0%	1.48				6.7	TE23
Tucker Fisk	TE	1	1	10	0	2.1%	18.9%	43.1%	4.0	3.6%	0.0%	14.3%	1.43				2.0	TE42
Gus Edwards	RB	1	1	3	0	-2.1%	27.0%	46.2%	-4.0	3.6%	0.0%	10.0%	0.30	14	68	2	20.1	RB13
Kimani Vidal	RB						32.4%	32.3%						5	24	0	2.4	RB64
Hassan Haskins	RB	2	2	39	1	1.6%	24.3%	20.0%	1.5	7.1%	0.0%	22.2%	4.33				11.9	RB28
Scott Matlock	FB	1	1	10	0	-0.5%	10.8%	40.0%	-1.0	3.6%	0.0%	25.0%	2.50				2.0	FB3

Chargers Notes From Week 16:

The Chargers are another team that spreads the ball out to a ton of different targets, but the good thing about the Chargers is that Ladd McConkey exists. McConkey (6-87) led everything for the Chargers despite a pretty short 6.0-yard aDOT.

Joshua Palmer (3-41) co-led in targets with McConkey, but was much less efficient, as was Quentin Johnston (3-18), who continues to struggle with the intricacies of playing wide receiver. Mostly the part where you catch the ball. It hasn’t been great. Stone Smartt continued to almost 70% routes per dropback and his game was a bit muted, given how spread out the targets were.

J.K. Dobbins was designated to return from injured reserve on Monday and thank the lord. Gus Edwards (14-68-2 rushing) was still bad but had good touchdown luck and a 43-yard run to boost his YPC up to just shy of 5.0, but it’s been gross for this backfield over the last few weeks with Edwards and Kimani Vidal (5-24).

It’s been one of the worst backfields in the NFL, and while there’s no guarantee Dobbins will be back in Week 17, the offense will get a huge boost if he is for those fantasy managers playing McConkey or any other Charger in Week 17.

Los Angeles Rams

Name	Pos	Targets	Rec.	Rec. Yards	TD	Air Yards %	Route %	Snap %	aDOT	Target Share %	First Read Target %	TPRR	YPRR	Rush Att.	Rush Yds.	Rush TD	PPR FPTS	PPR Finish
Cooper Kupp	WR	3	3	24	0	38.0%	78.9%	76.9%	7.3	17.6%	23.1%	20.0%	1.60				5.4	WR67
Puka Nacua	WR	8	8	56	0	8.3%	100.0%	80.8%	0.6	47.1%	61.5%	42.1%	2.95				13.6	WR30
Demarcus Robinson	WR	1	0	0	0	39.9%	73.7%	73.1%	23.0	5.9%	7.7%	7.1%	0.00				0.0	WR112
Tutu Atwell	WR	2	1	12	0	27.7%	36.8%	21.2%	8.0	11.8%	0.0%	28.6%	1.71				2.2	WR100
Colby Parkinson	TE						42.1%	32.7%									0.0	TE55
Davis Allen	TE						5.3%	23.1%									0.0	TE55
Tyler Higbee	TE	2	1	11	1	-3.5%	31.6%	26.9%	-1.0	11.8%	7.7%	33.3%	1.83				8.1	TE17
Hunter Long	TE						15.8%	36.5%									0.0	TE55
Kyren Williams	RB	1	1	7	0	-10.4%	63.2%	82.7%	-6.0	5.9%	0.0%	8.3%	0.58	23	122	1	19.9	RB14
Blake Corum	RB						10.5%	17.3%						5	14	0	1.4	RB69

Rams Notes From Week 16:

With just 19 passing attempts and 110 yards from Matthew Stafford, the passing game was just not a factor here as the Rams went very run-heavy (-13.4% PROE, 31^st in the NFL in Week 16) and even the passing that WAS there for the Rams was a lot of run-adjacent stuff.

Especially from Puka Nacua, who led everything for the Rams with eight targets, but his 8-56 line was on a shockingly low 0.6 aDOT. Only Cooper Kupp (three targets, 3-24) had more than two targets in this one, and his line was just a complement to Nacua’s short-area production and the run game.

Kyren Williams (23-122-1) was the clear star here as the ground game separated from everything else with his robust 83% snaps and 23 carries. Continuing his involvement is Blake Corum, who could earn more of a clear-cut role next season, but he was just a spell for much of the second half and that continued in Week 16 with five carries.

Miami Dolphins

Name	Pos	Targets	Rec.	Rec. Yards	TD	Air Yards %	Route %	Snap %	aDOT	Target Share %	First Read Target %	TPRR	YPRR	Rush Att.	Rush Yds.	Rush TD	PPR FPTS	PPR Finish
Tyreek Hill	WR	7	3	29	1	48.6%	80.6%	83.6%	14.6	21.9%	25.0%	24.1%	1.00				11.9	WR34
Malik Washington	WR	4	3	28	0	21.9%	88.9%	86.6%	11.5	12.5%	16.7%	12.5%	0.88				5.8	WR65
Erik Ezukanma	WR						16.7%	10.4%									0.0	WR112
River Cracraft	WR	2	1	6	0	7.6%	36.1%	26.9%	8.0	6.3%	4.2%	15.4%	0.46				1.6	WR104
Jonnu Smith	TE	6	6	62	0	7.1%	69.4%	55.2%	2.5	18.8%	25.0%	24.0%	2.48				12.2	TE9
Durham Smythe	TE	2	1	5	0	9.5%	30.6%	35.8%	10.0	6.3%	0.0%	18.2%	0.45				1.5	TE49
Julian Hill	TE						16.7%	46.3%									0.0	TE55
De'Von Achane	RB	8	6	70	0	10.3%	72.2%	74.6%	2.7	25.0%	25.0%	30.8%	2.69	17	120	1	31.0	RB3
Raheem Mostert	RB	3	2	15	0	-5.0%	33.3%	31.3%	-3.5	9.4%	4.2%	25.0%	1.25	8	31	0	6.6	RB42
Jeff Wilson Jr.	RB						8.3%	10.4%						2	12	0	1.2	RB71
Alec Ingold	FB						22.2%	37.3%						1	4	0	0.4	FB5

Dolphins Notes From Week 16:

The Dolphins put this game away with the San Francisco 49ers on the strength of what we have been waiting for with bated breath for 16 weeks: a long De'Von Achane touchdown. Granted, Achane (17-120-1 rushing; 6-70 receiving) didn’t have to make us wait four months to do it, but a 50-yard touchdown to put a nice bow on top of that victory was awesome to see through weeks and weeks of inefficiency.

For the passing game, Malik Washington had 89% of routes in Jaylen Waddle’s absence but didn’t do too much. Neither did Tyreek Hill (3-29-1), but he led the Dolphins in targets and at least had a touchdown to buoy his value on the afternoon. Jonnu Smith (6-62) continued his late-season surge at tight end as well.

Minnesota Vikings

Name	Pos	Targets	Rec.	Rec. Yards	TD	Air Yards %	Route %	Snap %	aDOT	Target Share %	First Read Target %	TPRR	YPRR	Rush Att.	Rush Yds.	Rush TD	PPR FPTS	PPR Finish
Justin Jefferson	WR	12	10	144	2	54.9%	100.0%	97.0%	11.4	37.5%	44.4%	30.0%	3.60				36.4	WR1
Jordan Addison	WR	7	5	35	1	22.2%	97.5%	89.4%	7.9	21.9%	16.7%	17.9%	0.90				14.5	WR26
Jalen Nailor	WR	2	1	5	0	6.4%	67.5%	53.0%	8.0	6.3%	5.6%	7.4%	0.19				1.5	WR108
Brandon Powell	WR						2.5%	6.1%									0.0	WR112
Trent Sherfield Sr.	WR						7.5%	10.6%									0.0	WR112
T.J. Hockenson	TE	4	2	27	0	17.3%	70.0%	69.7%	10.8	12.5%	16.7%	14.3%	0.96				4.7	TE29
Johnny Mundt	TE						5.0%	15.2%									0.0	TE55
Josh Oliver	TE	1	0	0	0	2.4%	22.5%	47.0%	6.0	3.1%	5.6%	11.1%	0.00				0.0	TE55
Aaron Jones	RB	5	3	26	0	-2.4%	62.5%	81.8%	-1.2	15.6%	5.6%	20.0%	1.04	18	67	0	12.3	RB25
Cam Akers	RB						10.0%	10.6%						1	3	0	0.3	RB78
C.J. Ham	FB	1	1	9	0	-0.8%	22.5%	19.7%	-2.0	3.1%	5.6%	11.1%	1.00				1.9	FB4

Vikings Notes From Week 16:

This passing game has shifted away from some of the T.J. Hockenson stuff, which might not be fair because Hockenson is a pretty good tight end in his own right. With Hockenson coming back midseason from injury, he should be back at 100% next season.

.@JJettas2 CLUTCH.#ProBowlVote

📺: @NFLonFOX pic.twitter.com/HFiWQZibHR

— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) December 22, 2024

That said, it’s a two-man game with planet Earth’s best wide receiver, Justin Jefferson (10-144-2), destroying worlds with two touchdowns and Jordan Addison (5-35-1) also chipping in with a touchdown on seven targets.

Status quo for Aaron Jones and the Vikings backfield with 82% snaps and 93 total yards on 21 touches. His role has never been safer with Cam Akers getting just one carry and seven total snaps.

New England Patriots

Name	Pos	Targets	Rec.	Rec. Yards	TD	Air Yards %	Route %	Snap %	aDOT	Target Share %	First Read Target %	TPRR	YPRR	Rush Att.	Rush Yds.	Rush TD	PPR FPTS	PPR Finish
DeMario Douglas	WR	6	4	33	0	0.0%	60.5%	58.9%	0.0	18.8%	16.7%	23.1%	1.27	1	6	0	7.9	WR57
Ja'Lynn Polk	WR						7.0%	4.1%									0.0	WR112
Kendrick Bourne	WR	2	2	18	0	5.7%	74.4%	69.9%	6.5	6.3%	4.2%	6.3%	0.56				3.8	WR88
Kayshon Boutte	WR	7	5	95	1	43.0%	88.4%	87.7%	14.1	21.9%	25.0%	18.4%	2.50				20.5	WR11
Javon Baker	WR	1	0	0	0	7.8%	9.3%	11.0%	18.0	3.1%	4.2%	25.0%	0.00				0.0	WR112
Hunter Henry	TE	8	4	39	1	23.0%	74.4%	83.6%	6.6	25.0%	25.0%	25.0%	1.22				13.9	TE7
Austin Hooper	TE	5	4	55	0	20.9%	62.8%	68.5%	9.6	15.6%	20.8%	18.5%	2.04				9.5	TE13
Jaheim Bell	TE						4.7%	6.8%									0.0	TE55
Rhamondre Stevenson	RB	1	1	13	0	-1.7%	32.6%	43.8%	-4.0	3.1%	4.2%	7.1%	0.93	12	60	1	12.3	RB25
Antonio Gibson	RB	2	2	8	0	1.3%	53.5%	58.9%	1.5	6.3%	0.0%	8.7%	0.35	10	28	0	5.6	RB47

Patriots Notes From Week 16:

With the fantasy championships on deck in Week 17 or Week 18, it’s unlikely you’re playing any of these pass-catchers outside of Hunter Henry unless you’re in an incredibly deep league and starting DeMario Douglas.

While Drake Maye has lifted the boats in this offense to an incredibly encouraging degree, none of the receiving options have come along for the ride. That has highlighted a massive need for the Patriots to go get a receiver or three before the start of next season.

Until then, it’s been Kayshon Boutte, who has run the most routes on the team for the second half of the season, and he put together his best production this season with a 5-95 line plus a first-quarter score to kick off the proceedings. Hunter Henry (4-39-1) caught Maye’s other touchdown and led the Patriots in targets (eight) on the afternoon.

Rhamondre Stevenson ceded some snaps and routes to Antonio Gibson as the Bills pulled ahead and stayed ahead in the fourth quarter, but at 5.0 yards per carry and scoring a first-quarter touchdown, Stevenson was a solid play.

New Orleans Saints

Name	Pos	Targets	Rec.	Rec. Yards	TD	Air Yards %	Route %	Snap %	aDOT	Target Share %	First Read Target %	TPRR	YPRR	Rush Att.	Rush Yds.	Rush TD	PPR FPTS	PPR Finish
Cedrick Wilson Jr.	WR	2	1	13	0	24.3%	50.0%	54.5%	27.5	7.7%	6.3%	10.5%	0.68				2.3	WR97
Mason Tipton	WR						52.6%	49.1%									0.0	WR112
Kevin Austin Jr.	WR	4	1	17	0	16.8%	92.1%	89.1%	9.5	15.4%	18.8%	11.4%	0.49				2.7	WR94
Dante Pettis	WR	5	2	31	0	34.1%	71.1%	67.3%	15.4	19.2%	25.0%	18.5%	1.15				5.1	WR70
Juwan Johnson	TE	2	2	27	0	9.3%	76.3%	72.7%	10.5	7.7%	12.5%	6.9%	0.93				4.7	TE29
Foster Moreau	TE	3	2	33	0	12.9%	47.4%	47.3%	9.7	11.5%	18.8%	16.7%	1.83				5.3	TE26
Dallin Holker	TE						5.3%	3.6%									0.0	TE55
Jamaal Williams	RB						7.9%	18.2%						3	8	0	0.8	RB75
Jordan Mims	RB	8	5	16	0	-1.4%	50.0%	45.5%	-0.4	30.8%	18.8%	42.1%	0.84	4	16	0	8.2	RB35
Kendre Miller	RB	2	2	16	0	4.0%	31.6%	38.2%	4.5	7.7%	0.0%	16.7%	1.33	8	15	0	5.1	RB48
Adam Prentice	FB						2.6%	10.9%									0.0	FB6

Saints Notes From Week 16:

A team without Alvin Kamara, several top wide receivers, Taysom Hill, and a rookie quarterback starting in place of Derek Carr was preordained to score zero points in Week 16 against the Packers. It was inevitable. Somehow, it was the first shutout by any team in the NFL this season.

Only Jordan Mims, who backed up starter Kendre Miller, caught more than two passes, and that was mainly in garbage time as the Saints did what they could following a strong defensive output by the Packers that saw them sack Spencer Rattler three times, intercept him once, force another turnover via fumble, and completely stymie the Saints. Mims also earned a team-high eight targets, again the result of dump-off passes because, frankly, that’s all the Saints could do.

The Saints could only muster 39 yards rushing and the leader was, of course, Mims (16 yards), as Miller averaged less than 2.0 yards per carry on the evening. It was completely, utterly dreadful. The Saints have a much better matchup against the Raiders in Week 17 where you can start Miller against a much softer run defense, but he’s still a low-end flex option for that game.

New York Giants

Name	Pos	Targets	Rec.	Rec. Yards	TD	Air Yards %	Route %	Snap %	aDOT	Target Share %	First Read Target %	TPRR	YPRR	Rush Att.	Rush Yds.	Rush TD	PPR FPTS	PPR Finish
Malik Nabers	WR	14	7	68	0	50.9%	95.2%	89.7%	9.2	38.9%	42.9%	35.0%	1.70				13.8	WR29
Wan'Dale Robinson	WR	12	7	62	0	17.1%	97.6%	93.1%	3.6	33.3%	35.7%	29.3%	1.51				13.2	WR31
Darius Slayton	WR	2	1	21	0	14.6%	85.7%	86.2%	18.5	5.6%	3.6%	5.6%	0.58	1	6	0	3.7	WR89
Jalin Hyatt	WR	2	1	9	0	16.2%	16.7%	19.0%	20.5	5.6%	7.1%	28.6%	1.29				1.9	WR102
Ihmir Smith-Marsette	WR						2.4%	1.7%									0.0	WR112
Daniel Bellinger	TE	1	1	5	0	2.0%	64.3%	65.5%	5.0	2.8%	0.0%	3.7%	0.19				1.5	TE49
Chris Manhertz	TE						14.3%	27.6%									0.0	TE55
Greg Dulcich	TE						16.7%	13.8%									0.0	TE55
Devin Singletary	RB						19.0%	22.4%						4	12	0	1.2	RB71
Tyrone Tracy Jr.	RB	4	4	43	1	-1.3%	42.9%	62.1%	-0.8	11.1%	10.7%	22.2%	2.39	7	26	0	16.9	RB17
Eric Gray	RB	1	1	2	0	0.4%	19.0%	15.5%	1.0	2.8%	0.0%	12.5%	0.25				1.2	RB71

Giants Notes From Week 16:

The Giants are #not great, and they only scored seven points against the Atlanta Falcons, one of the worst defenses over the course of this season. But to be fair, Drew Lock is one of the worst starting quarterbacks in the NFL, so something had to give, and in the season of giving, the Falcons were the recipient of TWO interception returns for touchdowns.

Luckily, Lock did have tunnel vision for two targets outside of Falcons defenders: Malik Nabers (14 targets, 7-68) and Wan'Dale Robinson (12 targets, 7-62) for much of the afternoon. Only Tyrone Tracy Jr. earned more than two targets and caught more than one pass across the rest of the pass-catchers. Nabers and Robinson needed all those targets to make up for the lack of efficiency for Lock, so there’s that.

Tracy kept a solid role, but considering the Falcons were up 31-7 in the middle of the third quarter, the Giants only had 12 non-quarterback rush attempts to 39 pass attempts. The run game wasn’t going to be fruitful, but Tracy did score a receiving touchdown at the beginning of the game to kick off the scoring before the Falcons put up 34 straight points.

New York Jets

Name	Pos	Targets	Rec.	Rec. Yards	TD	Air Yards %	Route %	Snap %	aDOT	Target Share %	First Read Target %	TPRR	YPRR	Rush Att.	Rush Yds.	Rush TD	PPR FPTS	PPR Finish
Garrett Wilson	WR	7	6	54	0	20.6%	100.0%	100.0%	6.9	16.7%	16.7%	15.9%	1.23				11.4	WR37
Allen Lazard	WR	5	2	20	0	12.4%	77.3%	73.9%	5.8	11.9%	13.3%	14.7%	0.59				4.0	WR82
Davante Adams	WR	13	7	68	1	45.5%	100.0%	97.1%	8.2	31.0%	43.3%	29.5%	1.55				19.8	WR13
Tyler Conklin	TE	7	5	59	0	21.2%	90.9%	76.8%	7.1	16.7%	13.3%	17.5%	1.48				10.9	TE11
Jeremy Ruckert	TE	2	2	12	0	0.0%	20.5%	29.0%	0.0	4.8%	0.0%	22.2%	1.33				3.2	TE35
Kenny Yeboah	TE	1	0	0	0	3.8%	6.8%	17.4%	9.0	2.4%	3.3%	33.3%	0.00				0.0	TE55
Breece Hall	RB	6	5	38	0	-4.4%	72.7%	76.8%	-1.7	14.3%	6.7%	18.8%	1.19	14	52	0	14.0	RB21
Braelon Allen	RB	1	1	5	0	0.9%	11.4%	14.5%	2.0	2.4%	3.3%	20.0%	1.00	2	5	0	2.0	RB67
Isaiah Davis	RB						11.4%	14.5%						3	12	0	1.2	RB71

Jets Notes From Week 16:

On the flip side of the Los Angeles Rams, we had the New York Jets, where all they did was pass here with a 6.9% PROE -- good for the top 10 in Week 16. Sure, there was plenty of Breece Hall involvement with 14 carries for 52 yards and his usual solid role in the passing game with a 5-38 line on six targets. By and large, it was Aaron Rodgers trying to connect with Davante Adams for much of the game.

Adams (7-68-1) led the Jets with 13 targets and caught the only touchdown on the afternoon for the team in an otherwise boring, bleak affair. Garrett Wilson (6-54) was solidly involved as usual, but his production was more of a floor game than anything. Tyler Conklin (5-59) returned to 91% routes and had a nice day as the third option for Rodgers with seven targets.

Philadelphia Eagles

Name	Pos	Targets	Rec.	Rec. Yards	TD	Air Yards %	Route %	Snap %	aDOT	Target Share %	First Read Target %	TPRR	YPRR	Rush Att.	Rush Yds.	Rush TD	PPR FPTS	PPR Finish
A.J. Brown	WR	15	8	97	1	68.5%	100.0%	100.0%	10.7	62.5%	72.2%	40.5%	2.62				23.7	WR8
DeVonta Smith	WR	7	6	51	0	22.1%	94.6%	82.4%	7.4	29.2%	27.8%	20.0%	1.46				11.1	WR39
Jahan Dotson	WR						83.8%	63.5%									0.0	WR112
Johnny Wilson	WR						5.4%	12.2%									0.0	WR112
Grant Calcaterra	TE						86.5%	89.2%									0.0	TE55
C.J. Uzomah	TE						10.8%	40.5%									0.0	TE55
Saquon Barkley	RB	1	0	0	0	9.0%	67.6%	82.4%	21.0	4.2%	0.0%	4.0%	0.00	29	150	2	27.0	RB5
Kenneth Gainwell	RB	1	1	6	0	0.4%	10.8%	18.9%	1.0	4.2%	0.0%	25.0%	1.50	4	7	0	2.3	RB65
Khari Blasingame	FB						0.0%	1.4%									0.0	FB6

Eagles Notes From Week 16:

We talk about concentrated passing games a whole lot because they’re some of the safest bets in terms of pinpointing fantasy value from an offense. The Eagles took that to another level, as the combination of Jalen Hurts, who left the game with a concussion, and Kenny Pickett threw just 28 times and only THREE players caught a pass and just FOUR players earned a target.

Pickett didn’t come out unscathed, either, as he picked up a rib injury in the loss to the Commanders. It’s possible somebody named Tanner McKee -- for sure a real-life human being -- would start for the Eagles if Hurts is unable to clear concussion protocol and Pickett cannot play due to his rib injury.

Of course, A.J. Brown (8-97-1) and DeVonta Smith (6-51) were the breadwinners here, combining for over a whopping 92% of the team’s targets -- all but two of the total targets in the game for the Eagles. That’s wild but illustrates the haves and have-nots of this offense and why you can’t trust any of the secondary targets.

Saquon Barkley shook off a disappointing Week 15 where he scored just 9.4 fantasy points to get to doing what he does best: rub our noses in the dirt as the league-winning running back of the 2024 NFL season with 150 yards rushing and two touchdowns.

You don’t need me to tell you he’s got an awesome matchup with the Cowboys in Week 17 and he’s going to be a massive reason why a lot of people are going to win their fantasy leagues this season.

Pittsburgh Steelers

Name	Pos	Targets	Rec.	Rec. Yards	TD	Air Yards %	Route %	Snap %	aDOT	Target Share %	First Read Target %	TPRR	YPRR	Rush Att.	Rush Yds.	Rush TD	PPR FPTS	PPR Finish
Van Jefferson	WR	3	2	27	0	15.6%	76.3%	78.3%	10.7	11.5%	7.1%	10.3%	0.93				4.7	WR74
Calvin Austin III	WR	5	4	65	0	48.0%	76.3%	80.0%	19.8	19.2%	35.7%	17.2%	2.24				10.5	WR43
Scotty Miller	WR						44.7%	43.3%									0.0	WR112
Ben Skowronek	WR	2	2	25	0	9.2%	13.2%	16.7%	9.5	7.7%	7.1%	40.0%	5.00				4.5	WR76
Mike Williams	WR	3	3	24	0	6.8%	47.4%	36.7%	4.7	11.5%	14.3%	16.7%	1.33				5.4	WR67
Pat Freiermuth	TE	3	3	16	0	7.3%	78.9%	68.3%	5.0	11.5%	14.3%	10.0%	0.53				4.6	TE31
Darnell Washington	TE						28.9%	43.3%									0.0	TE55
Connor Heyward	TE	1	1	3	0	1.5%	7.9%	10.0%	3.0	3.8%	0.0%	33.3%	1.00				1.3	TE53
MyCole Pruitt	TE	2	1	1	1	5.8%	10.5%	23.3%	6.0	7.7%	7.1%	50.0%	0.25				7.1	TE22
Najee Harris	RB	1	0	0	0	-2.9%	21.1%	28.3%	-6.0	3.8%	7.1%	12.5%	0.00	9	42	0	4.2	RB49
Jaylen Warren	RB	5	5	44	0	2.4%	68.4%	66.7%	1.0	19.2%	0.0%	19.2%	1.69	12	48	0	14.2	RB20
Cordarrelle Patterson	RB	1	1	12	1	6.3%	7.9%	5.0%	13.0	3.8%	7.1%	33.3%	4.00				8.2	RB35

Steelers Notes From Week 16:

I can’t in good faith recommend starting any Pittsburgh Steelers receivers or tight ends who aren’t named George Pickens. With Week 16’s iteration of the passing game, it might have been one of the worst receiving groups ever assembled, and that’s coming from somebody who just wrote about the New Orleans Saints.

Calvin Austin III (4-65) is merely *fine* and has been earning more routes (76% in Week 16) out of necessity, but he’s just a part-time, volatile deep threat with Pickens active.

With Jaylen Warren being on the field much more than Najee Harris, Warren’s skill set is being utilized a lot more with the receiving aspect as he co-led the Steelers in targets (five) with Austin. Warren also earned more carries (12 to nine) than Harris, who seems very much like a Jordan Howard-type back where if he’s on the field, you mostly know it’s going to be a run play with nine carries on just 17 snaps.

San Francisco 49ers

Name	Pos	Targets	Rec.	Rec. Yards	TD	Air Yards %	Route %	Snap %	aDOT	Target Share %	First Read Target %	TPRR	YPRR	Rush Att.	Rush Yds.	Rush TD	PPR FPTS	PPR Finish
Deebo Samuel Sr.	WR	9	7	96	1	11.4%	78.3%	82.8%	2.3	25.0%	25.0%	25.0%	2.67	5	25	0	25.1	WR5
Jauan Jennings	WR	6	4	51	0	45.4%	93.5%	93.8%	13.7	16.7%	20.8%	14.0%	1.19				9.1	WR54
Ricky Pearsall	WR	4	4	37	0	14.4%	73.9%	71.9%	6.5	11.1%	12.5%	11.8%	1.09				7.7	WR60
Chris Conley	WR						4.3%	6.3%									0.0	WR112
Jacob Cowing	WR						19.6%	15.6%									0.0	WR112
George Kittle	TE	8	8	106	0	19.4%	89.1%	98.4%	4.4	22.2%	25.0%	19.5%	2.59				18.6	TE3
Eric Saubert	TE	1	1	2	1	4.4%	13.0%	15.6%	8.0	2.8%	4.2%	16.7%	0.33				7.2	TE21
Patrick Taylor Jr.	RB	5	1	1	0	3.3%	65.2%	79.7%	1.2	13.9%	8.3%	16.7%	0.03	8	24	0	3.5	RB54
Kyle Juszczyk	FB	3	1	20	0	1.7%	28.3%	34.4%	1.0	8.3%	4.2%	23.1%	1.54	1	6	0	3.6	FB2

49ers Notes From Week 16:

The San Francisco 49ers were down to their 67^th running back (okay, RB5) in Patrick Taylor Jr., and that seems to be where the line is crossed with the “all 49ers running backs produce” slogan for fantasy. RB4 and up, fair game it seems. Taylor saw a robust on-field and touched the ball nine times but for just 25 yards. It wasn’t great, but that led the 49ers and Brock Purdy to pass a bit more with 40 pass attempts and 313 yards on the afternoon.

Deebo Samuel had his best week since Herbert Hoover was in office with a 7-96 line on a team-leading nine targets. They followed the DJ Moore/Khalil Shakir game plan of getting the ball to him out in space and letting him create, which was evidenced by his low 2.3-yard aDOT. Still, it was awesome to see him finally produce, and that receiving work was on top of five rushes for 25 yards, which eclipsed Taylor’s rushing as well.

George Kittle (8-106) is awesome, and Jauan Jennings took a bit of a backseat to Samuel and Kittle in this one with just a 4-51 line. Jennings is going to be a bit difficult to parse for fantasy purposes unless this pass-catching group changes in the offseason. Brandon Aiyuk will be coming off of a multi-ligament knee injury, who knows if Samuel will still be a 49er, and first-rounder Ricky Pearsall (4-37) will be in his second year. It’s going to be incredibly interesting to see how this receiving group shakes out for 2025.

Seattle Seahawks

Name	Pos	Targets	Rec.	Rec. Yards	TD	Air Yards %	Route %	Snap %	aDOT	Target Share %	First Read Target %	TPRR	YPRR	Rush Att.	Rush Yds.	Rush TD	PPR FPTS	PPR Finish
DK Metcalf	WR	7	3	57	1	35.9%	93.5%	90.5%	17.6	16.7%	23.1%	16.3%	1.33				14.7	WR24
Tyler Lockett	WR	2	2	19	0	5.0%	78.3%	68.3%	8.5	4.8%	3.8%	5.6%	0.53				3.9	WR86
Jaxon Smith-Njigba	WR	12	8	95	1	44.1%	93.5%	87.3%	12.6	28.6%	34.6%	27.9%	2.21	1	5	0	24.0	WR6
Jake Bobo	WR	1	1	6	0	1.7%	10.9%	17.5%	6.0	2.4%	3.8%	20.0%	1.20				1.6	WR104
Noah Fant	TE	6	3	50	0	12.6%	76.1%	73.0%	7.2	14.3%	11.5%	17.1%	1.43				8.0	TE18
Pharaoh Brown	TE	1	1	17	0	4.1%	17.4%	31.7%	14.0	2.4%	3.8%	12.5%	2.13				2.7	TE37
AJ Barner	TE	2	2	13	1	3.5%	17.4%	30.2%	6.0	4.8%	3.8%	25.0%	1.63				9.3	TE15
Kenneth Walker III	RB	8	8	28	0	-7.7%	39.1%	58.7%	-3.3	19.0%	11.5%	44.4%	1.56	8	31	0	13.9	RB22
Zach Charbonnet	RB	2	2	14	0	0.3%	19.6%	22.2%	0.5	4.8%	0.0%	22.2%	1.56	1	-1	0	3.3	RB56
Kenny McIntosh	RB	1	1	15	0	0.6%	10.9%	19.0%	2.0	2.4%	3.8%	20.0%	3.00	3	14	0	3.9	RB52

Seahawks Notes From Week 16:

For a long time, the Seattle Seahawks were a two-man game with DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett. Now, it’s clear that it’s Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Metcalf. Smith-Njigba (8-95-1) led the Seahawks in targets and Metcalf was solid as well while also getting into the end zone.

JSN has been the sneakiest WR13 in fantasy points per game (16.1) who I can remember, and his ascension to a must-start wide receiver has gone under the radar. But he's there and will be for the next several seasons. He’s been awesome to watch, and with how he was misused by offensive coordinator Shane Waldron last season, has been a big coup for fantasy managers who took the chance on the second-year wide receiver.

JSN is really him. #ProBowlVote + @jaxon_smith1 pic.twitter.com/8AkvMYzsUB

— Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) December 22, 2024

Kenneth Walker III returned after a two-game absence to 59% snaps and a bit of a lackluster commitment to the run with just eight carries for 31 yards, but he did make up for it with some PPR scamming with eight receptions. Zach Charbonnet was a non-factor with just three touches for 13 yards and split some time with Kenny McIntosh, as he was also involved as another spell with 29 total yards and four touches.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Name	Pos	Targets	Rec.	Rec. Yards	TD	Air Yards %	Route %	Snap %	aDOT	Target Share %	First Read Target %	TPRR	YPRR	Rush Att.	Rush Yds.	Rush TD	PPR FPTS	PPR Finish
Mike Evans	WR	8	5	69	0	33.2%	82.0%	80.6%	17.4	19.0%	18.2%	19.5%	1.68				11.9	WR34
Jalen McMillan	WR	7	5	57	1	26.1%	86.0%	83.3%	15.6	16.7%	21.2%	16.3%	1.33				16.7	WR19
Trey Palmer	WR	4	2	31	0	21.8%	18.0%	18.1%	22.8	9.5%	12.1%	44.4%	3.44				5.1	WR70
Rakim Jarrett	WR	1	1	6	0	1.4%	18.0%	18.1%	6.0	2.4%	3.0%	11.1%	0.67				1.6	WR104
Sterling Shepard	WR	3	1	20	0	10.7%	34.0%	33.3%	15.0	7.1%	6.1%	17.6%	1.18	1	14	0	4.4	WR79
Ryan Miller	WR	2	2	17	1	5.3%	54.0%	45.8%	11.0	4.8%	3.0%	7.4%	0.63				9.7	WR48
Payne Durham	TE	6	5	29	0	8.2%	88.0%	93.1%	5.7	14.3%	12.1%	13.6%	0.66				7.9	TE20
Ko Kieft	TE						4.0%	16.7%									0.0	TE55
Devin Culp	TE						4.0%	4.2%									0.0	TE55
Rachaad White	RB	8	7	50	0	-3.8%	44.0%	50.0%	-2.0	19.0%	15.2%	36.4%	2.27	3	10	0	11.0	RB29
Bucky Irving	RB	3	3	24	0	-2.9%	44.0%	56.9%	-4.0	7.1%	9.1%	13.6%	1.09	16	68	1	18.2	RB16

Buccaneers Notes From Week 16:

Tampa Bay fell behind by two possessions with a 23-14 halftime score and just couldn’t bridge the gap against the Cowboys, who looked a bit better on offenses and, frankly, transformative on defense.

In the biz, we call this touchdown thing Jalen McMillan (5-57-1) is doing a “streak.” That’s a good thing and the Buccaneers are using the attention focused on Mike Evans (5-69) to their benefit by feeding McMillan the ball in the red zone and downfield.

McMillan’s line on six targets added to his glowing late-season surge, as McMillan is averaging 19 fantasy points per game in his past three contests. Evans co-led the Bucs in targets (eight) and in place of Cade Otton (inactive) was Payne Durham (5-29), who compiled some targets on 88% routes.

The Tampa backfield had almost a full line of demarcation, as the receiving stuff primarily went to Rachaad White (7-50), who co-led the target volume with Evans. Unfortunately, White’s fumble will be the only thing people remember from this game as DaRon Bland ripped the ball away as the Buccaneers were driving to essentially seal the game for the Cowboys and also wrestle away Tampa’s ability to control its destiny for the playoffs.

Why the Buccaneers decided to put White on the field late with Bucky Irving having a great game (16-68-1 rushing; 3-24 receiving) is anybody’s guess. Both Irving and White essentially had the same snap and route numbers, with Irving playing five more snaps, but both running 22 routes apiece. You can start both in Week 17 as the Bucs host the Panthers.

Tennessee Titans

Name	Pos	Targets	Rec.	Rec. Yards	TD	Air Yards %	Route %	Snap %	aDOT	Target Share %	First Read Target %	TPRR	YPRR	Rush Att.	Rush Yds.	Rush TD	PPR FPTS	PPR Finish
Calvin Ridley	WR	5	3	78	1	55.8%	94.4%	88.5%	22.2	17.2%	26.3%	14.7%	2.29				16.8	WR18
Tyler Boyd	WR	3	2	20	0	10.6%	58.3%	50.8%	7.0	10.3%	10.5%	14.3%	0.95				4.0	WR82
Nick Westbrook-Ikhine	WR	3	2	17	1	19.6%	97.2%	90.2%	13.0	10.3%	10.5%	8.6%	0.49				9.7	WR48
Bryce Oliver	WR						5.6%	3.3%									0.0	WR112
Mason Kinsey	WR	1	1	6	0	3.0%	25.0%	23.0%	6.0	3.4%	5.3%	11.1%	0.67				1.6	WR104
Chig Okonkwo	TE	9	9	81	0	18.1%	83.3%	85.2%	4.0	31.0%	31.6%	30.0%	2.70				19.1	TE2
Josh Whyle	TE						11.1%	14.8%									0.0	TE55
Nick Vannett	TE						8.3%	26.2%									0.0	TE55
David Martin-Robinson	TE	1	1	6	0	0.0%	5.6%	3.3%	0.0	3.4%	0.0%	50.0%	3.00				1.6	TE47
Tony Pollard	RB	4	2	5	0	-6.0%	38.9%	39.3%	-3.0	13.8%	15.8%	28.6%	0.36	8	35	0	6.0	RB45
Tyjae Spears	RB	3	3	39	0	-1.1%	58.3%	60.7%	-0.7	10.3%	0.0%	14.3%	1.86	10	27	2	21.6	RB10

Titans Notes From Week 16:

That’s two straight weeks of target compiling for Chig Okonkwo (9-81), as he’s getting the David Njoku treatment for the Titans as Mason Rudolph is making him the “PPR scam” option at tight end alongside Calvin Ridley (3-78-1) to form a potent one-two combo. Nick Westbrook-Ikhine (2-17-1) continued his overall touchdown scam with another score on just three targets.

For me, the Titans get a solid bump up in terms of being able to trust this production from both Ridley and Okonkwo as Rudolph has been efficient and intentional with his wanting to continually target Okonkwo as a Njoku-lite option for fantasy managers. I’m trusting it for Week 17 for both Ridley and Okonkwo with Rudolph startable in deeper and two-QB formats.

Tony Pollard (8-35 rushing; 2-5 receiving) has been banged up with an ankle injury that put him on the injury report as questionable, but he did suit up and split more time with Tyjae Spears (10-27-2 rushing; 3-39 receiving), who has been incredibly productive over the last couple of weeks with 24.4 fantasy points per game and two straight top-10 performances.

In Week 16, he was more buoyed by his two touchdowns than actual production from a yardage standpoint. Unless the Titans outright sit Pollard for the season, Spears is only a dart-throw flex option, as the utilization is harder to trust weekly.

Washington Commanders

Name	Pos	Targets	Rec.	Rec. Yards	TD	Air Yards %	Route %	Snap %	aDOT	Target Share %	First Read Target %	TPRR	YPRR	Rush Att.	Rush Yds.	Rush TD	PPR FPTS	PPR Finish
Terry McLaurin	WR	6	5	59	1	21.7%	89.1%	91.0%	10.2	16.7%	26.1%	14.6%	1.44				16.9	WR17
Dyami Brown	WR	5	4	56	0	28.0%	69.6%	65.7%	15.8	13.9%	21.7%	15.6%	1.75				9.6	WR51
Luke McCaffrey	WR	3	1	13	0	9.6%	15.2%	13.4%	9.0	8.3%	8.7%	42.9%	1.86				2.3	WR97
Olamide Zaccheaus	WR	8	5	70	2	12.5%	69.6%	70.1%	4.4	22.2%	26.1%	25.0%	2.19				24.0	WR6
Jamison Crowder	WR	4	2	15	2	20.3%	45.7%	44.8%	14.3	11.1%	8.7%	19.0%	0.71				15.5	WR20
Zach Ertz	TE	2	1	12	0	6.0%	80.4%	71.6%	8.5	5.6%	0.0%	5.4%	0.32				2.2	TE39
Ben Sinnott	TE						4.3%	7.5%									0.0	TE55
John Bates	TE	1	0	0	0	-0.7%	17.4%	34.3%	-2.0	2.8%	0.0%	12.5%	0.00				0.0	TE55
Brian Robinson Jr.	RB	3	2	17	0	2.1%	54.3%	62.7%	2.0	8.3%	0.0%	12.0%	0.68	10	24	0	6.1	RB43
Jeremy McNichols	RB	4	4	15	0	0.4%	30.4%	28.4%	0.3	11.1%	8.7%	28.6%	1.07				7.5	RB40
Chris Rodriguez Jr.	RB						6.5%	10.4%						3	5	0	0.5	RB76

Commanders Notes From Week 16:

It turns out that having a good, young quarterback can paper over a LOT of deficiencies with your team. Jayden Daniels -- who I think is just as worthy an MVP candidate as Josh Allen but likely won’t win it -- threw two interceptions and the team lost three fumbles, yet still beat the Philadelphia Eagles at home in a statement win that shows that Daniels is going to be a long-term elite player in the NFL. Not that there was any doubt, but if there was, those doubts should be squashed by now.

Daniels’ connection with Terry McLaurin (5-59-1) is evident to fantasy managers, as McLaurin notched his 12^th touchdown of the season and got over 1,000 receiving yards for the fifth consecutive season. Olamide Zaccheaus AND Jamison Crowder both scoring two touchdowns on the afternoon scream one thing: Daniels needs another wide receiver or two this upcoming offseason.

A tough day at the office for Brian Robinson Jr. as the team prioritized the pass throughout this game and most of the rushing yards came on the legs of Daniels with 81. Robinson put up just 41 total yards on 12 touches but also lost two fumbles as well. That may have led to a reduced reliance on his services in the victory despite a solid 63% snaps.

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