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 Targets, Air Yards, and Snaps trends analysis article will be some of the best statistics and metrics correlating with fantasy football 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, 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.

 

Largest Target Share % Increases from Week 4 To Week 5

Name	Pos.	Team	WK4 Target Share	WK5 Target Share	Diff (+)
Garrett Wilson	WR	NYJ	20.0%	44.7%	+24.7%
Jonnu Smith	TE	MIA	0.0%	24.1%	+24.1%
JuJu Smith-Schuster	WR	KC	0.0%	23.5%	+23.5%
George Kittle	TE	SF	15.4%	38.7%	+23.3%
Darius Slayton	WR	NYG	13.2%	35.5%	+22.3%
Brock Bowers	TE	LV	12.5%	34.3%	+21.8%
Zach Ertz	TE	WAS	10.0%	30.8%	+20.8%
Justin Jefferson	WR	MIN	30.8%	50.0%	+19.2%
Zay Flowers	WR	BAL	11.1%	28.9%	+17.8%
Demario Douglas	WR	NE	10.3%	27.6%	+17.2%
Jordan Addison	WR	MIN	11.5%	28.6%	+17.0%
Brandon Aiyuk	WR	SF	19.2%	35.5%	+16.3%
Connor Heyward	TE	PIT	0.0%	16.0%	+16.0%
Rashod Bateman	WR	BAL	5.6%	21.1%	+15.5%
Travis Etienne	RB	JAC	6.3%	20.6%	+14.3%

21 targets will certainly put you at the top here and that's exactly what Garrett Wilson earned. One of the starkest upticks in target share thanks to role change had to be by JuJu Smith-Schuster, who took the Rashee Rice reins and is now running those short aDOT routes. The Chiefs are on bye next week so we can't take advantage immediately, but Smith-Schuster becomes a solid, startable WR3 option for those in need.

It was great to see a guy like Brock Bowers get unstuck from last week to dominate targets for a Raiders team with that competition. This should be the norm for Bowers no matter who is at quarterback.

 

Largest Target Share % Decreases from Week 4 To Week 5

Name	Pos.	Team	WK4 Target Share	WK5 Target Share	Diff (-)
Nico Collins	WR	HOU	39.5%	5.7%	-33.8%
Justice Hill	RB	BAL	33.3%	2.6%	-30.7%
Christian Kirk	WR	JAC	37.5%	11.8%	-25.7%
D'Andre Swift	RB	CHI	31.8%	7.1%	-24.7%
Xavier Legette	WR	CAR	25.0%	2.9%	-22.1%
Greg Dortch	WR	ARI	21.7%	3.6%	-18.2%
Courtland Sutton	WR	DEN	34.8%	16.7%	-18.1%
Michael Pittman Jr.	WR	IND	33.3%	15.9%	-17.4%
Jerry Jeudy	WR	CLE	28.1%	11.5%	-16.6%
Jakobi Meyers	WR	LV	41.7%	25.7%	-16.0%
Aaron Jones	RB	MIN	19.2%	3.6%	-15.7%
Chris Olave	WR	NO	27.8%	12.5%	-15.3%
Diontae Johnson	WR	CAR	32.5%	17.6%	-14.9%
Derrick Henry	RB	BAL	16.7%	2.6%	-14.0%
Tre Tucker	WR	LV	25.0%	11.4%	-13.6%

Nico Collins' appearance here was really because of his brutal hamstring injury that will shelve him on injured reserve for the next four weeks. Same with Xavier Legette, as he also left early with an AC joint injury in his shoulder. One of the starkest decreases was because of game script and that was Justice Hill, who we know can be a sort of PPR-style running back, as his production and target share comes in specific games where the Ravens are down.

 

Arizona Cardinals

Name	Pos	Targets	Rec.	Rec. Yards	TD	Air Yards %	Route %	Snap %	aDOT	Target Share %	First Read Target %	TPRR	YPRR	PPR FPTS	PPR Finish
Marvin Harrison Jr.	WR	7	2	36	0	40.7%	87.5%	75.9%	13.3	25.0%	27.3%	25.0%	1.29	5.6	WR59
Greg Dortch	WR	1	1	7	0	-3.1%	53.1%	41.4%	-7.0	3.6%	4.5%	5.9%	0.41	1.7	WR90
Michael Wilson	WR	6	5	78	0	40.1%	84.4%	72.4%	15.3	21.4%	18.2%	22.2%	2.89	12.8	WR32
Chris Moore	WR						9.4%	13.8%						0	WR100
Zach Pascal	WR						12.5%	17.2%						0	WR100
Trey McBride	TE	8	6	53	0	23.1%	84.4%	87.9%	6.6	28.6%	31.8%	29.6%	1.96	11.3	TE13
Elijah Higgins	TE	1	1	2	1	4.8%	31.3%	41.4%	11.0	3.6%	4.5%	10.0%	0.20	7.2	TE25
Tip Reiman	TE	1	1	5	0	0.9%	12.5%	44.8%	2.0	3.6%	0.0%	25.0%	1.25	1.5	TE48
James Conner	RB	3	2	14	0	-5.2%	68.8%	79.3%	-4.0	10.7%	13.6%	13.6%	0.64	14	RB18
Emari Demercado	RB	1	1	0	0	-1.3%	28.1%	22.4%	-3.0	3.6%	0.0%	11.1%	0.00	1	RB61

Cardinals Notes from Week 5:

The Cardinals came back from a 23-10 halftime deficit to win 24-23 against the 49ers, who have a real problem of closing out games lately. First against the Rams and now, these pesky Cardinals.

Things got condensed for Arizona with 75% of targets directed at Marvin Harrison Jr., Michael Wilson, and Trey McBride. While Harrison (seven targets, 2-36) had a pretty inefficient day, McBride (team-leading eight targets, 6-53) earned almost 30% TPRR on the afternoon after he was questionable late in the week with a rib injury after clearing concussion.

Wilson’s 78 yards led the team in the comeback on six targets. All three ran routes on at least 84% of Kyler Murray’s drop backs with Greg Dortch’s (one target, 1-7) steep decline from 96% routes to 53%.

No running back other than James Conner saw a carry on offense and only Emari Demercado saw a target amongst the backfield. It's very safe to say Conner has this backfield on lockdown right now.

 

Atlanta Falcons

Name	Pos	Targets	Rec.	Rec. Yards	TD	Air Yards %	Route %	Snap %	aDOT	Target Share %	First Read Target %	TPRR	YPRR	PPR FPTS	PPR Finish
Drake London	WR	13	12	154	1	27.5%	82.8%	83.9%	9.2	24.1%	30.2%	24.5%	2.91	33.4	WR2
Darnell Mooney	WR	16	9	105	2	45.2%	96.9%	97.7%	12.3	29.6%	34.9%	25.8%	1.69	31.5	WR3
Ray-Ray McCloud III	WR	9	6	66	0	14.9%	95.3%	97.7%	7.2	16.7%	16.3%	14.8%	1.08	12.6	WR34
KhaDarel Hodge	WR	2	2	67	1	5.3%	17.2%	18.4%	11.5	3.7%	4.7%	18.2%	6.09	14.7	WR22
Kyle Pitts	TE	8	7	88	0	11.2%	84.4%	85.1%	6.1	14.8%	9.3%	14.8%	1.63	15.8	TE6
Charlie Woerner	TE						6.3%	14.9%						0	TE54
Bijan Robinson	RB	3	3	16	0	-3.9%	50.0%	66.7%	-5.7	5.6%	4.7%	9.4%	0.50	10.7	RB27
Tyler Allgeier	RB	3	3	13	0	-0.2%	26.6%	35.6%	-0.3	5.6%	0.0%	17.6%	0.76	5.5	RB45

Falcons Notes from Week 5:

In the deep and storied annals of Thursday Night Football, there have been many games that put people to sleep and induce copious amounts of boredom. We harken back to the Broncos/Colts game from 2022 where people were leaving the game as it was about to go into overtime at 9-9.

Week 5’s iteration between the Falcons and Buccaneers was not one of them.

Kirk Cousins had 58 pass attempts, which was the most of any team this season. Naturally, with a team that employs Drake London and Kyle Pitts, Darnell Mooney led the team with 16 targets. His 9-105-2 line put him as overall WR3 on the week, but it could have been a little more as Mooney had a very bad drop with about 6:00 left in the fourth quarter on a third down that would have extended their drive.

London (13 targets, 12-154-1) was also awesome in the Falcons’ overtime win and looks every bit the part of a first-round fantasy wide receiver. Also excellent was Ray-Ray McCloud III (nine targets, 6-66) on a bit deeper aDOT (7.2 yards) than in Weeks 3-4, where it was 4.6 yards.

Much was said last week about the demise of Kyle Pitts. He’s not dead, but he’s not totally alive either, just doing better with a 7-88 line on eight targets. With the massive amount of pass volume, it was still only good for a 15% target share. Good, but probably a bit overrated from a team sense.

While Bijan Robinson (12-61 rushing; three targets, 3-16) is still earning a solid workload, he hasn’t gotten over 18 carries or put up better than a RB15 week in any game this season. Tyler Allgeier (5-12 rushing; three targets, 3-13 receiving) is still seeing some involvement within the offense with nine opportunities but hasn't done anything fantasy-wise to matter as of yet through five games.

 

Baltimore Ravens

Name	Pos	Targets	Rec.	Rec. Yards	TD	Air Yards %	Route %	Snap %	aDOT	Target Share %	First Read Target %	TPRR	YPRR	PPR FPTS	PPR Finish
Zay Flowers	WR	11	7	111	0	32.4%	87.2%	82.1%	10.7	28.9%	37.0%	26.8%	2.71	19	WR14
Rashod Bateman	WR	8	4	58	1	24.0%	74.5%	62.8%	10.9	21.1%	18.5%	22.9%	1.66	15.8	WR19
Nelson Agholor	WR	3	1	4	0	11.0%	44.7%	47.4%	13.3	7.9%	11.1%	14.3%	0.19	1.4	WR93
Tylan Wallace	WR	2	2	31	0	5.2%	17.0%	17.9%	9.5	5.3%	0.0%	25.0%	3.88	5.1	WR64
Mark Andrews	TE	5	4	55	0	13.5%	48.9%	55.1%	9.8	13.2%	11.1%	21.7%	2.39	9.5	TE18
Isaiah Likely	TE	3	3	13	2	4.9%	72.3%	70.5%	6.0	7.9%	7.4%	8.8%	0.38	16.3	TE4
Charlie Kolar	TE	4	3	64	1	11.5%	12.8%	26.9%	10.5	10.5%	7.4%	66.7%	10.67	15.6	TE7
Derrick Henry	RB	1	1	4	0	-1.6%	31.9%	50.0%	-6.0	2.6%	3.7%	6.7%	0.27	16.6	RB9
Justice Hill	RB	1	1	8	0	-0.8%	31.9%	52.6%	-3.0	2.6%	3.7%	6.7%	0.53	3.5	RB49
Patrick Ricard	FB						14.9%	32.1%						0	FB5

Ravens Notes from Week 5:

In this offensive explosion from the Ravens, it was great to see Lamar Jackson get to 42 pass attempts and a monster game (348 yards, four TD) passing in addition to the rushing (55 yards). Not to mention, one of the most unreal touchdowns you'll ever see.

ONLY LAMAR. WOW.

📺: #BALvsCIN on CBS/Paramount+
📱: https://t.co/waVpO8ZBqG pic.twitter.com/KenO7criwG

— NFL (@NFL) October 6, 2024

Primarily coming along for the ride was Zay Flowers, who dominated production and targets for the Ravens to the tune of 7-111 on a team-leading 11 targets. Even Rashod Bateman got involved too with eight targets and a 4-58 line including a touchdown on 75% routes. As usual, the routes were pretty spread out amongst the Ravens’ pass-catchers with Flowers leading the way with 87%.

The tight ends continue to create controversy as Mark Andrews (4-55) was third in targets, but watched two other tight ends catch touchdowns in Isaiah Likely (three targets, 3-13-2, 72% routes) and Charlie Kolar (four targets, 3-64-1, just 13% routes). Andrews is tough to even roster at this point because he’s fallen so out of favor, but the team continues to talk him up and his real-life football skills.

As far as his fantasy prospects, the tightrope surgery on his ankle plus the car accident he had on mid-August seems to have affected his athleticism just a little bit. I’m not sure what else it would be, honestly.

Also, Derrick Henry (15-92-1 rushing; one target, 1-4 receiving) is pretty good, folks. He’s got an easy lockdown on anything rushing-related for the Ravens.

 

Buffalo Bills

Name	Pos	Targets	Rec.	Rec. Yards	TD	Air Yards %	Route %	Snap %	aDOT	Target Share %	First Read Target %	TPRR	YPRR	PPR FPTS	PPR Finish
Curtis Samuel	WR	3	1	0	0	2.6%	66.7%	55.7%	3.0	11.5%	11.8%	12.5%	0.00	0.9	WR96
Keon Coleman	WR	5	1	49	1	21.7%	72.2%	62.3%	15.2	19.2%	29.4%	19.2%	1.88	11.9	WR36
Mack Hollins	WR	6	2	27	0	35.7%	63.9%	54.1%	20.8	23.1%	23.5%	26.1%	1.17	4.7	WR69
Marquez Valdes-Scantling	WR	2	0	0	0	7.7%	38.9%	45.9%	13.5	7.7%	5.9%	14.3%	0.00	0	WR100
Tyrell Shavers	WR						27.8%	26.2%						0	WR100
Dalton Kincaid	TE	6	2	34	0	28.8%	77.8%	62.3%	16.8	23.1%	17.6%	21.4%	1.21	5.4	TE26
Dawson Knox	TE						38.9%	54.1%						0	TE54
James Cook	RB	3	2	17	0	2.6%	38.9%	59.0%	3.0	11.5%	11.8%	21.4%	1.21	17.9	RB7
Ray Davis	RB	1	1	4	0	0.9%	5.6%	3.3%	3.0	3.8%	0.0%	50.0%	2.00	1.4	RB58
Ty Johnson	RB						41.7%	34.4%						1.5	RB57
Reggie Gilliam	FB						2.8%	8.2%						0	FB5

Bills Notes from Week 5:

It was a ROUGH day in the passing game for the Bills’ pass-catchers as Josh Allen only completed 30% of his passes and the Bills lost a close game to the Texans 23-20. He also hit his head incredibly hard and reportedly needed smelling salts to come to and finish out the game. Of course, that got everybody talking about the concussion protocol in regard to his availability. That surely played some part in Allen’s subpar performance in Week 5.

Mack Hollins (2-27) and Dalton Kincaid (2-34) both led the Bills in targets with six, but no Bills receiver had more than two receptions or 34 yards. It was ugly, but Keon Coleman caught 1-of-5 targets for a 49-yard touchdown.

James Cook (20-82-1 rushing; three targets, 2-17) has had to fend off not just Ray Davis, but Ty Johnson as well, but has clearly done so as neither makes enough of a dent in Cook’s work to matter the way Latavius Murray did last season.

 

Carolina Panthers

Name	Pos	Targets	Rec.	Rec. Yards	TD	Air Yards %	Route %	Snap %	aDOT	Target Share %	First Read Target %	TPRR	YPRR	PPR FPTS	PPR Finish
Diontae Johnson	WR	6	3	23	0	23.6%	76.2%	79.7%	9.8	17.6%	30.0%	18.8%	0.72	5.9	WR57
Xavier Legette	WR	1	1	8	0	2.4%	28.6%	35.6%	6.0	2.9%	0.0%	8.3%	0.67	1.8	WR89
Jonathan Mingo	WR	5	2	37	0	40.2%	71.4%	67.8%	20.0	14.7%	25.0%	16.7%	1.23	5.7	WR58
David Moore	WR	3	2	13	0	5.2%	45.2%	40.7%	4.3	8.8%	15.0%	15.8%	0.68	3.3	WR76
Jalen Coker	WR	4	4	68	0	14.9%	64.3%	54.2%	9.3	11.8%	10.0%	14.8%	2.52	10.8	WR43
Tommy Tremble	TE	2	1	7	0	2.8%	21.4%	27.1%	3.5	5.9%	0.0%	22.2%	0.78	-0.3	TE116
Ja'Tavion Sanders	TE	5	3	13	0	3.6%	73.8%	76.3%	1.8	14.7%	15.0%	16.1%	0.42	4.3	TE32
Feleipe Franks	TE						4.8%	6.8%						0	TE54
Chuba Hubbard	RB	5	4	-2	0	-2.0%	50.0%	64.4%	-1.0	14.7%	0.0%	23.8%	-0.10	17.5	RB8
Miles Sanders	RB	3	2	27	0	9.3%	50.0%	39.0%	7.7	8.8%	5.0%	14.3%	1.29	5.3	RB46
Raheem Blackshear	RB						4.8%	5.1%						0	RB65

Panthers Notes from Week 5:

The hammer had to come down some time for the 1-3 now 1-4 Panthers, as the honeymoon may be over for Andy Dalton. The game got so out of hand that Bryce Young came in late to mop things up for the Panthers.

With Diontae Johnson (team-leading six targets, 3-23) blanketed by Bears cornerback Jaylon Johnson and Xavier Legette (one target, 1-8) leaving early because of an AC joint sprain, Jalen Coker (four targets, 4-68, 64% routes) of FCS Holy Cross fame led the Panthers in receptions and receiving yards.

It’s certainly possible that Coker sees more work going forward as Jonathan Mingo (five targets, 2-37, 71% routes) saw his lowest routes share of the past three games after being at 91% last week.

One takeaway from the #Panthers game today though that I’m pretty confident standing on…

Jalen Coker should get Jonathan Mingo’s reps.

I know Mingo can block, but I like WR that are receiving threats. Coker should get an extended look in *gestures vaguely* all this mess.

— Ricky Raines (@rickyboboddy) October 7, 2024

Tommy Tremble (two targets, 1-7, 21% routes) left the game due to a concussion, so Ja’Tavion Sanders (five targets, 3-13) ran routes on 74% of Dalton’s dropbacks to replace Tremble, but he didn’t do too much. Maybe he can assert himself a bit more going forward as a receiving option if Tremble misses Week 6.

Chuba Hubbard (13-97-1 rushing, five targets, 4-(-2) receiving) has been one of the best picks in fantasy this year based on the production you’re getting out of him compared to how late you drafted him.

The thesis is always that he would eventually cede his touches to Jonathon Brooks when he’s healthy enough, but it’s going to be hard to keep Hubbard off the field to where there’s certainly a non-0% chance Brooks gets redshirted. Hubbard has been a top eight running back in fantasy for three straight weeks and was just three yards shy of his third-consecutive 100-yard game. As long as he’s starting, Hubard needs to be in your lineup.

 

Chicago Bears

Name	Pos	Targets	Rec.	Rec. Yards	TD	Air Yards %	Route %	Snap %	aDOT	Target Share %	First Read Target %	TPRR	YPRR	PPR FPTS	PPR Finish
DJ Moore	WR	8	5	105	2	47.0%	97.2%	87.8%	13.1	28.6%	15.8%	22.9%	3.00	27.5	WR5
Keenan Allen	WR	6	3	33	0	23.4%	91.7%	81.1%	8.7	21.4%	26.3%	18.2%	1.00	6.3	WR56
Rome Odunze	WR	6	5	40	0	14.8%	97.2%	79.7%	5.5	21.4%	31.6%	17.1%	1.14	9	WR46
Cole Kmet	TE	4	3	57	0	14.3%	77.8%	83.8%	8.0	14.3%	15.8%	14.3%	2.04	8.7	TE21
Gerald Everett	TE	2	2	22	0	2.2%	22.2%	29.7%	2.5	7.1%	5.3%	25.0%	2.75	4.2	TE33
Marcedes Lewis	TE						5.6%	23.0%						0	TE54
D'Andre Swift	RB	2	2	47	0	-1.8%	58.3%	66.2%	-2.0	7.1%	5.3%	9.5%	2.24	20	RB2
Roschon Johnson	RB						30.6%	31.1%						14.5	RB16

Bears Notes from Week 5:

The Bears are pretty easy to peg each week as long as all of their pass-catchers are healthy. It worked out exactly like that as the Bears throttled the Panthers 36-10. D.J. Moore (eight targets, 5-105-2) led the Bears in everything and scored two touchdowns. Earning some volume was both Keenan Allen (six targets, 3-33) and Rome Odunze (six targets, 5-40), where Allen got up to 92% routes and Odunze was at a whopping 97%.

No other wide receiver ran a route for the Bears besides those three as Tyler Scott was only in when the Bears kneeled three times to end the game.

Cole Kmet (four targets, 3-57) is back to a very strong, consistent routes per dropback (78%) as Gerald Everett (two targets, 2-22) was down to 22%. All is right in the world, especially when Caleb Williams had his best game as a pro, going 20-of-29 for 304 yards and the two touchdowns to Moore.

The Bears skewed run heavy due to the game script that got out of hand for the Panthers (27-7 halftime deficit), so D’Andre Swift ran well for a second-straight game with 21 carries, 73 yards and a touchdown, plus two receptions for 47 yards. Swift (and OC Shane Waldron) are rubbing our collective faces in the dirt for disparaging his good name for the first three weeks, but while he’s on this run, you’ve got to start him, right?

Roschon Johnson got a bunch of carries late (10-25) and Khalil Herbert’s only snaps came in the three kneels to end the game by Tyson Bagent for some reason.

 

Cincinnati Bengals

Name	Pos	Targets	Rec.	Rec. Yards	TD	Air Yards %	Route %	Snap %	aDOT	Target Share %	First Read Target %	TPRR	YPRR	PPR FPTS	PPR Finish
Ja'Marr Chase	WR	12	10	193	2	33.9%	97.7%	88.1%	9.1	31.6%	28.6%	28.6%	4.60	41.3	WR1
Tee Higgins	WR	13	9	83	2	43.2%	86.0%	71.6%	10.7	34.2%	39.3%	35.1%	2.24	29.3	WR4
Andrei Iosivas	WR	2	1	39	0	14.6%	81.4%	79.1%	23.5	5.3%	7.1%	5.7%	1.11	4.9	WR66
Jermaine Burton	WR						2.3%	1.5%						0	WR100
Charlie Jones	WR						7.0%	7.5%						0	WR100
Mike Gesicki	TE	2	2	31	0	9.0%	55.8%	43.3%	14.5	5.3%	3.6%	8.3%	1.29	5.1	TE29
Drew Sample	TE						16.3%	43.3%						0	TE54
Erick All Jr.	TE	2	2	10	0	0.6%	37.2%	52.2%	1.0	5.3%	3.6%	12.5%	0.63	3	TE37
Zack Moss	RB	4	3	28	0	-2.5%	58.1%	67.2%	-2.0	10.5%	7.1%	16.0%	1.12	8.2	RB34
Chase Brown	RB	3	3	8	1	1.2%	18.6%	32.8%	1.3	7.9%	10.7%	37.5%	1.00	16.4	RB10

Bengals Notes from Week 5:

Classic Bengals condensed pass-catching here as the Bengals and Ravens went back and forth here as soon as I started talking about how we needed offenses to stop playing scared and attack downfield. Both Ja’Marr Chase (12 targets, 10-193-2) and Tee Higgins (13 targets, 9-83-2) scored twice and earned double-digit targets in a monster game from both and obviously, Joe Burrow who threw for almost 400 yards and four touchdowns.

No other Bengals really made any kind of dent in the receiving department, but the ascension of Chase Brown (12-46 rushing, three targets, 3-8-1 receiving) is taking shape by the week as he added another touchdown on limited routes and snaps. He’s proving that he deserves to be on the field much more than Zack Moss (9-24 rushing; four targets, 3-28 receiving). Moss is absolutely fine, but probably shouldn’t be on the field for 67% of snaps.

 

Cleveland Browns

Name	Pos	Targets	Rec.	Rec. Yards	TD	Air Yards %	Route %	Snap %	aDOT	Target Share %	First Read Target %	TPRR	YPRR	PPR FPTS	PPR Finish
Amari Cooper	WR	10	4	60	0	71.5%	92.3%	82.3%	17.8	38.5%	52.6%	27.8%	1.67	10	WR44
Jerry Jeudy	WR	3	1	16	0	18.9%	87.2%	75.8%	15.7	11.5%	10.5%	8.8%	0.47	2.6	WR81
Elijah Moore	WR	4	3	11	0	4.0%	66.7%	69.4%	2.5	15.4%	10.5%	15.4%	0.42	4.1	WR72
Cedric Tillman	WR						25.6%	32.3%						0	WR100
James Proche II	WR						5.1%	8.1%						0	WR100
David Njoku	TE	1	1	14	0	0.4%	53.8%	41.9%	1.0	3.8%	5.3%	4.8%	0.67	2.4	TE41
Jordan Akins	TE	3	3	22	1	9.6%	33.3%	32.3%	8.0	11.5%	5.3%	23.1%	1.69	11.2	TE14
Blake Whiteheart	TE						7.7%	24.2%						0	TE54
Geoff Swaim	TE						5.1%	33.9%						0	TE54
Jerome Ford	RB	3	3	2	0	-6.0%	53.8%	58.1%	-5.0	11.5%	10.5%	14.3%	0.10	7.9	RB36
Pierre Strong Jr.	RB	1	0	0	0	2.4%	7.7%	8.1%	6.0	3.8%	0.0%	33.3%	0.00	0.2	RB64
D'Onta Foreman	RB	1	1	16	0	-0.8%	17.9%	33.9%	-2.0	3.8%	5.3%	14.3%	2.29	7	RB37

Browns Notes from Week 5:

Are the Browns bad? Yes.

Do we have to talk about then? Unfortunately, yes.

Amari Cooper led everything for the Browns with 10 targets and a 4-60 line, and no other Browns player earned more than four targets, caught more than three receptions, and earned more than 22 yards. David Njoku returned to the lineup on just 54% of the routes, so it feels like he’ll be gradually worked into meaningful routes.

Deshaun Watson is averaging -0.30 EPA per dropback, the lowest number for any Browns QB in Weeks 1-5 since at least 2000.

The second-worst performance? Deshaun Watson last season (-0.20).

— Austin Gayle (@austingayle_) October 6, 2024

Bring on Jameis Winston, please. Please?

Both Jerome Ford (9-47 rushing; three targets, 3-2 receiving) and D’Onta Foreman (9-44 rushing; one target, 1-16) both earned nine carries and Ford out-snapped both Foreman and Pierre Strong Jr., (1-2 rushing; one target, no stats) but they went away from the run given that the Commanders boat-raced the Browns in this one.

 

Dallas Cowboys

Name	Pos	Targets	Rec.	Rec. Yards	TD	Air Yards %	Route %	Snap %	aDOT	Target Share %	First Read Target %	TPRR	YPRR	PPR FPTS	PPR Finish
CeeDee Lamb	WR	7	5	62	0	22.2%	95.6%	86.8%	8.9	17.9%	21.4%	16.3%	1.44	11.4	WR42
Jalen Tolbert	WR	10	7	87	1	42.1%	88.9%	89.5%	11.8	25.6%	25.0%	25.0%	2.18	21.7	WR12
Jalen Brooks	WR	1	1	10	0	3.6%	42.2%	48.7%	10.0	2.6%	0.0%	5.3%	0.53	2	WR86
Ryan Flournoy	WR						8.9%	13.2%						0	WR100
KaVontae Turpin	WR	5	4	50	0	6.1%	33.3%	28.9%	3.4	12.8%	14.3%	33.3%	3.33	8.4	WR48
Jake Ferguson	TE	7	6	70	0	8.5%	86.7%	75.0%	3.4	17.9%	25.0%	17.9%	1.79	13	TE8
Luke Schoonmaker	TE	2	1	8	0	2.9%	22.2%	26.3%	4.0	5.1%	0.0%	20.0%	0.80	1.8	TE44
Brevyn Spann-Ford	TE	3	2	20	0	8.6%	13.3%	19.7%	8.0	7.7%	7.1%	50.0%	3.33	4	TE34
Ezekiel Elliott	RB	1	0	0	0	0.4%	31.1%	30.3%	1.0	2.6%	0.0%	7.1%	0.00	1.7	RB56
Rico Dowdle	RB	2	2	27	1	7.5%	35.6%	50.0%	10.5	5.1%	3.6%	12.5%	1.69	19.4	RB3
Hunter Luepke	FB	1	1	18	0	-1.8%	33.3%	30.3%	-5.0	2.6%	3.6%	6.7%	1.20	3.4	FB3

Cowboys Notes from Week 5:

Dallas’ big win on Sunday night stretched into the wee hours of Monday morning after heavy rain and lightning delayed the start time about 90 minutes. Two players in particular stuck out big time: Jalen Tolbert and Rico Dowdle.

Much has been said during the offseason about the lack of depth for the Cowboys and whether that was an organizational failure by owner/GM Jerry Jones. The Cowboys only brought in UDFA receivers and then signed Ezekiel Elliott to replace Tony Pollard. One could say the Cowboys are getting bailed out a little bit by the emergence of Tolbert.

Tolbert’s electric night (10 targets, 7-87-1) came when the Cowboys didn’t a huge or even a good game from CeeDee Lamb, who posted a 5-62 line on just seven targets. With Brandin Cooks placed on injured reserve, Tolbert ran 89% of routes, earned 42% of the team’s air yards, tied for the team lead in first-read targets (7), and had a robust 25% targets per route run. He was Cooks-plus, which is great to see, but was one game.

On a personal note, I was sweating Jake Ferguson all night and so I was trained to watch No. 87 for the majority of the game. He continues to compile (seven targets, 6-70) targets on leak-outs and shorter routes with a low 3.4-yard aDOT.

It took Dowdle a while, but not only did he get season-high snaps at 50% but made the most of it as he almost doubled his season-high in carries (20-87 rushing, two targets, 2-27-1) and chipped in with a receiving touchdown. More importantly, Dowdle looked the part. Any further touches given to Ezekiel Elliott at this point constitutes unseriousness on the Cowboys’ part.

 

Denver Broncos

Name	Pos	Targets	Rec.	Rec. Yards	TD	Air Yards %	Route %	Snap %	aDOT	Target Share %	First Read Target %	TPRR	YPRR	PPR FPTS	PPR Finish
Courtland Sutton	WR	4	2	32	0	36.7%	90.3%	82.0%	12.8	16.7%	31.3%	14.3%	1.14	5.2	WR63
Josh Reynolds	WR	2	1	9	1	15.8%	58.1%	47.5%	11.0	8.3%	12.5%	11.1%	0.50	7.9	WR49
Marvin Mims Jr.	WR	1	1	7	0	-2.2%	29.0%	19.7%	-3.0	4.2%	6.3%	11.1%	0.78	3.4	WR74
Troy Franklin	WR	2	1	20	0	50.2%	22.6%	16.4%	35.0	8.3%	6.3%	28.6%	2.86	3	WR77
Lil'Jordan Humphrey	WR	2	2	48	0	11.5%	67.7%	63.9%	8.0	8.3%	6.3%	9.5%	2.29	6.8	WR54
Adam Trautman	TE	1	1	19	0	2.9%	25.8%	52.5%	4.0	4.2%	6.3%	12.5%	2.38	2.9	TE39
Lucas Krull	TE	1	1	5	0	0.7%	32.3%	29.5%	1.0	4.2%	0.0%	10.0%	0.50	1.5	TE48
Nate Adkins	TE	1	1	8	0	3.6%	19.4%	50.8%	5.0	4.2%	0.0%	16.7%	1.33	1.8	TE44
Javonte Williams	RB	6	5	50	0	-7.7%	51.6%	62.3%	-1.8	25.0%	6.3%	37.5%	3.13	16.1	RB12
Jaleel McLaughlin	RB	3	3	3	1	-15.1%	35.5%	37.7%	-7.0	12.5%	18.8%	27.3%	0.27	11.5	RB26
Blake Watson	RB						3.2%	1.6%						0	RB65
Michael Burton	FB	1	1	5	0	3.6%	16.1%	18.0%	5.0	4.2%	6.3%	20.0%	1.00	1.5	FB4

Broncos Notes from Week 5:

The Broncos were decently efficient at home in their classic uniforms (that should be their default) and without anybody really popping out on the stat sheet besides two interceptions from the best cornerback in the world, Patrick Surtain II, beat the Raiders by two scores.

It was Javonte Williams as the star of the show here, but it could have been a much better day. Williams led the team in all receiving categories with six targets, and a 5-50 line, plus his 13 carries for 61 yards, but missed out on two potential touchdowns.

The first miss was Williams getting a carry for a loss inside the five-yard line and then coming off of the field for Jaleel McLaughlin (three targets, 3-3-1; 6-22 rushing) on third down, who ended up scoring on an easy dump-off pass. The second was Williams getting tackled right on the goal line on first down, where Nix eventually jumped and extended the ball over the goal line for the score.

Besides the running backs, only Courtland Sutton (four targets, 2-32) earned more than two targets, though Troy Franklin (two targets, 1-20) let a long touchdown slip through his hands. I think I was more surprised that Nix got the ball to him, but if there’s going to be any sort of dynamism in this Broncos’ offense, Franklin has to reel those in. He only ran seven routes on 31 dropbacks, and that won’t help him get more of a market share.

 

Detroit Lions

Lions Notes from Week 5:

ON BYE IN WEEK 5

 

Green Bay Packers

Name	Pos	Targets	Rec.	Rec. Yards	TD	Air Yards %	Route %	Snap %	aDOT	Target Share %	First Read Target %	TPRR	YPRR	PPR FPTS	PPR Finish
Jayden Reed	WR	6	4	78	0	37.3%	89.7%	76.3%	12.7	25.0%	28.6%	23.1%	3.00	13.7	WR25
Dontayvion Wicks	WR	6	2	20	0	43.5%	82.8%	76.3%	14.8	25.0%	23.8%	25.0%	0.83	4	WR73
Bo Melton	WR	2	1	12	0	6.9%	44.8%	49.2%	7.0	8.3%	9.5%	15.4%	0.92	2.2	WR85
Malik Heath	WR	2	2	14	0	6.9%	72.4%	76.3%	7.0	8.3%	9.5%	9.5%	0.67	3.4	WR74
Tucker Kraft	TE	6	4	88	2	10.9%	79.3%	84.7%	3.7	25.0%	19.0%	26.1%	3.83	24.8	TE1
Ben Sims	TE						20.7%	32.2%						0	TE54
Josh Jacobs	RB	1	1	21	0	-2.4%	55.2%	74.6%	-5.0	4.2%	4.8%	6.3%	1.31	16.4	RB10
Emanuel Wilson	RB	1	1	-9	0	-2.9%	20.7%	25.4%	-6.0	4.2%	4.8%	16.7%	-1.50	2.5	RB53

Packers Notes from Week 5:

The big story from the Packers win over the Rams is about Dontayvion Wicks, he and his disappointing 2-20 line on team-leading six targets when everybody in world (including me) was touting him and shouting his name off every rooftop on Earth.

What the deep state media won’t tell you is that Wicks also led the Packers in air yards, ran 83% routes, and put up a robust 25% YPRR. It’s absolutely a fair criticism of Wicks with his drops issue and that should be noted in any analysis of his performance in Week 5, but everything we want out of a wide receiver from a target-earning potential and a fantasy star is there.

If drops are Wicks’ biggest issue, then that is something that’s 100% fixable. He could go out in Week 6 against the Cardinals and erase people’s memories of this game and then we’ve moved on. It’s a week-to-week league and we need to be cognizant of that.

There’s a reason why most of the fantasy industry were touting Wicks over some players, including Christian Watson and Romeo Doubs: the sterling per-route profile, the coach speak comparing Wicks to Davante Adams, the ambiguity of the Packers’ wide receiver room, and the fact that Wicks was the cheapest of the four Packers’ wide receiver being drafted.

Still, the aim of our little game here is to score fantasy points. To reiterate: Wicks does everything you want him to do that helps him score fantasy points. The offense shows explicit intent toward finding ways to get him the ball. Both parties (Jordan Love and Wicks) must do their part toward completing that connection, and you can bet that’s going to be a big point of emphasis for Week 6 and into the near future.

everybody on Twitter: "Dontayvion Wicks was a massive failure after everybody talked him up this week!"

me: *whispers* "Wicks led the Packers in targets and tied Reed/Heath with the most snaps..."

— Kevin Tompkins (@ktompkinsii) October 7, 2024

Wicks has done the hardest part – getting on the field. He also happens to play for the Packers, who seem to give the longest leash to players of any team that I can remember. Matt LaFleur has a TON of loyalty to his players in a league that is incredibly cutthroat. We just saw an owner fire his head coach and have to make a statement to the media saying that the decision to do so was “his and his alone.”

Meanwhile, LaFleur backs his kicker Brayden Narveson when most of the team’s fanbase and more brought out the proverbial pitchforks after Week 4 when he missed two field goals. LaFleur also said all of the right things with Romeo Doubs, who missed this game against the Rams after being suspended for conduct detrimental to the team after not showing up to practice in the lead-up to Week 5’s game.

LaFleur practices patience and understanding more and more in a game and business that outwardly shows very little.

Back to the on-field action, watching Jayden Reed (six targets, 4-78) absolutely “Moss” two human beings for a fantastic catch in the first quarter should give you chills. Love dropped that pass in the bucket and Reed is starting to show a clear talent at all levels of the field. There’s no doubt Reed is the top receiver here for Green Bay and it’s up to everybody else to fight for targets. He also added two rushes for 19 yards and he’s a fantasy WR1.

After I just gushed and waxed poetic about Reed, Tucker Kraft (25% target share) was the most productive pass-catcher with two touchdowns on the afternoon on six targets. With four receptions for 88 yards on top of those scores, Kraft was the top tight end in fantasy for the week, and after letting out his trash talk routine on a podcast, he’s got so much “dawg” in him that you just have to start him in most formats at this point.

After finally scoring his first touchdown as a Packer, Josh Jacobs has taken back the work that Emanuel Wilson had earned from him over a two-week span. Jacobs earned 19-of-25 (76%) running back carries with a solid 19-carry, 73-yard line plus that touchdown while adding a 21-yard reception. Any sort of standalone value that Wilson could have had before MarShawn Lloyd returns has evaporated.

 

Houston Texans

Name	Pos	Targets	Rec.	Rec. Yards	TD	Air Yards %	Route %	Snap %	aDOT	Target Share %	First Read Target %	TPRR	YPRR	PPR FPTS	PPR Finish
Nico Collins	WR	2	2	78	1	26.1%	11.9%	13.2%	26.0	5.7%	8.3%	40.0%	15.60	15.8	WR19
Stefon Diggs	WR	8	6	82	0	29.3%	90.5%	86.8%	7.3	22.9%	29.2%	21.1%	2.16	14.2	WR24
Tank Dell	WR	4	4	38	0	10.0%	85.7%	67.6%	5.0	11.4%	12.5%	11.1%	1.06	7.3	WR52
Robert Woods	WR						19.0%	23.5%						0	WR100
Xavier Hutchinson	WR	3	2	31	0	13.1%	66.7%	70.6%	8.7	8.6%	8.3%	10.7%	1.11	5.1	WR64
John Metchie	WR						2.4%	4.4%						0	WR100
Dalton Schultz	TE	6	4	34	0	18.4%	85.7%	98.5%	6.1	17.1%	16.7%	16.7%	0.94	7.4	TE23
Cade Stover	TE	2	2	6	0	2.0%	19.0%	35.3%	2.0	5.7%	4.2%	25.0%	0.75	2.6	TE40
Dare Ogunbowale	RB	7	6	57	0	1.1%	64.3%	67.6%	0.3	20.0%	16.7%	25.9%	2.11	14.7	RB14
Cam Akers	RB	3	2	5	0	0.0%	26.2%	32.4%	0.0	8.6%	4.2%	27.3%	0.45	12.7	RB21

Texans Notes from Week 5:

It was tough out here for Texans in many respects, and not just because Nico Collins (two targets, 2-78-1, just five routes total) left early in the game with a hamstring injury that will now put him on injured reserve for the next four (or more) weeks. At least Collins was kind enough to catch a 67-yard touchdown before he exited.

Stefon Diggs (team-leading eight targets, 6-82) and Tank Dell (four targets, 4-38) took most of the reigns with Xavier Hutchinson (three targets, 2-31, 67% routes) coming in to run Collins’ role in the offense. Dalton Schultz (six targets, 4-34) earned a little bit in the way of volume and could see a meaningful bump in the target hierarchy without Collins on the field.

Dare Ogunbowale (15-30 rushing; seven targets, 6-57) took over a lot of the heavy lifting in the offense from the running back position, as he pushed past Cam Akers (9-42-1 rushing; three targets, 2-5 receiving) for work and took both 64% routes and 68% snaps as a featured player.

 

Indianapolis Colts

Name	Pos	Targets	Rec.	Rec. Yards	TD	Air Yards %	Route %	Snap %	aDOT	Target Share %	First Read Target %	TPRR	YPRR	PPR FPTS	PPR Finish
Michael Pittman Jr.	WR	7	5	37	1	10.0%	88.0%	88.6%	5.0	15.9%	18.2%	15.9%	0.84	14.7	WR22
Josh Downs	WR	12	9	69	0	23.3%	70.0%	61.4%	6.8	27.3%	33.3%	34.3%	1.97	15.9	WR17
Adonai Mitchell	WR	7	4	38	0	21.4%	24.0%	27.1%	10.7	15.9%	21.2%	58.3%	3.17	9.16	WR45
Alec Pierce	WR	3	3	134	1	28.0%	80.0%	74.3%	32.7	6.8%	9.1%	7.5%	3.35	22.4	WR11
Ashton Dulin	WR						18.0%	21.4%						0.9	WR96
Kylen Granson	TE						24.0%	25.7%						0	TE54
Mo Alie-Cox	TE	4	2	37	1	17.5%	32.0%	41.4%	15.3	9.1%	9.1%	25.0%	2.31	11.7	TE11
Drew Ogletree	TE	1	1	5	0	1.1%	18.0%	37.1%	4.0	2.3%	0.0%	11.1%	0.56	1.5	TE48
Will Mallory	TE	1	1	7	0	2.0%	26.0%	22.9%	7.0	2.3%	3.0%	7.7%	0.54	1.7	TE46
Trey Sermon	RB	6	6	25	0	-2.6%	38.0%	58.6%	-1.5	13.6%	3.0%	31.6%	1.32	18.3	RB6
Tyler Goodson	RB	3	3	31	0	-0.9%	44.0%	41.4%	-1.0	6.8%	3.0%	13.6%	1.41	8.7	RB32

Colts Notes from Week 5:

In what was a pretty fun game with the Jaguars, the Colts won 37-34 and were led by Joe Flacco with Anthony Richardson inactive, and Flacco turned back the clock with an excellent 359-yard effort and three passing touchdowns. Josh Downs was utterly dominant with a team-high 12 targets and a nine catch, 69-yard game on just 70% routes. That equates to a ridiculous 34% TPRR and 27% targets share.

Downs is going to have to be leaned on by whoever the quarterback is in Week 6, because Michael Pittman (seven targets, 5-37-1) could miss this week and beyond with a back injury. That’s going to give more run to Adonai Mitchell, considering he earned seven targets (4-38) on just 24% routes, gave him a rushing attempt for four yards and even got a pass attempt good for 24 yards. That’s 58% TPRR for those scoring at home.

Alec Pierce (three targets, 3-134-1) had zero targets entering the fourth quarter, but caught a long 65-yard touchdown in the final stanza. He’ll also be leaned on with Pittman potentially out a week or longer.

With no Jonathan Taylor, Trey Sermon was pretty inefficient but scored a rushing touchdown in a wild fourth quarter that saw both teams combine for 41 points. Also working in in Week 5 was Tyler Goodson (5-26 rushing; three targets, 3-31 receiving), who took more of the third downs and long down and distance but was decent in his limited role.

 

Jacksonville Jaguars

Name	Pos	Targets	Rec.	Rec. Yards	TD	Air Yards %	Route %	Snap %	aDOT	Target Share %	First Read Target %	TPRR	YPRR	PPR FPTS	PPR Finish
Christian Kirk	WR	4	4	88	0	28.0%	67.6%	53.4%	15.3	11.8%	16.0%	17.4%	3.83	12.8	WR32
Gabe Davis	WR	4	3	38	0	19.2%	85.3%	77.6%	10.5	11.8%	16.0%	13.8%	1.31	4.8	WR68
Brian Thomas Jr.	WR	8	5	122	1	47.6%	79.4%	63.8%	13.0	23.5%	32.0%	29.6%	4.52	23.2	WR7
Parker Washington	WR						17.6%	13.8%						0	WR100
Tim Jones	WR						14.7%	24.1%						0	WR100
Devin Duvernay	WR						8.8%	12.1%						0.3	WR99
Luke Farrell	TE	2	2	17	0	4.6%	17.6%	46.6%	5.0	5.9%	4.0%	33.3%	2.83	3.7	TE35
Brenton Strange	TE	4	4	24	1	9.1%	82.4%	84.5%	5.0	11.8%	12.0%	14.3%	0.86	12.4	TE9
Josiah Deguara	TE	1	1	2	0	-1.4%	14.7%	17.2%	-3.0	2.9%	4.0%	20.0%	0.40	1.2	TE53
Travis Etienne	RB	7	6	43	0	-3.5%	44.1%	37.9%	-1.1	20.6%	8.0%	46.7%	2.87	12	RB23
Tank Bigsby	RB	1	1	28	0	-1.8%	23.5%	39.7%	-4.0	2.9%	4.0%	12.5%	3.50	25.9	RB1
D'Ernest Johnson	RB	3	2	9	0	-1.8%	26.5%	22.4%	-1.3	8.8%	4.0%	33.3%	1.00	3	RB51

Jaguars Notes from Week 5:

On the other side of the coin from the Indianapolis Colts was the Jaguars, who finally got their first win of season thanks to some huge and slightly unexpected performances.

The expected was Brian Thomas Jr. (eight targets, 5-122-1), who through five games has looked like an unquestioned alpha and top target in this Jags offense, yet hasn’t gotten much of the notoriety as Malik Nabers, Marvin Harrison Jr., and some of the other successful rookie wide receivers. What does the guy have to do, catch an 85-yard touchdown?

(Thomas also did that in Week 5.)

Brian Thomas Jr. is on pace for:
75 RECs, 1350 Yards, 10 TDs#Jaguars Rookie Receiving Records
- RECs: 64 (Justin Blackmon)
- Yards: 865 (Justin Blackmon)
- TDs: 6 (Allen Hurns)
pic.twitter.com/UAEPMO7dzR

— Daniel Griffis (@DanDGriffis) October 9, 2024

Besides Christian Kirk’s 61-yard reception, he didn’t do too much (four targets, 4-88) but that mostly padded his afternoon.

Tank Bigsby (13-101-2 rushing; one target, 1-28 receiving) finished as the RB1 with 25.9 fantasy points. It’s unlikely Bigsby just takes the work Travis Etienne (6-17 rushing; seven targets, 6-43 receiving), but Bigsby should earns more work, but the hurdles are still upright for him to outright take the lead on Etienne. Frankly, I don’t think that happens, but an Ezekiel Elliott/Tony Pollard-like workload split is very much in the cards.

 

Kansas City Chiefs

Name	Pos	Targets	Rec.	Rec. Yards	TD	Air Yards %	Route %	Snap %	aDOT	Target Share %	First Read Target %	TPRR	YPRR	PPR FPTS	PPR Finish
Xavier Worthy	WR	6	3	25	0	22.3%	79.5%	66.7%	5.6	17.6%	27.3%	17.1%	0.71	11.8	WR38
Justin Watson	WR						70.5%	70.2%						0	WR100
Mecole Hardman	WR	4	4	33	0	-7.4%	13.6%	9.5%	-2.8	11.8%	18.2%	66.7%	5.50	7.3	WR52
JuJu Smith-Schuster	WR	8	7	130	0	33.4%	65.9%	66.7%	6.3	23.5%	18.2%	27.6%	4.48	20	WR13
Travis Kelce	TE	10	9	70	0	37.1%	86.4%	77.4%	5.6	29.4%	22.7%	26.3%	1.84	16	TE5
Noah Gray	TE	2	2	29	0	6.0%	47.7%	60.7%	4.5	5.9%	9.1%	9.5%	1.38	4.9	TE31
Jared Wiley	TE						11.4%	21.4%						0	TE54
Jody Fortson	TE	1	1	5	0	1.3%	11.4%	13.1%	2.0	2.9%	4.5%	20.0%	1.00	1.5	TE48
Samaje Perine	RB	2	1	24	0	7.3%	34.1%	25.0%	5.5	5.9%	0.0%	13.3%	1.60	3.4	RB50
Carson Steele	RB						11.4%	19.0%						1.2	RB60
Kareem Hunt	RB	1	1	15	0	0.0%	43.2%	63.1%	0.0	2.9%	0.0%	5.3%	0.79	18.7	RB5

Chiefs Notes from Week 5:

In this post-Rashee Rice world we’re living in, we actually got some cool things out of the Chiefs! They played a pretty complete game and made it known who their offense will be centered around going forward. The Chiefs’ opening drive started with multiple throws to Travis Kelce, who ended up with a robust 9-70 line on a team-leading 10 targets.

Who said “Elite TE” was dead!?

The short-area targets that were Rice’s bread and butter are now directed to previously dead-now-undead JuJu Smith-Schuster, who turned in an eight-target, 7-130 line that turned back the clock to 2018. If you’re in need of a wide receiver, you can do MUCH worse than Smith-Schuster, but of course, the Chiefs are on bye this week. You’ll have to wait until Week 7 to use him, but he’s an instant WR3 in fantasy as long as he’s playing this role.

JuJu did run only 67% of routes per dropback, which is slightly concerning, but those routes should come up.

I spoke on a couple of podcasts this week talking about Xavier Worthy (six targets, 3-25; 1-3-1 rushing) seeing top coverage from cornerbacks now that Rice is out for the season. He saw some schemed-up touches including a three-yard rushing touchdown in the fourth quarter.

From a target-earning perspective, that may not happen this season, but as a somebody who can be the “change-of-pace” in the passing game, he can be a souped-up version of what Mecole Hardman has been in recent seasons for the Chiefs.

Kareem Hunt’s role was noticeably bumped up from 32% routes and 45% snaps to 43% routes and 63% snaps, with a huge bump to 27 carries for 102 yards and a touchdown. It’s Hunt’s backfield even if Samaje Perine steals some third-down work.

 

Las Vegas Raiders

Name	Pos	Targets	Rec.	Rec. Yards	TD	Air Yards %	Route %	Snap %	aDOT	Target Share %	First Read Target %	TPRR	YPRR	PPR FPTS	PPR Finish
Jakobi Meyers	WR	9	6	72	0	32.1%	97.6%	97.1%	9.8	25.7%	25.0%	22.0%	1.76	13.2	WR29
Tre Tucker	WR	4	2	18	0	23.7%	90.5%	84.3%	16.3	11.4%	20.8%	10.5%	0.47	4.6	WR70
DJ Turner	WR	4	1	12	0	22.3%	76.2%	74.3%	15.3	11.4%	8.3%	12.5%	0.38	2.7	WR80
Alex Bachman	WR						2.4%	1.4%						0	WR100
Brock Bowers	TE	12	8	97	1	24.5%	85.7%	78.6%	5.6	34.3%	41.7%	33.3%	2.69	23.7	TE2
Harrison Bryant	TE						21.4%	45.7%						0	TE54
John Samuel Shenker	TE						7.1%	14.3%						0	TE54
Alexander Mattison	RB	3	2	23	0	1.4%	40.5%	57.1%	1.3	8.6%	0.0%	17.6%	1.35	8.1	RB35
Ameer Abdullah	RB	3	3	9	0	-4.0%	50.0%	44.3%	-3.7	8.6%	4.2%	14.3%	0.43	14.1	RB17

Raiders Notes from Week 5:

Another game without Davante Adams, but a mid-game quarterback swap change didn't fix the Raiders problems on offense. Gardner Minshew was pulled from Week 5’s game with Aidan O’Connell subbing in and not really doing much more to meaningfully change the fortunes or perceptions of Las Vegas moving forward.

At least Brock Bowers (team-high 12 targets, 8-97-1) got a ton of run after seemingly taking a backseat to Harrison Bryant for whatever reason. Jakobi Meyers also had a solid game (6-72) on nine targets. Tre Tucker (four targets, 2-18) continues to run a bunch of routes (91%) but didn’t really amount to much.

Brock Bowers 57 yarder!! 🙌

📺: #LVvsDEN on FOX
📱: https://t.co/waVpO909ge pic.twitter.com/owAbIim8o7

— NFL (@NFL) October 6, 2024

Alexander Mattison took the bulk of the running back carries (15-of-18) but ran at less than 3.0 YPC. Believe it or not, Ameer Abdullah (5-42-1 rushing; three targets, 3-9) is still kicking around and scored a rushing touchdown, which goes to show how much we don’t want to be targeting this backfield at any point in the near future.

 

Los Angeles Chargers

Chargers Notes from Week 5:

ON BYE IN WEEK 5

 

Los Angeles Rams

Name	Pos	Targets	Rec.	Rec. Yards	TD	Air Yards %	Route %	Snap %	aDOT	Target Share %	First Read Target %	TPRR	YPRR	PPR FPTS	PPR Finish
Demarcus Robinson	WR	5	3	28	1	20.8%	97.9%	97.4%	16.0	11.1%	12.1%	10.6%	0.60	11.8	WR38
Tutu Atwell	WR	10	6	58	0	34.6%	87.5%	80.8%	13.3	22.2%	30.3%	23.8%	1.38	12.5	WR35
Jordan Whittington	WR	10	7	89	0	20.3%	85.4%	92.3%	7.8	22.2%	21.2%	24.4%	2.17	15.9	WR17
Tyler Johnson	WR						14.6%	14.1%						0	WR100
Xavier Smith	WR	2	2	6	0	0.3%	6.3%	10.3%	0.5	4.4%	6.1%	66.7%	2.00	2.6	WR81
Colby Parkinson	TE	13	7	52	0	24.7%	75.0%	79.5%	7.3	28.9%	21.2%	36.1%	1.44	12.2	TE10
Davis Allen	TE	1	0	0	0	-1.3%	4.2%	3.8%	-5.0	2.2%	3.0%	50.0%	0.00	0	TE54
Hunter Long	TE	2	2	16	0	2.1%	16.7%	21.8%	4.0	4.4%	3.0%	25.0%	2.00	3.6	TE36
Kyren Williams	RB	1	1	3	0	0.0%	68.8%	85.9%	0.0	2.2%	0.0%	3.0%	0.09	15.5	RB13
Blake Corum	RB	1	1	8	0	-1.6%	10.4%	14.1%	-6.0	2.2%	3.0%	20.0%	1.60	4.3	RB47

Rams Notes from Week 5:

Lost in “Dontayvion Wicks-gate” on the other sideline was the Rams playing the Packers incredibly tough despite the loss. That’s coaching, taking what has been a deficient defense and an offense that has lost its top playmakers and making an honest go of it.

Matthew Stafford had the fifth-highest dropbacks among quarterbacks in Week 5 and three of his pass-catchers earned double-digit targets on the afternoon.

Tutu Atwell (10 targets, 6-58) earned his usual allotment of high-aDOT (13.3) targets and led the team in air yards, while Colby Parkinson (team-leading 13 targets, 7-52) and Jordan Whittington (10 targets, 7-89) both earned targets about half of Atwell’s aDOT but for PPR purposes. It just remains to be seen which of the wide receivers is left standing when/if Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua return from injured reserve.

Perhaps it could be the veteran Demarcus Robinson, who earned five targets (3-28) but caught Stafford’s only touchdown on the day? He continues to run the highest number of routes per dropback each week.

Kyren Williams is still the engine of the offense with 86% of snaps, but we got a Blake Corum sighting as he got his first action of the season. Corum was the spell for Williams, not Ronnie Rivers, and got some sporadic schemed-up touches. If you’re still holding onto Corum, you have exhibited much more patience than I. If Corum is available in your leagues, you can probably get him at a severe discount due to the Rams bye in Week 6.

 

Miami Dolphins

Name	Pos	Targets	Rec.	Rec. Yards	TD	Air Yards %	Route %	Snap %	aDOT	Target Share %	First Read Target %	TPRR	YPRR	PPR FPTS	PPR Finish
Tyreek Hill	WR	8	6	69	0	38.9%	80.6%	79.5%	14.2	27.6%	33.3%	27.6%	2.38	12.9	WR31
Jaylen Waddle	WR	8	4	46	0	27.2%	86.1%	78.2%	9.9	27.6%	25.0%	25.8%	1.48	8.6	WR47
Braxton Berrios	WR						16.7%	19.2%						0	WR100
Malik Washington	WR						30.6%	25.6%						0	WR100
Odell Beckham Jr.	WR	2	0	0	0	6.2%	25.0%	14.1%	9.0	6.9%	4.2%	22.2%	0.00	0	WR100
Jonnu Smith	TE	7	5	62	0	20.9%	58.3%	41.0%	8.7	24.1%	25.0%	33.3%	2.95	11.1	TE15
Durham Smythe	TE	1	0	0	0	7.9%	11.1%	34.6%	23.0	3.4%	0.0%	25.0%	0.00	0	TE54
Julian Hill	TE						30.6%	51.3%						0	TE54
De'Von Achane	RB	1	1	-1	0	-1.7%	16.7%	14.1%	-5.0	3.4%	4.2%	16.7%	-0.17	2.7	RB52
Raheem Mostert	RB	2	2	18	0	0.7%	47.2%	56.4%	1.0	6.9%	8.3%	11.8%	1.06	11.8	RB24
Jaylen Wright	RB						27.8%	32.1%						8.6	RB33
Alec Ingold	FB						27.8%	53.8%						6.3	FB2

Dolphins Notes from Week 5:

In terms of what we’ve known about the Dolphins in the last couple of seasons, the Dolphins were much closer to that than they have been in the last few weeks. Tyreek Hill (6-69) and Jaylen Waddle (4-46) both co-led the team with eight targets, and Jonnu Smith’s seven targets (5-62) consolidated things for the Dolphins, as that trio combined for 79% of the available targets.

The Dolphins only scored 15 points and nothing through the passing game, so it was rather moot, but the production just isn’t going to be where it was previously with Tua Tagovailoa. We all pretty much knew that, though.

Suffering a concussion in the first quarter was De’Von Achane (3-18 rushing; one target, 1-(-1) receiving, 14% snaps), so Raheem Mostert (19-80 rushing; 2-18 receiving, 56% snaps) and Jaylen Wright (13-86, 32% snaps) combined to pace the workload for the Dolphins in their win. Fullback Alec Ingold vultured a fullback touchdown on his only carry, because of course he did.

 

Minnesota Vikings

Name	Pos	Targets	Rec.	Rec. Yards	TD	Air Yards %	Route %	Snap %	aDOT	Target Share %	First Read Target %	TPRR	YPRR	PPR FPTS	PPR Finish
Justin Jefferson	WR	14	6	92	0	54.2%	100.0%	94.5%	15.6	50.0%	50.0%	37.8%	2.49	15.2	WR21
Jordan Addison	WR	8	3	36	0	36.9%	97.3%	89.0%	18.6	28.6%	36.4%	22.2%	1.00	6.6	WR55
Jalen Nailor	WR						56.8%	56.2%						0	WR100
Brandon Powell	WR						10.8%	8.2%						0	WR100
Trent Sherfield Sr.	WR						2.7%	12.3%						0	WR100
Johnny Mundt	TE	2	2	31	0	5.2%	54.1%	53.4%	10.5	7.1%	4.5%	10.0%	1.55	5.1	TE29
Josh Oliver	TE						43.2%	61.6%						0	TE54
Robert Tonyan	TE						2.7%	1.4%						0	TE54
Aaron Jones	RB	1	1	24	0	5.5%	21.6%	21.9%	22.0	3.6%	4.5%	12.5%	3.00	6.3	RB41
Ty Chandler	RB	2	2	9	0	-1.2%	43.2%	63.0%	-2.5	7.1%	4.5%	12.5%	0.56	5.9	RB43
Myles Gaskin	RB	1	1	11	0	-0.5%	5.4%	6.8%	-2.0	3.6%	0.0%	50.0%	5.50	2.3	RB54
C.J. Ham	FB						18.9%	31.5%						7	FB1

Vikings Notes from Week 5:

The Vikings weren’t as dynamic as usual but were good enough to hold off the Jets in London. Justin Jefferson (14 targets, 6-92) is the man, as expected and led all receivers in air yards (218) in Week 5. Right there in the air yards department was Jordan Addison (eight targets, 3-38), who was seventh among all wide receivers, but couldn’t parlay the deep targets into anything usable for fantasy.

Addison did have a chance at a long touchdown, but the ball came up a bit short on Sam Darnold’s end.

Only playing 22% snaps and routes was Aaron Jones (7-29 rushing; one target, 1-24 receiving), who left early on due to a hip injury, so Ty Chandler (14-30 rushing; two targets, 2-9 receiving) was the de facto workhouse and was relatively ineffective as the Vikings go on bye in Week 6.

 

New England Patriots

Name	Pos	Targets	Rec.	Rec. Yards	TD	Air Yards %	Route %	Snap %	aDOT	Target Share %	First Read Target %	TPRR	YPRR	PPR FPTS	PPR Finish
Demario Douglas	WR	8	6	59	0	30.3%	78.4%	66.7%	10.1	27.6%	27.3%	27.6%	2.03	11.9	WR36
Ja'Lynn Polk	WR	6	1	13	0	35.3%	100.0%	100.0%	15.7	20.7%	27.3%	16.2%	0.35	2.3	WR83
Kendrick Bourne	WR	1	1	6	0	-0.7%	27.0%	26.7%	-2.0	3.4%	4.5%	10.0%	0.60	1.6	WR91
Tyquan Thornton	WR						2.7%	1.7%						0	WR100
Kayshon Boutte	WR	2	2	34	0	12.0%	59.5%	66.7%	16.0	6.9%	4.5%	9.1%	1.55	5.4	WR62
Hunter Henry	TE	4	2	32	0	20.2%	86.5%	93.3%	13.5	13.8%	13.6%	12.5%	1.00	5.2	TE28
Austin Hooper	TE	3	1	9	0	12.4%	35.1%	41.7%	11.0	10.3%	9.1%	23.1%	0.69	1.9	TE43
Rhamondre Stevenson	RB	4	4	3	0	-7.2%	32.4%	46.7%	-4.8	13.8%	9.1%	33.3%	0.25	19.2	RB4
Antonio Gibson	RB	1	1	4	0	-2.2%	40.5%	46.7%	-6.0	3.4%	4.5%	6.7%	0.27	6.6	RB39
JaMycal Hasty	RB						5.4%	5.0%						0	RB65

Patriots Notes from Week 5:

Not much going on here in Patriot land as DeMario Douglas (eight targets, 6-59) led the Patriots in everything and no other player other than Rhamondre Stevenson caught more than two balls.

The team has seen enough of Jacoby Brissett and will turn to their rookie Drake Maye in Week 6 against the Texans, so because of that, I do like taking measured stabs at Ja’Lynn Polk if there’s room on my fantasy bench in case Maye can lift all boats in the New England offense. Polk (six targets, 1-13) has been running increasing routes, starting last week with 87% routes and a full 100% route participation.

Antonio Gibson (6-52 rushing; one target, 1-4) got the start as Rhamondre Stevenson (12-89-1 rushing; four targets, 4-3 receiving) was “benched” earlier in the week, but Stevenson ended up with the same exact snap share (47%) as Gibson with Gibson taking a slight edge on routes. In the end, the suspension “mattered” for real-life football reasons, but for fantasy, it really didn’t matter.

 

New Orleans Saints

Name	Pos	Targets	Rec.	Rec. Yards	TD	Air Yards %	Route %	Snap %	aDOT	Target Share %	First Read Target %	TPRR	YPRR	PPR FPTS	PPR Finish
Chris Olave	WR	4	2	10	0	11.3%	100.0%	94.3%	11.5	12.5%	15.8%	10.5%	0.26	3	WR77
Rashid Shaheed	WR	9	4	86	1	50.9%	86.8%	86.8%	23.1	28.1%	31.6%	27.3%	2.61	18.6	WR15
Cedrick Wilson Jr.	WR						23.7%	22.6%						0	WR100
Mason Tipton	WR	4	1	2	0	25.3%	47.4%	35.8%	25.8	12.5%	15.8%	22.2%	0.11	1.2	WR95
Juwan Johnson	TE	5	5	31	0	4.9%	71.1%	79.2%	4.0	15.6%	15.8%	18.5%	1.15	8.1	TE22
Foster Moreau	TE	2	2	13	1	3.7%	34.2%	52.8%	7.5	6.3%	5.3%	15.4%	1.00	9.3	TE19
Dallin Holker	TE						10.5%	9.4%						0	TE54
Alvin Kamara	RB	8	6	40	0	3.9%	73.7%	88.7%	2.0	25.0%	15.8%	28.6%	1.43	12.6	RB22
Jamaal Williams	RB						7.9%	15.1%						0.9	RB62
Adam Prentice	FB						5.3%	13.2%						0	FB5

Saints Notes from Week 5:

The Saints were so bad on Monday Night Football that Chris Olave’s brother put out a tweet about it. The Chiefs played their most complete game of football in the last couple of years and New Orleans felt the brunt of that, even losing Derek Carr to an oblique injury that will sideline him for the next few games.

This is where I would say it’s hard to take what happened in the previous weeks and apply that to a different quarterback, whether it’s Jake Haener or Spencer Rattler. But the Saints just couldn’t move the ball with any regularity if it wasn’t to Rashid Shaheed. Shaheed (nine targets, 4-86-1) was pretty inefficient but got there in the end with 208 air yards (second-highest in Week 5), 32% first-read targets, and 27% TPRR.

The aforementioned Olave (four targets, 2-10) was “Trent McDuffie’d” as he was locked down the entire night. We did see Juwan Johnson (five targets, 5-31) run his highest routes per dropback of the season at 79%, so he could become a bit of an option at a thin tight end position, but again, the quarterbacks.

It’s going to trickle down to Alvin Kamara (11-26 rushing; eight targets, 6-40 receiving) as well for the efficiency, which we know has dwindled over the past couple of seasons, but Kamara at least put up a usable week despite the lack of offense.

1 target ?

— Josh Olave (@josh_olave) October 8, 2024

 

New York Giants

Name	Pos	Targets	Rec.	Rec. Yards	TD	Air Yards %	Route %	Snap %	aDOT	Target Share %	First Read Target %	TPRR	YPRR	PPR FPTS	PPR Finish
Wan'Dale Robinson	WR	9	6	36	1	24.1%	92.5%	81.9%	4.4	29.0%	29.6%	24.3%	0.97	16	WR16
Darius Slayton	WR	11	8	122	1	72.9%	95.0%	90.3%	10.9	35.5%	37.0%	28.9%	3.21	26.2	WR6
Jalin Hyatt	WR						72.5%	66.7%						0	WR100
Isaiah Hodgins	WR						27.5%	34.7%						0	WR100
Daniel Bellinger	TE						7.5%	19.4%						0	TE54
Theo Johnson	TE	5	5	48	0	12.8%	75.0%	77.8%	4.2	16.1%	11.1%	16.7%	1.60	9.8	TE17
Chris Manhertz	TE						5.0%	26.4%						0	TE54
Tyrone Tracy Jr.	RB	2	1	1	0	-2.4%	42.5%	62.5%	-2.0	6.5%	7.4%	11.8%	0.06	14	RB18
Eric Gray	RB	4	3	50	0	-7.3%	30.0%	36.1%	-3.0	12.9%	14.8%	33.3%	4.17	6.4	RB40

Giants Notes from Week 5:

As we all certainly expected, the New York Giants went three time zones west to Seattle and beat the Seahawks minus Malik Nabers and Devin Singletary, if there was ever a time for a football version of “Suzyn, you can’t predict baseball!”, it’s now.

With no Nabers, Wan’Dale Robinson (nine targets, 6-36-1) continued PPR scamming his little heart out and added a touchdown to boot on a miniscule 4.4-yard aDOT. Somebody else had to step up here if the Giants were to knock off the Seahawks and Darius Slayton answered the call.

In what is likely to be his most fantasy-useful game of the season, Slayton led everything with 11 targets, eight receptions and 122 yards, plus a nice touchdown where Slayton on the outside gradually broke inside, the safety went with the Robinson in motion and had two steps on his defender the entire way for a throw even Daniel Jones could capably complete.

Even Theo Johnson (5-48) was moderately relevant, but he’s run a lot of routes all season and picked up some slack with missing offensive pieces. He’ll likely return to sporadic pass-game usage with the team back at full strength.

The big story was Tyrone Tracy’s 129 yards rushing, which led all running backs in Week 5. Tracy also had the second-most RYOE (+47), plus the 11th-highest success rate (44.4%) of 35 qualified rushers on the week. It’s a big “you can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube” moment for Tracy, who may not have earned 63% snaps like he got in Week 5, but he’s certainly earned a much bigger role with this performance.

#Giants rookie RB Tyrone Tracy led the NFL in rushing yards Sunday with 128 and a TD.

First rookie to lead the NFL in rushing on the week this year and since Week 9 of last year.

Remember talking about Tracy with our @ShrineBowl team during last year, and as a former WR, I… pic.twitter.com/EkqD43ZY8u

— Eric Galko (@EricGalko) October 8, 2024

That’s not to say Eric Gray wasn’t moderately useful, because he was (four targets, 3-50 receiving; 2-9 rushing) as he took all snaps on third downs, 80% of the goal-line snaps, and half of the short-yardage snaps, but Tracy clearly made the most of his touches.

 

New York Jets

Name	Pos	Targets	Rec.	Rec. Yards	TD	Air Yards %	Route %	Snap %	aDOT	Target Share %	First Read Target %	TPRR	YPRR	PPR FPTS	PPR Finish
Garrett Wilson	WR	21	13	101	0	44.3%	98.2%	95.8%	7.4	44.7%	48.6%	37.5%	1.80	23.1	WR9
Mike Williams	WR	3	2	25	0	12.4%	80.7%	70.8%	14.5	6.4%	10.8%	6.5%	0.54	4.5	WR71
Xavier Gipson	WR						3.5%	2.8%						0	WR100
Allen Lazard	WR	9	4	34	1	30.8%	100.0%	100.0%	12.0	19.1%	21.6%	15.8%	0.60	13.4	WR27
Tyler Conklin	TE	8	6	55	0	12.5%	78.9%	81.9%	5.5	17.0%	13.5%	17.8%	1.22	11.5	TE12
Jeremy Ruckert	TE						19.3%	33.3%						0	TE54
Brenden Bates	TE						7.0%	13.9%						0	TE54
Breece Hall	RB	4	3	14	0	-0.3%	63.2%	73.6%	-0.3	8.5%	2.7%	11.1%	0.39	6.7	RB38
Braelon Allen	RB	2	1	15	0	0.3%	10.5%	26.4%	0.5	4.3%	2.7%	33.3%	2.50	3.8	RB48

Jets Notes from Week 5:

The Jets traveled to London and besides the multitude of memes that came from Aaron Rodgers crawling on the ground, there were plenty of fantasy implications. Namely Garrett Wilson’s massive 21-target game. Hilariously, he only went 13-101 and only putting up 4.8 yards per target on those, finishing as WR9 on the week. At its core, it was number compiling and not really efficiency based.

Allen Lazard (nine targets, 4-34-1) continues to earn targets and routes (100% route participation) as Rodgers’ trusted pass-catcher, and that’s the only reason why. He’s fine, but you can’t really roster him or even start him. Same with Mike Williams, and it’s weird to say, but at this point, he’s a lesser Lazard. He’s only running 81% of routes and lagging behind in production to where it’s not worth it to consider him.

On the other hand, thanks to how barren the tight end position is in fantasy, Tyler Conklin might be either a low-end starter or a high-end streamer, especially with bye weeks here. Conklin (eight targets, 6-55) has been the closest thing to a second target for Rodgers and the Jets from a target-earning perspective.

This Breece Hall situation with the last two games combing for 19 carries and 27 yards rushing has been pretty wild to see, but whether it’s a defensive adjustment thing or the offense going away from the run – which true to an extent – you’ve still got to start Hall because the snaps (74%) and routes (63%) are as strong as ever.

Even Braelon Allen (5-13 rushing; two targets, 1-15 receiving) has felt that effect too, but it’s something that needs to get right soon or we’re really going to be up a creek without a paddle.

And now we get Robert Saleh being fired, but not offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett. Jeff Ulbrich will be the interim head coach. Honestly? No idea what that could mean considering Rodgers is pretty much trusted to run the ship there as a veteran with Hackett. We'll see next week?

Nathaniel Hackett when he heard that Robert Saleh was fired, but he was somehow retained as Offensive Coordinator pic.twitter.com/A9FkwbperT

— TheOGfantasyfootball (@TheOGfantasy) October 8, 2024

 

Philadelphia Eagles

Eagles Notes from Week 5:

ON BYE IN WEEK 5

 

Pittsburgh Steelers

Name	Pos	Targets	Rec.	Rec. Yards	TD	Air Yards %	Route %	Snap %	aDOT	Target Share %	First Read Target %	TPRR	YPRR	PPR FPTS	PPR Finish
George Pickens	WR	6	3	26	0	20.7%	64.5%	58.6%	9.5	24.0%	22.2%	30.0%	1.30	5.6	WR59
Van Jefferson	WR	5	3	26	0	29.7%	80.6%	81.0%	16.4	20.0%	22.2%	20.0%	1.04	5.6	WR59
Calvin Austin III	WR	2	1	6	0	15.6%	80.6%	75.9%	21.5	8.0%	5.6%	8.0%	0.24	1.6	WR91
Scotty Miller	WR						19.4%	22.4%						0	WR100
Brandon Johnson	WR	1	1	9	0	1.4%	9.7%	8.6%	4.0	4.0%	0.0%	33.3%	3.00	1.9	WR88
Pat Freiermuth	TE	3	3	22	1	4.3%	77.4%	79.3%	4.0	12.0%	16.7%	12.5%	0.92	9.2	TE20
Darnell Washington	TE	2	1	5	0	10.5%	32.3%	51.7%	14.5	8.0%	5.6%	20.0%	0.50	1.5	TE48
Connor Heyward	TE	4	2	23	1	18.8%	22.6%	22.4%	13.0	16.0%	16.7%	57.1%	3.29	10.3	TE16
Najee Harris	RB	2	2	35	0	-1.1%	64.5%	74.1%	-1.5	8.0%	11.1%	10.0%	1.75	9.7	RB29
Aaron Shampklin	RB						6.5%	19.0%						1.4	RB58
Jonathan Ward	RB						3.2%	5.2%						0.9	RB62

Steelers Notes from Week 5:

The “Arthur Smithening” of the Steelers’ offense continues to take shape by the week, as George Pickens (six targets, 3-26) was only allotted 65% of the routes and 59% snaps for as head coach Mike Tomlin explained in the post-game press conference, “snap management” reasons.

Mike Tomlin says George Pickens was limited because of “snap management” — compared it to resting and rotating defensive lineman like Cam Heyward — and there’s “no underlying story”

— Brooke Pryor (@bepryor) October 7, 2024

Of course, you don’t hear this from other NFL teams and their best playmaker on offense, because they are professional, serious organizations who understand that it’s important to have your best players on the field when healthy. Instead, we get games like this where the Steelers have no pass-catcher above three receptions or 35 receiving yards.

Pat Freiermuth (three targets, 3-22-1) rescued his night with a touchdown, but that was really anything meaningful for this offense. Yet people want Davante Adams to play for the Steelers? People wanted Brandon Aiyuk to come to Pittsburgh?

Najee Harris (14-42 rushing; two targets, 2-35 receiving) maintained his large workload (74% snaps) in the absence of Jaylen Warren and Cordarrelle Patterson.

 

San Francisco 49ers

Name	Pos	Targets	Rec.	Rec. Yards	TD	Air Yards %	Route %	Snap %	aDOT	Target Share %	First Read Target %	TPRR	YPRR	PPR FPTS	PPR Finish
Deebo Samuel Sr.	WR	3	1	11	0	6.9%	80.5%	81.3%	7.0	9.7%	17.6%	9.1%	0.33	3	WR77
Brandon Aiyuk	WR	11	8	147	0	47.7%	92.7%	92.2%	13.2	35.5%	23.5%	28.9%	3.87	22.7	WR10
Jauan Jennings	WR	4	1	13	0	16.4%	63.4%	56.3%	12.5	12.9%	17.6%	15.4%	0.50	2.3	WR83
Ronnie Bell	WR						17.1%	15.6%						0	WR100
Trent Taylor	WR						4.9%	3.1%						0	WR100
George Kittle	TE	12	8	64	1	27.6%	82.9%	90.6%	7.0	38.7%	41.2%	35.3%	1.88	20.4	TE3
Eric Saubert	TE						9.8%	20.3%						0	TE54
Jordan Mason	RB	1	1	9	0	1.3%	61.0%	64.1%	4.0	3.2%	0.0%	4.0%	0.36	8.8	RB31
Isaac Guerendo	RB						7.3%	14.1%						2.2	RB55
Kyle Juszczyk	FB						53.7%	62.5%						0	FB5

49ers Notes from Week 5:

Brandon Aiyuk is finally out of preseason mode. For what seemed like eons waiting for Aiyuk to finally have a game that was even passable for fantasy purposes, we got that and then some in Week 5 with 11 targets, eight receptions, and 147 yards.

Aiyuk’s 48% air yards, 93% routes, 29% TPRR, and 13.4-yard aDOT all led the 49ers, and the offensive output shrank considerably to Aiyuk and George Kittle. Kittle (8-64-1) led the 49ers in targets with 12 and caught Brock Purdy’s only touchdown on the afternoon. Both Aiyuk and Kittle vaporized Deebo Samuel (three targets, 1-11; 3-9 rushing), who obviously wasn’t a factor.

Neither was Jauan Jennings (four targets, 1-13, 63% routes), whose routes have steadily declined now that everybody is back healthy for the team.

Jordan Mason was solid as usual (14-89 rushing; one targets, 1-9 receiving) and continued his firm grasp on the rushing workload even with Isaac Guerendo taking five rushes on his nine snaps.

 

Seattle Seahawks

Name	Pos	Targets	Rec.	Rec. Yards	TD	Air Yards %	Route %	Snap %	aDOT	Target Share %	First Read Target %	TPRR	YPRR	PPR FPTS	PPR Finish
DK Metcalf	WR	7	4	55	0	33.4%	100.0%	100.0%	9.0	19.4%	24.0%	14.0%	1.10	7.5	WR50
Tyler Lockett	WR	5	4	75	0	38.6%	84.0%	84.5%	14.6	13.9%	20.0%	11.9%	1.79	11.5	WR41
Jaxon Smith-Njigba	WR	6	4	31	1	12.7%	88.0%	87.9%	4.0	16.7%	12.0%	13.6%	0.70	13.1	WR30
Jake Bobo	WR	1	1	3	0	1.1%	4.0%	3.4%	2.0	2.8%	0.0%	50.0%	1.50	1.3	WR94
Laviska Shenault Jr.	WR						8.0%	8.6%						0	WR100
Noah Fant	TE	3	3	24	0	6.8%	72.0%	69.0%	4.3	8.3%	8.0%	8.3%	0.67	5.4	TE26
Pharaoh Brown	TE	1	1	7	0	2.6%	10.0%	13.8%	5.0	2.8%	4.0%	20.0%	1.40	1.7	TE46
AJ Barner	TE	1	1	13	0	3.7%	16.0%	25.9%	7.0	2.8%	4.0%	12.5%	1.63	2.3	TE42
Brady Russell	TE						2.0%	3.4%						0	TE54
Kenneth Walker III	RB	8	7	57	0	2.1%	60.0%	67.2%	0.5	22.2%	20.0%	26.7%	1.90	14.6	RB15
Zach Charbonnet	RB	4	3	19	0	-1.1%	34.0%	36.2%	-0.5	11.1%	8.0%	23.5%	1.12	6	RB42

Seahawks Notes from Week 5:

A reasonably odd game plan going into this game as the Giants stretched out their time of possession and Seattle only got the ball for 22 minutes. The play volume for Seattle (18 plays in the first half) just wasn’t there. I mean, Kenneth Walker (5-19 rushing; eight targets, 7-57 receiving) had TWO carries in the first half?

If anything, this game showed that Walker maybe is one of the top handful of running backs in the league and certainly for fantasy. He still finished RB15 on the week with just five total carries.

When Seattle was trying to pass their way into staying in the game, it was the usual suspects doing the damage and half of the team’s targets. DK Metcalf (seven targets, 4-55) and Tyler Lockett (five targets, 4-75) were just fine, but Jaxon Smith-Njigba (six targets, 4-31-1) salvaged his day as the recipient of Geno Smith’s only touchdown throw.

 

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Name	Pos	Targets	Rec.	Rec. Yards	TD	Air Yards %	Route %	Snap %	aDOT	Target Share %	First Read Target %	TPRR	YPRR	PPR FPTS	PPR Finish
Mike Evans	WR	6	5	62	2	49.3%	93.3%	86.8%	11.5	26.1%	27.3%	21.4%	2.21	23.2	WR7
Chris Godwin	WR	6	5	64	0	24.4%	90.0%	98.1%	5.7	26.1%	22.7%	22.2%	2.37	11.6	WR40
Kameron Johnson	WR						3.3%	7.5%						0	WR100
Sterling Shepard	WR	2	1	4	1	37.8%	73.3%	67.9%	26.5	8.7%	9.1%	9.1%	0.18	7.4	WR51
Cody Thompson	WR						6.7%	5.7%						0	WR100
Cade Otton	TE	4	3	44	0	7.1%	80.0%	100.0%	2.5	17.4%	18.2%	16.7%	1.83	7.4	TE23
Payne Durham	TE						3.3%	22.6%						0	TE54
Rachaad White	RB	3	3	-6	0	-10.1%	56.7%	64.2%	-4.7	13.0%	13.6%	17.6%	-0.35	9.6	RB30
Bucky Irving	RB	2	2	12	0	-8.6%	36.7%	43.4%	-6.0	8.7%	9.1%	18.2%	1.09	5.6	RB44

Buccaneers Notes from Week 5:

Where the Falcons had 59 total attempts, the Buccaneers and Baker Mayfield only threw the ball 24 times. They were quite efficient with the lack of passing volume as Mayfield threw three touchdowns.

Mike Evans (six targets, 5-62-2) caught two of them and the resurrected Sterling Shepard (two targets, 1-4-1) caught the other as he ran 73% of routes filling in for the injured Jalen McMillan and Trey Palmer. Chris Godwin (six targets, 5-64) also saw some solid volume as well as Cade Otton’s four targets, three receptions and 44 yards.

The major note here was in the running game with the split between Rachaad White (10-72 rushing; three targets, 3-(-6) receiving) and Bucky Irving (9-44 rushing; two targets, 2-12 receiving). White reeled off a plodding 56-yard run and then on his 12 remaining carries, earned just 10 yards.

So, I’m not sure the White stat line is something to really celebrate even if he got 64% of the snaps to Irving’s 43%.

That said, Irving had a bad fumble late in regulation that could have set him back even further in the race to take the majority of Tampa’s running back workload. The team gave him some more carries after that, but it feels like we’re back where we started after an eventful game: with White garnering ~60% of the total workload and Irving with about 35-40%.

Both are startable where White is still a low-end RB2 and Irving is a flex play with bye weeks in full swing, but if you’re an Irving manager looking to start him, it’s best to temper expectations. Trust me, I’m talking to myself here as an ardent “Bucky guy.”

 

Tennessee Titans

Titans Notes from Week 5:

ON BYE IN WEEK 5

 

Washington Commanders

Name	Pos	Targets	Rec.	Rec. Yards	TD	Air Yards %	Route %	Snap %	aDOT	Target Share %	First Read Target %	TPRR	YPRR	PPR FPTS	PPR Finish
Terry McLaurin	WR	8	4	112	0	56.5%	77.8%	66.7%	22.0	30.8%	31.8%	28.6%	4.00	13.4	WR27
Dyami Brown	WR	2	2	57	1	16.7%	55.6%	54.5%	26.0	7.7%	9.1%	10.0%	2.85	13.7	WR25
Luke McCaffrey	WR	3	3	19	0	2.9%	66.7%	65.2%	3.0	11.5%	13.6%	12.5%	0.79	4.9	WR66
Olamide Zaccheaus	WR	2	1	10	0	3.5%	52.8%	51.5%	5.5	7.7%	4.5%	10.5%	0.53	2	WR86
Brycen Tremayne	WR	1	1	-2	0	-1.3%	5.6%	7.6%	-4.0	3.8%	4.5%	50.0%	-1.00	0.8	WR98
Zach Ertz	TE	8	2	10	0	23.9%	75.0%	57.6%	9.3	30.8%	27.3%	29.6%	0.37	3	TE37
Ben Sinnott	TE						19.4%	36.4%						0	TE54
John Bates	TE						22.2%	51.5%						0	TE54
Brian Robinson Jr.	RB						13.9%	33.3%						13.8	RB20
Austin Ekeler	RB	2	2	30	0	-2.2%	47.2%	48.5%	-3.5	7.7%	9.1%	11.8%	1.76	11.7	RB25
Jeremy McNichols	RB						11.1%	22.7%						10.4	RB28

Commanders Notes from Week 5:

There’s no getting around the fact that Jayden Daniels is a legitimate MVP candidate so far this season and while he has been awesome for fantasy, the fact that he’s doing what he’s doing with let’s face it, a subpar cast of receivers outside of Terry McLaurin is pretty wild.

One of the impressive QB plays of the season period from Jayden Daniels pic.twitter.com/Z3JE2oMGs4

— Davis Mattek (@DavisMattek) October 6, 2024

McLaurin (eight targets, 4-112) led the Commanders in all receiving categories and has been a top 30 fantasy receiver in each of the last three weeks. Besides McLaurin and Zach Ertz (eight targets, 2-10), no other Commander earned more than three targets or caught more than three receptions.

Dyami Brown (two targets, 2-57-1, 56% routes) caught a long bomb for a touchdown, but nobody is starting him or picking him up on waivers. Come on.

All Brian Robinson Jr. (7-18-2 rushing) does is score fantasy points, so while his day wasn’t efficient whatsoever, he still scored two touchdowns. He’s been dealing with a knee injury, so once the game got out of hand, the team probably just yanked him at the earliest convenience.

Austin Ekeler (6-67 rushing; two targets, 2-30 receiving) also returned this week and was extremely efficient and in this particular game script, it’s a wonder why the Commanders didn’t choose to give him more run to bank more of that efficiency. He just came off of a concussion too, so that’s likely the reason for that. Jeremy McNichols (7-44) saw seven carries and scored another touchdown to give both backs a break.

Thanks for reading! I hope you found this article very helpful and informative.

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