Category: Fantasy football player targets and utilization

Hopefully you had a happy and safe holiday season! The overwhelming number of fantasy football leagues came to a close on New Year’s Eve, but there are some of you out there still playing in Week 18, so this recap will be focused on players who may be of use to gamers in the final week of the regular season.

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Lesser names carried many teams in Week 16’s Christmas-themed extravaganza, which brought a lump of coal for fantasy football gamers who suffered through low utilization by prominent running backs in Joe Mixon, Alvin Kamara, Kenneth Walker III, Travis Etienne, Tony Pollard, De’Von Achane, and Ty Chandler.

At receiver, several top names also went over as well as a child opening giftwrapped socks. A dozen targets for Cooper Kupp generated just 52 scoreless yards on a 50% reception rate. Stefon Diggs‘ struggles marched on with a 29-yard day on eight targets. Diontae Johnson had been heating up before fizzling out in Week 16, and low production by DeAndre Hopkins also put trusting fantasy managers in a hole. Davante Adams couldn’t have been much worse given that his quarterback threw for 62 total yards

Tight end once again gave us several players who saw at least six targets but did nothing of fantasy value with the opportunities. Guys like Tyler Conklin, Jonnu Smith, Jake Ferguson, Trey McBride all failed to break into double figures in point-per-reception scoring. Detroit’s Sam LaPorta was a major disappointment — a week after catching three touchdowns — by corralling as many catches in total on a trio of targets. Cole Kmet (knee) left early, and the same happened with T.J. Hockenson (knee). Travis Kelce tried his best to steal Christmas.

If you survived all of that, there’s a decent chance it was because Santa delivered the goods elsewhere on your roster. Amari Cooper single-handedly advanced teams to the next round. George Pickens, Puka Nacua, Calvin Ridley, Demarcus Robinson, Rashid Shaheed, Darius Slayton, and Gabe Davis all picked up the slack as fantasy stocking stuffers, if you will.

A third of the running backs who finished inside of the top 24 either weren’t permanent residents in fantasy lineups entering the week.

The trend continued over to tight end. Several unlikely names managed to cross that 10-point threshold. Chigoziem Okonkwo finally scored a TD, though it came from the hand of Derrick Henry. New Orleans’ Juwan Johnson turned seven targets into a 4-48-1 line. Logan Thomas produced 36 yards and a score on his five snags. Seattle’s Colby Parkinson (3-17-1) and Miami Dolphins tight end Durham Smythe (5-56-0) also mustered relevant results. Kylen Granson hauled in five of seven looks for 62 yards with Michael Pittman Jr. (concussion) out. Los Angeles Chargers tight end Gerald Everett fits that same profile, and his uptick in targets has largely coincided with the heel injury that has cost Keenan Allen time.

We’re one week away from wrapping up what usually constitutes the fantasy football season, and offensive transitions toward the youth movement will continue as more teams have fallen out of the playoff race. Given that most fantasy lineups are more or less locked into place, use the next few weeks to evaluate prospective fantasy talent for the 2024 season.

Fantasy football workhorses workhorsed with polarizing results in Week 15. Twelve backs saw 20-plus utilizations, and while a seven were the strongest fantasy performers at running back, those seven rushers accounted for nearly 88% of the top fantasy outputs at the position.

However, there was a wealth of backs with midtier utilization figures that went nowhere. Twenty-three running backs were utilized at least 10 times and failed to break 10 points, and 13 RB1s failed to get into double-digit status in reception-rewarding stylings.

For the most part, the names you’d expect to see atop the list of high-end fantasy receivers didn’t disappoint. Tight end, though, was a scattershot of prominent names, players on the upswing, and totally unheralded options.

TEs David Njoku and Trey McBride continue to thrive, although Marquise Brown‘s injury absence factored in for the latter seeing the most targets sent his way (11) since Week 8’s season-high 14. This week, a bevy of midrange target tallies required touchdowns to matter in fantasy and fill up the bulk of the TE1 slots. Players like Gerald Everett, Tanner Hudson and Tyler Conklin have been the epitome of moderate utilization shares resulting in almost nothing useful in recent weeks.

A few minor running back situations to keep tabs on: Arizona may be trending toward a timeshare, we could be on the cusp of watching Tennessee lean more on rookie Tyjae Spears at Derrick Henry‘s expense, and what the heck is going on with Atlanta’s backfield?! Bijan Robinson fumbled late in the game, and he wasn’t utilized during the final drive with the game on the line. It could have been merely punishment, but Arthur Smith has a reputation for shenanigans.

As we work through the home stretch of the fantasy season, most pecking orders have stabilized, although we’ll see a handful of transitions toward the youth movement as teams fall out of the playoff race. That means fewer notable situations arise, and some of the inclusions will be a rehashing of developing roles.

The 14th week of fantasy football action was a doozy. It set the tone for many franchises entering the postseason or confirmed the championship-free fate of others. We lost Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert (finger) indefinitely, wide receiver Justin Jefferson (back) exited briefly after returning from a hamstring injury, and the Minnesota Vikings also watched starting running back Alexander Mattison (ankle) prematurely leave. Those injuries, among others, directly impacted broader utilization figures.

Let’s take a peek at a few notable performances that really don’t deserve their own standalone attention.

The Jacksonville Jaguars needed to pass the ball like crazy with an injured Trevor Lawrence heaving it 50 times in attempt to keep pace with the *checks notes* Joe Flacco-led Cleveland Browns. This resulted in three Jags with at least a dozen targets: WR Zay Jones (14), WR Calvin Ridley (13) and TE Evan Engram (12). Mind you, Christian Kirk (abdomen) was sacrificed to the football gods last week, so a larger percentage of the target share was available.

As mentioned, Mattison was lost to injury, which put Ty Chandler in the lead role for the Vikes’ barn-burning win over the Las Vegas Raiders. He didn’t do much of anything with his 12 carries and three targets (42 total yards), but there’s an opportunity here should Mattison be forced to miss Week 15 vs. Cincinnati, a defense that entered Sunday as the 12th-weakest unit over the prior five weeks.

Jamaal Williams … remember him? The former Detroit Lion who rushed for 17 touchdowns last year made an appearance for the New Orleans Saints, rushing for 43 yards on 11 carries (one missed target). He rushed 11 total times in the prior three games combined, so there could be a late-season uptick. The remaining matchups aren’t particularly favorable, and it’s tough to see Williams mattering in non-DFS fantasy.

Last week, Carolina Panthers wideout Jonathan Mingo was targeted 10 times and earned a spot in this article series with the warning that even an increased role probably wouldn’t translate to a matching result in fantasy production. It held true in Week 14 with nine targets generating a laughable 22 yards on two grabs. Download the rookie’s increased late-season role as a possible glimpse into what may come in 2024.

As we work through the home stretch of the fantasy season, most pecking orders have stabilized, although we’ll see a handful of transitions toward the youth movement as teams fall out of the playoff race. That means fewer notable situations arise, and some of the inclusions will be a rehashing of developing roles.

NFL Week 13 active gave us more than enough thrills, curse words, and headaches, even with six fewer teams on the slate than usual. From a fantasy football perspective, there wasn’t a great deal of information to glean from utilization unrelated to injuries. That tends to be the case this late in the season, but we saw a several players across running back, wide receiver and tight end who were substantially utilized but didn’t do much of anything.

This happens to some degree each week, of course, though it’s not too common for it to occur from all three of those skill positions. Perhaps it stands out more with fewer teams, but it’s worth a quick peek.

Indianapolis Colts RB Zack Moss was utilized 22 times and produced just 7.7 points in PPR. Green Bay’s AJ Dillon touched the ball 19 times for 9.7 points, and Pittsburgh Steelers running back Najee Harris managed the same output on his 19 utilizations (18 handles). No performance at the position stung more than Austin Ekeler‘s 4.7-point day (17 utilizations).

At receiver, another Los Angeles Charger, Quentin Johnston, posted a personal-best for targets (7), tied his high-water mark in catches (5), and set a career-high in yardage (52). On the plus side, the rookie is trending in the right direction after already being deemed a bust by the least charitable among us, but Johnston still produced just low-end WR3 returns on moderate WR2 utilization. New York Jets WR Garrett Wilson struggled to reach eight fantasy points on seven targets (tied 20th) as Gang Green turned to third-stringer Trevor Siemian in a failed bid for offensive competency. New England’s DeVante Parker couldn’t capitalize on his nine targets, going for only 4-64-0, and Seattle Seahawks rookie Jaxon Smith-Njigba turned the eighth-most utilizations (11 targets) into the 23rd-most PPR returns (7-52-0).

Tight ends Tyler Conklin (9 targets), Tucker Kraft (6), and David Njoku were the most egregious examples of high-volume, low-return efforts for the position. Conklin and Kraft combined for just 13.2 PPR points, while Njoku’s six looks resulted in a lowly 2-17-0 line with quarterback Joe Flacco making his Cleveland debut. Njoku was playing some of his steadiest ball leading up to this one, so there’s reason to be concerned going forward. Kraft and Conklin may have been someone’s bye-week replacements but will return to obscurity.

As we enter the home stretch of the fantasy season, most pecking orders have stabilized, although we’ll see a handful of transitions toward the youth movement as teams fall out of the playoff race. That means fewer notable situations arise, and some of the inclusions will be a rehashing of developing roles.

The Thanksgiving Week of football came to a close with an NFC North clash between Minnesota and Chicago. We didn’t experience a great deal of surprises in the utilization department, despite 30 other teams doing battle.

Green Bay Packers wide receiver Jayden Reed saw 27% of the target share vs. Detroit, posting WR2 stats for the third straight contest. A fellow rookie, Baltimore Ravens wideout Zay Flowers, reeled in five targets for 25 yards and a TD — while adding a rushing score on his nine-utilization night — to pace the offense. Kansas City’s Rashee Rice balled out again (more on him in a bit), and Indianapolis Colts WR Josh Downs tied for the team lead in targets at 13, which ranked second entering Monday Night Football. In short, rookie receivers showed off in Week 12.

As we enter the home stretch of the fantasy season, most pecking orders have stabilized, although we’ll see a handful of transitions toward the youth movement as teams fall out of the playoff race. That means fewer notable situations arise, and some of the inclusions will be a rehashing of developing roles.

Entering Monday Night Football, Week 11 brought us a mixed bag of fantasy football performances and utilization data to analyze. Unfortunately, two prominent injuries took center stage and will have lasting ripple effects to be felt the rest of the way, namely the season-ending losses of Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow and Baltimore Ravens TE Mark Andrews.

Other question marks have arisen with injuries to Los Angeles Rams wideout Cooper Kupp, Green Bay Packers running back Aaron Jones, and Seattle Seahawks rusher Kenneth Walker III. All three of those guys could return or miss games, and the latter scenario will create opportunities for increased utilization down the line.

As we enter the home stretch of the fantasy season, most pecking orders have stabilized, although we’ll see a handful of transitions toward the youth movement as teams fall out of the playoff race. That means fewer notable situations arise, and some of the inclusions will be a rehashing of developing roles.