Fantasy Football Target Trends for Week 10
Welcome to the target trends article for Week 10! As we continue to navigate injuries and bye weeks in the heart of the NFL season, target trends are more important than ever. Let’s start, as usual, by checking in on the overall target landscape in the league.
At exactly 100 targets on the season, Tyreek Hill is the first player to get to triple digits. Cooper Kupp still leads on a per-game pace, averaging 11.6 targets per game to Hill’s 11.1. Travis Kelce leads all tight ends with 77 targets, which is the sixth most targets among all players. He’s pulling away from the tight end field in total targets; Zach Ertz has the second-most with 68. At running back, Austin Ekeler continues to lead the position. He’s still on a record-breaking pace of 149 targets over 17 games, which would break Christian McCaffrey’s all-time high of 142 in 2019.
I’ll continue to lead off this article with season-long target leaders but for now, let’s check out this week’s target trends heading into Week 10.
Davante Adams: 17 targets, 10 rec
Adams is the overall target leader for Week 9 and now has the third-most targets this season. The 17 targets he saw against the Jaguars match the season-high that he set back in Week 1. Those targets equated to a ridiculous 47% target share, the third time he’s topped a 40% share in a game this season.
Travis Kelce: 17 targets, 10 rec
JuJu Smith-Schuster: 12 targets, 10 rec
Patrick Mahomes attempted a career-high 68 passes Sunday night in the overtime victory over the Titans, and it led to big target totals for Kelce and JuJu. The 17 targets to Kelce were a new career-high for him. He’s now on pace for 164 targets on the season, which would break Zach Ertz’s record of 156 from 2018. As for JuJu, his 12 targets were a new season-high and the most he’s seen in a game since Week 15 of the 2020 season.
Justin Jefferson: 13 targets, 7 rec
T.J. Hockenson: 9 targets, 9 tec
Jefferson has now seen 13 targets in three different games this season, but this was the first time since Week 5 that double-digit targets went his way. His new teammate, T.J. Hockenson, was immediately integrated into the offense and caught all nine of the targets from his new quarterback, Kirk Cousins. He saw a 23% target share in his Minnesota debut, significantly higher than the 18% share he had through his first seven games with Detroit.
Mike Evans: 11 targets, 9 rec
Chris Godwin: 10 targets, 9 rec
Evans and Godwin were both featured in this article last week, and they find themselves here again. Over the past three games, Evans is averaging 12.3 targets per game and Godwin is averaging 11.3, but neither has found the end zone over that time. Evans hasn’t scored a touchdown since Week 4, and Godwin hasn’t scored one all season. The targets, however, are reassuring. The touchdowns will come if Tom Brady starts throwing them more frequently than his current career-low rate of 2.5%.
Allen Lazard: 10 targets, 4 rec
Lazard’s return was the only positive takeaway from Green Bay’s offense in Week 9. His season-high 26% target share led to a career-high ten targets. He turned one of them into a touchdown and was brought down just one yard short of another.
Lazard just made a play pic.twitter.com/FkkHG7eGgZ
— IKE Packers Podcast (@IKE_Packers) November 6, 2022
Aaron Jones, Romeo Doubs, and Christian Watson each got banged up in the game, so Lazard could be the focal point of the offense and should see plenty of targets in upcoming weeks.
Josh Palmer: 10 targets, 8 rec
It’s a small sample size, but Palmer is averaging 11 targets per game over his last two healthy games. With both Keenan Allen and Mike Williams dealing with injuries, Palmer is in line to be the WR1 for the Chargers for the foreseeable future, though Austin Ekeler could be considered their top pass-catcher. Regardless, Palmer is a viable fantasy starter until the Los Angeles wide receiver room returns to full strength.
Rondale Moore: 10 targets, 8 rec
Aside from a two-target dud in Week 7, Moore has seen consistent targets since debuting in Week 5. If you take out that blip on the radar, when he played the majority of his snaps outside for some reason, he’s been averaging 9.0 targets per game. His target share will likely take a hit when Marquise Brown returns from injury, but until then, he has a safe PPR floor.
Garrett Wilson: 9 targets, 9 rec
Elijah Moore: 0 targets, 0 rec
The Jets rookie saw nine targets in the surprising upset of the Bills, which equated to a season-high 38% target share. That brings him up to a team-high 23% share on the season, six percentage points ahead of Tyler Conklin’s next closest 17% share. Elijah Moore ran more routes than last week but is still an afterthought in the offense with an 11% target share on the season, which has bottomed out to just 1% since Week 6.
Rhamondre Stevenson: 7 targets, 3 rec
Stevenson isn’t the first player to come to mind when you think of a pass-catching running back, but he fits the description this season. His 43 targets are the sixth most among running backs, more than Aaron Jones and Saquon Barkley. He’s been even more consistent through the air recently, averaging 7.7 targets per game over the last three weeks.
Drake London: 7 targets, 3 rec
Kyle Pitts: 7 targets, 2 rec
Here’s the weekly check-in for the talented Atlanta pass-catchers that have become a staple of this article. Each of them saw a 30% target share in Week 9, bringing London’s target share up to 29% on the season and Pitts’ up to 27%. Even with those strong market share numbers, neither is setting the fantasy football world on fire. London hasn’t finished inside the top 40 fantasy wideouts since Week 3, and Pitts is the TE17 in a landscape devoid of reliable tight ends.
Darnell Mooney: 8 targets, 7 rec
Chase Claypool: 6 targets, 2 rec
Mooney remained Chicago’s target leader, even with Claypool now in town. Claypool saw just a 17% target share with Pittsburgh before the trade deadline, but that number climbed to 22% in his first game as a Bear. Chicago’s offense suddenly looks formidable with the emergence of Justin Fields, and both wideouts stand to benefit.
Terrace Marshall: 6 targets, 3 rec
Marshall saw six targets in Week 1 of his rookie season in 2021, then didn’t match that target total again over Carolina’s next 21 games. With Christian McCaffrey and Robbie Anderson out of town, however, Marshall has seen at least six targets in consecutive games. His role in the offense appears secure, and he can be inserted into fantasy lineups, if needed, moving forward.
Comments
I think Marshall can be a stud. With his QB situation obviously his ceiling can only go so high. Had I traded for a Carolina WR it woulda been for him. There has to be a reason Anderson dominates games then does nothing for weeks.
Appreciate the good work!