Fantasy Football Target Trends for Week 6
Welcome to the Target Trends article for Week 6! As we enter the heart of the fantasy football season, target trends become even clearer. We also become inundated with bye weeks and injuries, which makes it important to track not only raw targets but targets/game and team target share when examining how players are utilized in the passing game. As usual, let’s start this article by looking at the overall target leaders so far this season.
Target Trends
This week, we have a new overall target leader as Garrett Wilson’s massive 22 target day brings him up to 56 on the season. Malik Nabers falls to second with 52. Despite missing the game with a concussion, Nabers is the only receiver other than Wilson with at least 50 targets on the season. Amari Cooper and Wan’Dale Robinson are tied in third place with 47 targets apiece.
Rookie Brock Bowers leads all tight ends with 36 targets on the season and is currently the TE1 in fantasy football. Colby Parkinson is second at the position with 32 targets, followed by Jake Ferguson and Trey McBride at 30. Ferguson and McBride have each missed a game and are averaging more targets/game (7.5) than Bowers (7.2)
At running back, Breece Hall and Alvin Kamara lead the way with 28 targets each. That puts them on pace for 95 targets on the season, which is the total Hall hit to lead the position last season. De’Von Achane and Jerome Ford are tied for third with 23 targets.
I’ll continue to lead off this article with season-long target leaders each week but for now, let’s check out the weekly target trends heading into Week 6.
Garrett Wilson – 22 targets, 13 rec
Wilson’s target total isn’t just a career-high, it’s the most that any player has seen in a game since 2015 when Antonio Brown and DeAndre Hopkins each hit that mark. It’s a number that only 12 players have reached since the NFL began tracking targets in 1992. Wilson’s team target share climbed nearly five percentage points up to 30.4% on the season.
Darnell Mooney – 16 targets, 9 rec
Drake London – 13 targets, 12 rec
Mooney saw 16 targets twice in his time with the Bears but that was back during the 2021 season. It’s easy to forget that he was targeted 140 times that year, by far the most of his career. As for London, he has impressively seen his targets increase in each of the five games played this season. The pure volume won’t be there every week, as Kirk Cousins attempted a career-high 58 passes in Week 5, but it’s positive to see both wideouts being involved.
Tee Higgins – 14 targets, 9 rec
Ja’Marr Chase – 12 targets, 10 rec
We saw the high-powered offense we expected from the Bengals in Week 5. Higgins started the season slowly as he worked through his hamstring injury but has now seen double-digit targets in consecutive games. He’s seen 14+ targets twice earlier in his career but not since 2021. He has a 28% target share in his three games played, outpacing Chase (23%) over that span. Chase also saw double-digit targets for the first time this season. He was the number one WR on the week and the performance was enough to elevate him to the WR1 on the season.
Justin Jefferson – 14 targets, 6 rec
Jefferson is yet another receiver who finally saw double-digit targets for the first time of the season in Week 5. Unfortunately, he failed to find the end zone for the first time all season, resulting in his lowest fantasy output of the year. He has a 33.9% target share, the highest of any player who has played in five games. His 43 total targets easily lead the Vikings, with Aaron Jones coming in next with 20.
Los Angeles Rams Pass Catchers
Tight end Colby Parkinson led the Rams with a career-high 13 targets in Week 5. He’s up to 32 targets on the season, already just two shy of the career-best 34 from his previous two seasons with Seattle. Rookie Jordan Whittington wasn’t targeted in Week 1 but has seen his targets increase in five consecutive games. The same can be said for veteran Tutu Atwell. The target share for the Rams will continue to be dynamic, as Cooper Kupp is targeting a return after their Week 6 bye and Puka Nacua should be back at some point later in the season.
Zay Flowers – 12 targets, 7 rec
It’s been a roller coaster ride for Flowers through five weeks. He saw 21 targets over the first two weeks of the season, two games that Baltimore lost. The Ravens then won the next two games in blowout fashion and Flowers was barely used, seeing just six targets over that span. He was back to double-digit targets in the shootout win over Cincinnati in Week 5. He takes on Washington in Week 6 in a game with a juicy 52.5 point over/under.
Indianapolis Colts Pass Catchers
Michael Pittman Jr. leads the Colts with 37 targets this season but Josh Downs has been closing the gap. The target count has been 21-17 in favor of Downs over the last two games with Joe Flacco in for the injured Anthony Richardson. Alec Pierce is fourth on the team with 20 targets but leads the team with 368 receiving yards, thanks largely to his ridiculous 28.3 yards/rec.
Brock Bowers – 12 target, 8 rec
Bowers bounced back with his best game of the season after combining for just seven targets over the previous two weeks. The rookie is tied with Jakobi Meyers for the team target lead and there’s no reason to believe that will change with Davante Adams and the Raiders likely to part ways. He is the TE1 on the season, though just a half-point in front of George Kittle.
San Francisco 49ers Pass Catchers
Speaking of Kittle, he leads tight ends with 7.3 targets/game, slightly ahead of Bowers (7.2). He and Brandon Aiyuk led the way with 12 targets each for the 49ers in Week 5. Aiyuk leads the team in both total targets (37) and targets/game (7.4). Deebo Samuel is third in target rate (6.8) and Jauan Jennings is fourth (6.2), though Jennings’ 31 targets are the second-highest total on the team.
Darius Slayton – 11 targets, 8 rec
With Malik Nabers out, Slayton stepped in and saw the most targets he’s received in a game since the 2020 season. Slayton led the Giants in targets last season but as long as Nabers returns and Wan’Dale Robinson stays healthy, it’s difficult to envision him repeating that feat. He saw just 15 targets combined over the first four weeks of the season, well behind both Nabers and Robinson.
Dallas Cowboys Pass Catchers
Jalen Tolbert stepped up and led the Cowboys with 10 targets in Week 5, one more than CeeDee Lamb. He’ll look to continue taking advantage of increased opportunities with Brandin Cooks on injured reserve. I should also mention Jake Ferguson, who was targeted seven times on Sunday night and has now seen 25 targets combined over his last three games.
Kansas City Chiefs Pass Catchers
No Rashee Rice, no problem? Juju Smith-Schuster stepped up with eight targets Monday night, more than he ever saw with the Patriots last season. Travis Kelce also saw a season-high 10 targets against the Saints. Kelce has now seen double-digit targets in 55(!) career games, including the playoffs.
Kenneth Walker – 8 targets, 7 rec
Walker’s eight targets in Week 5 tied his career high. He now has 16 targets on the season. That may not seem like much, but it amounts to a 14% target share, nearly double the 7% and 8% rate he averaged over his first two seasons. That kind of bump in passing game usage is a big deal for fantasy football running backs.
Chris Olave – 4 targets, 2 rec
Things had been trending upward after Olave saw 10 targets in Week 4 but his usage took a step back on Monday night against the Chiefs. He has been over a 25% target share in three games this season but under 15% in the other two, including 13% in Week 5. That brings him to a 22% team target share for the season, tied with Alvin Kamara but trailing Rashid Shaheed (26.8%).