Fantasy Football Target Trends for Week 7
Welcome to the Target Trends article for Week 7! Injuries are piling up, bye weeks are upon us, and the fantasy football regular season is nearly half over. Let’s not waste any time and kick off this article by looking at the overall target leaders so far this season.
Target Trends
Garrett Wilson remains atop the target leaderboard, up to 66 after a strong 10-target performance on Monday Night Football. His league-high target count could take a hit now that Davante Adams is officially joining the Jets. Wan’Dale Robinson checks in second with 58 targets, while seven other receivers have eclipsed the 50-target threshold thus far. Only three players are averaging 10+ targets/game. They are Wilson (11.0), Malik Nabers (13.0), and Cooper Kupp (13.5). Wilson is the only one who has played in all six weeks.
Brock Bowers continues to lead all tight ends in both total targets (46) and targets/game (7.7). He is the only player at the position with more than 40 targets. Trey McBride is second overall with 38 targets but just narrowly trails Bowers on a per-game basis (7.7). Kittle is third at the position with 35 targets but his five touchdowns have propelled him to the TE1 for fantasy.
Alvin Kamara still leads running backs, now up to 36 targets. Breece Hall isn’t far behind at 34. They are the only two running backs in the league with at least 30 targets on the season. Kenneth Walker, who missed two games due to injury, is averaging 6.0 targets/game, tied with Kamara for the highest per-game rate at the position.
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 7.
CeeDee Lamb – 14 targets, 7 rec
KaVontae Turpin – 7 targets, 4 rec
The Dallas offense may be broken but at least they are still trying to force-feed the ball to their best player. CeeDee has now seen at least 14 targets in a game 10 times in his career, including the playoffs. The season-high target total brought him up to 55(!), tied with Diontae Johnson for third-most in the NFL. It’s also worth noting that Turpin saw a career-high seven targets. That brings him up to 20 on the season, which matches his target total over the first two seasons of his career combined.
Chris Godwin – 13 targets, 11 rec
Godwin turned his season-high 13 targets into the WR1 performance of Week 6. His target share may have been boosted by the fact that Mike Evans played a season-low 57% of snaps while seemingly dealing with an injury. He also found the end zone twice to bring his touchdown total up to five, matching his total over the previous two seasons combined.
Darius Slayton – 11 targets, 6 rec
Wan’Dale Robinson – 11 targets, 5 rec
Robinson continued to get peppered with targets in Week 6. He is averaging 10.0 targets/game without Malik Nabers, nearly identical to the 9.5 he averaged with the rookie. The difference is more stark for Slayton, who has been targeted 11 times in each of the two games without Nabers and a significantly lower 3.8 targets/game with him. It remains to be seen if Nabers will clear the concussion protocol and return for the Week 7 matchup with Philly.
Seattle Seahawks Pass Catchers
There were plenty of targets to go around as Geno Smith attempted 52 passes Thursday night. The target share in that game mirrors the season-long totals, as DK Metcalf led the way with 11, Jaxon Smith-Njigba checked in next with nine, and Tyler Lockett was close behind with eight. Their season-long target shares are 22.4%, 20.3%, and 16.6% respectively. The bigger story for fantasy is Kenneth Walker, who has seen eight targets in consecutive games and earned an 18% target share over that span.
Drake London – 10 targets, 6 rec
London saw back-to-back double-digit target games just once over his first two seasons. He has now accomplished that feat in three straight games. He’s averaging 10.2 targets/game over the last five games after seeing just three targets in Week 1.
Diontae Johnson – 10 targets, 6 rec
Ja’Tavion Sanders – 7 targets, 5 rec
As mentioned earlier, Johnson is tied with CeeDee Lamb for the third-most targets in the league with 55(!). He has averaged 10.8 targets/game since Andy Dalton took over the starting job for the Panthers in Week 3. It’s also worth noting that rookie tight end Ja’Tavion Sanders saw a season-high seven targets, bringing his total to 12 over the last two weeks.
Evan Engram – 10 targets, 10 rec
Last year’s tight end target leader got right back into the groove in his first on-field action since Week 1. His 10 targets tied for the most at the position in Week 6. Most of them came as the Jaguars were in a negative game script, but the way their defense has looked this season, there’s no reason to think that will be any different moving forward.
Brock Bowers – 10 targets, 9 rec
Bowers joined Engram as the only other tight end with double-digit targets in Week 6. He doubled up the rest of his Raider teammates, as nobody else on Las Vegas saw more than five targets. He has earned a 28% target share over the last three weeks with Davante Adams off the field.
Zay Flowers – 9 targets, 9 rec
Flowers had a big day in the box score in Week 6 but it could have been even bigger. All nine of his targets came in the first half of the game against Washington. He leads the Ravens with 44 targets, 18 ahead of the next closest, Rashod Bateman. Flowers is on pace for 136 targets, well ahead of the 108 he saw as a rookie.
Josh Downs – 9 targets, 7 rec
Michael Pittman – 5 targets, 3 rec
Downs has led the Colts in targets over the last three weeks, averaging 10.0 targets/game and earning a 28% target share. Over that same span, Michael Pittman is averaging 7.3 targets/game and a 20% target share. This target trend could be in jeopardy as Anthony Richardson is set to return as the starter in Indy sooner rather than later.
Demario Douglas – 9 targets, 6 rec
Ja’Lynn Polk – 4 targets, 1 rec
Douglas has been targeted nine times in three of New England’s last four games, seeing at least 29% of the team targets in each of the three. He leads the Patriots with 31 targets on the season, though Polk isn’t far behind with 27. Douglas had the target advantage in Drake Maye’s first career start, but Polk should be on the fantasy radar as a rookie who could become more consistent as the season progresses.
Alvin Kamara – 8 targets, 5 rec
Bub Means – 8 targets, 5 rec
It’s no surprise to see Kamara lead the Saints in targets but rookie Bub Means matching his target total isn’t something anybody saw coming. Means had only played 8% of New Orleans’ offensive snaps and earned just one target over the first five weeks. There may be a connection with fellow rookie Spencer Rattler and the opportunities should continue for Means with Chris Olave unlikely to suit up in Week 7.
Calvin Ridley – 8 targets, 0 rec
Ridley was the most “targeted” player on Tennessee in Week 6 but as you can see by Andy’s post, there were not many quality targets from Will Levis heading his way.
Did you accidentally drink something poisonous and need to vomit it up quickly? Consider watching all 8 of Calvin Ridley‘s “targets” in yesterday’s game. This is not football. pic.twitter.com/bKbFyxJOWm
— Andy Holloway (@andyholloway) October 14, 2024
Ridley leads the Titans with 27 targets on the season but over the last three weeks, he’s been out-targeted 17-14 by DeAndre Hopkins, who played a season-high 71% of snaps following Tennessee’s Week 5 bye.
George Pickens – 8 targets, 3 rec
Is Pickens Arthur Smith’s new Drake London? He has a strong 28.9% team target share but that has amounted to just 42 targets. He’s the clear alpha wideout on the team with more targets than all of Pittsburgh’s other wide receivers combined (33) but Justin Fields is attempting just 26.7 passes per game, which ranks 29th in the NFL. To make matters worse, Pickens has yet to find the end zone.
Houston Texans Pass Catchers
With Nico Collins on injured reserve, it’s worth checking in on Houston’s target distribution in their first game without him. Tank Dell saw a season-high nine targets and turned them into his best fantasy output of the season. Dalton Schultz also posted his season-high target count (eight), while Stefon Diggs’ seven targets were near his season average (8.0).
San Francisco 49ers Pass Catchers
The 49ers are one of the more unpredictable pass-catching corps in the NFL. They have four players with between 32 and 39 targets on the season. Brandon Aiyuk has the fewest fantasy points among them, despite having the most targets. Jauan Jennings (36) and George Kittle (35) are just one target apart, while Deebo Samuel checks in fourth with 32. They all had between four and six targets in Week 6. Kyle Juszczyk also joined in, seeing four targets as well.
Chicago Bears Pass Catchers
Caleb Williams posted the best game of his young career in Week 6 and no Bear had more than five targets in the game. D.J. Moore, Keenan Allen, and Cole Kmet saw five a piece, while rookie Rome Odunze saw a season-low two targets in Chicago’s blowout win over the Jaguars. The Bears are another team that is difficult to forecast when all of their pass-catchers are healthy.