Fantasy Football Target Trends for Week 7
Welcome to the Target Trends article for Week 7! Let’s start, as usual, by looking at the season-long target leaders to this point.
Despite exiting early with an unfortunate injury, Puka Nacua still leads the NFL with 65 targets. He will now fall out of the top spot overall, and we will have to see if anybody can surpass his average of 10.8 targets/game. Chris Olave is the most likely candidate to take the target lead. At 64 total targets, he’s currently only one target behind.
Christian McCaffrey not only leads all RBs with 60 targets, but he has the third-most targets among all players in the league. He’s on pace for 170 targets, which would smash his own record of 142 from his 2019 season in Carolina. After CMC, it’s a steep drop off to De’Von Achane, who is second at the position with 38 targets. Bijan Robinson checks in third with 31 targets so far.
Trey McBride leads all TEs with 53 targets, and Jake Ferguson is just behind him with 51. They are the only two at the position north of 50 targets, and Tyler Warren, the third-most targeted TE, is the only other with at least 40.
I’ll continue to lead off this article with season-long target leaders each week, but for now, let’s check out this week’s target trends heading into Week 7.
Drake London: 16 targets, 10 rec
London erupted on Monday night with 16 targets, matching Marquise Brown in Week 1 and Ja’Marr Chase in Week 2 for the most in a single game this season. It’s also just one fewer than the 15 he saw in Week 1. He has 53 targets on the season, but his 10.6 target/game average is the third-highest in the league.
Jerry Jeudy: 13 targets, 5 rec
Harold Fannin: 10 targets, 7 rec
Not all targets are created equal. Jeudy saw 13 from rookie Dillon Gabriel in Week 6, but they only amounted to five catches for 43 yards. So far this season, Jeudy has accumulated just 34 fantasy points on 48 targets. As for Fannin, he saw double-digit targets for the first time this season. That may become a more common occurrence if David Njoku misses time with his knee injury.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba: 13 targets, 8 rec
JSN remained on fire in Week 7, in part due to matching his season high in targets. He’s seen at least a 21% target share in each game this season and eclipsed 50% twice. His 36.4% for the season leads the league.
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Ja’Marr Chase: 12 targets, 10 rec
Joe Flacco targeted Chase 12 times in his Bengals debut, the most that last year’s triple crown winner has seen since Week 2. The ceiling may not be quite as high for Chase without Joe Burrow, but he’s been a top-six WR in consecutive weeks while averaging 11 targets/game.
Dallas Goedert: 11 targets, 9 rec
Goedert’s 11 targets on Thursday night were just one short of his career high and only the fifth time he has ever seen double-digit targets over his 98-game career. He’s averaging 6.6 targets/game, which would be a career-high if he can maintain that rate. He’s also averaging over a 20% target rate for the first time in his career.
Trey McBride: 11 targets, 8 rec
Zay Jones: 8 targets, 5 rec
At this point, it’s never surprising to see McBride log double-digit targets. His 26.9% target share continues to lead the position. However, with Marvin Harrison Jr. exiting with a concussion, Zay Jones was second on Arizona in target share. His eight targets were his highest total since Week 18 of the 2023 season, when he was still a Jaguar. With bye weeks and injuries adding up, we may need to start once again calling Jones by “The Spot Start” nickname.
George Pickens: 11 targets, 9 rec
I don’t need to spend too much time talking about George. He’s the WR3 on the season and will continue to be the top target in Dallas while CeeDee Lamb is sidelined. His target total may decline when Lamb returns, but Pickens is the type of explosive player that can win a fantasy matchup with just a handful of targets.
Kendrick Bourne: 9 targets, 5 rec
Bourne has now accumulated 20 targets and turned them into 284 yards over the last two weeks. Not bad for a WR who saw just 12 targets over the first four weeks of the season. Things will be changing for the 49ers’ pass catchers in the coming weeks with the likes of George Kittle, Jauan Jennings, Ricky Pearsall, and Brandon Aiyuk returning at some point, but Bourne should at least stay on your radar after the last two performances.
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Romeo Doubs: 9 targets, 5 rec
Green Bay’s WR corps can be confusing, but Doubs is emerging as the safest play among them. He’s now seen at least eight targets in consecutive games and leads the Packers with a 20.6% target share. That may not be an elite number, but it’s trustworthy enough if you need to fill a WR spot in your fantasy lineup.
Lil’Jordan Humphrey: 8 targets, 4 rec
With Malik Nabers and Darius Slayton sidelined, Humphrey saw his first action of the season. His eight targets led the Giants, one more than Wan’Dale Robinson. He may not be a league winner, but Humphrey could be a desperation option in the season of bye weeks and injuries.
Oronde Gadsden: 8 targets, 7 rec
Gadsden’s eight targets were a season high for the rookie TE. There is plenty of target competition for the Chargers, but he had one more than Keenan Allen and just one fewer than Ladd McConkey in Week 6. He’s worth stashing, or at least monitoring, to see if the rookie can keep up the momentum.
Juwan Johnson: 2 targets, 2 rec
It was a new low for Johnson in Week 6. He was leading TEs in targets with 28 after the first three weeks, but has accumulated just nine over the last three. He’s difficult to trust in fantasy lineups at this point, even at the fickle TE position.
Breece Hall: 0 targets, 0 rec
For just the second time in his career, Hall failed to record a target in Week 6. The other instance occurred in Week 7 of his rookie season, when he played only 20% of the snaps and left with a season-ending injury. That wasn’t the case this week, as he played a season-high 74%. The problem was Justin Fields‘ inability or unwillingness to check the ball down. He won’t go targetless every week, but his passing game potential takes a major hit with Fields at QB.