Fantasy Football Target Trends for Week 8
Welcome to the Target Trends article for Week 8! The fantasy football regular season has reached the midpoint for most leagues. With the first half in the rearview mirror, we can use target trends in an effort to make the best start/sit decisions, scour the waiver wire, and identify trade targets as we push toward the fantasy playoffs. As usual, let’s begin this article by looking at the overall target leaders so far this season.
Target Trends
Not much has changed atop the target leaderboard. Garrett Wilson continues to lead the league with 76 total targets. That puts him on pace for 182 on the season if he can keep it up with the arrival of Davante Adams. Wan’Dale Robinson checks in next at 67, nine targets fewer than Wilson. Drake London and Chris Godwin are tied for third with 62, though unfortunately, the rest of Godwin’s season is in question after his brutal ankle injury on Monday night. On a per-game basis, Malik Nabers leads all players (minimum three games played) with an average of 12.0 targets/game.
Brock Bowers is running away with the target lead at tight end. He leads in overall targets (60) and targets/game (8.6). Trey McBride is second in both metrics at 45 total targets (7.5 targets/game), significantly behind Bowers. George Kittle remains in third, averaging 7.0 targets/game for a total of 42.
Breece Hall and Alvin Kamara continue to lead the way at running back. The two are tied with 43 targets apiece. No other back is yet to top 30 targets on the season. Javonte Williams is closest at 29, with five other running backs between 25 and 28.
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 8
Brock Bowers – 14 targets, 10 rec
Bowers tied for the league lead this week with his new career-high of 14 targets. He’s up to a 25% team target share on the season, which was boosted by his 40% share in Week 7. He also leads the entire league, not just tight ends, with 47 receptions. He’s currently the TE2 on the season with just one touchdown.
David Njoku – 14 targets, 10 rec
Cedric Tillman – 12 targets, 8 rec
Njoku matched Bowers with his 14 targets in Week 7, just shy of the 15 targets he saw through his first injury-riddled six weeks of the season. As for Tillman, the second-year wideout saw 44 targets last season as a rookie but only five so far this year and none since Week 3. That changed with the departure of Amari Cooper and could point to him competing with Njoku as the top target earner in Cleveland.
Will Dissly – 11 targets, 8 rec
Cue the Big Montana music! With Hayden Hurst ruled out with a groin injury, Dissly dominated and set a new career-high Monday night, topping his previous high of eight targets from 2019. Hurst had never posted more than three targets in a game this season, so Dissly may have earned himself a role as the TE1 in the Chargers’ offense, though how valuable that would be remains to be seen.
Romeo Doubs – 10 targets, 8 rec
Doubs led the Packers in Week 7 and logged his first double-digit target game of the season, a feat that he accomplished twice last season. He leads Green Bay with 5.7 targets/game but Jayden Reed and Dontayvion Wicks aren’t far behind, each averaging 5.4 targets/game. A target hog is unlikely to emerge in Green Bay with Jordan Love distributing the targets but Doubs, Reed, and Wicks will continue to carry week-to-week fantasy value.
George Pickens – 9 targets, 5 rec
Pickens is on pace for 129 targets, which would top the career-high he set last season. (106). He’s tied with Garrett Wilson for the highest target share among players who have played in seven games (29.6%). Those targets were more valuable than ever in Russell Wilson’s first start of the season, as Pickens saw a season-high 17.9 aDOT and 22.2 yards/rec
New York Jets Pass Catchers
Aaron Rodgers distributed the targets relatively evenly in Davante Adams’ first game as a Jet. Adams, Garrett Wilson, and Breece Hall each saw nine targets. Hall was the most productive, racking up a career-high 103 receiving yards. Wilson nearly doubled Adams with six catches for 61 yards, as Davante caught just three balls for 30 yards.
New York Giants Pass Catchers
As for the other team in New York, Malik Nabers saw eight targets in his return, bringing his season average down to 12.0 targets/game. Wan’Dale Robinson maintained his heavy usage, leading the team with nine targets. Darius Slayton returned to a reduced role; he’s averaged 11.0 targets/game without Nabers but just 3.6 targets/game with him.
Atlanta Falcons Pass Catchers
Drake London saw eight targets and continues to lead Atlanta on the season. He is on pace for 151 targets this season. That would crush the career-best 117 he saw as a rookie. Kyle Pitts led the team this week with nine targets, the most he’s seen in a game since Week 5 of 2023. Pitts has seen 22 targets over his last three games after getting just 15 over the first four games of the season. Mooney continues to earn targets at a healthy pace, seeing at least six in five of seven games this season.
Xavier Worthy – 8 targets, 3 rec
Worthy feels like a fantasy disappointment after busting onto the scene with two touchdowns in Week 1. When it comes to usage, however, his number of raw targets has increased each week. His opportunities should only continue to grow as the Chiefs deal with a litany of injuries and we could see a second-half surge from the rookie, similar to what Rashee Rice did down the stretch a year ago.
Buffalo Bills Pass Catchers
Amari Cooper only ran 12 routes in his Buffalo debut but was targeted on nearly half of them (five). With Cooper on the field for just 39% of the offensive snaps, both Keon Coleman and Khalil Shakir were targeted seven times, a career-high for each. Cooper will surely dig into the target share as he gets accustomed to the offense and it will be tough to predict before we get a larger sample size. Meanwhile, Dalton Kincaid has quietly seen at least six targets in four consecutive games, a respectable target count for a tight end.
Ricky Pearsall – 5 targets, 3 rec
Pearsall made his NFL debut in Week 7, earning five targets and a 16% target share. His availability couldn’t have come at a better time for San Fransisco. With Brandon Aiyuk done for the season, Deebo Samuel battling pneumonia, Jauan Jennings fighting through a hip injury, and Christian McCaffrey still off the recovery radar, there will be ample opportunity for Pearsall.
Diontae Johnson – 3 targets, 1 rec
The fantasy roller coaster continues for Diontae. He has finished as a top-12 wide receiver in three games this season but outside of the top 60 in his other four. There’s a clear connection between targets and production for him, as his three top-12 finishes came in his only three games with double-digit targets.
Miami Dolphins Pass Catchers
It’s been a dreadful stretch for Miami’s wide receivers with Tua Tagovailoa sidelined. Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle both bottomed out in Week 7, each seeing a season-low two targets. De’Von Achane was only slightly better at three targets, bringing him up to just four over the last two weeks. Jonnu Smith has been Miami’s top target over the last two weeks, seeing 15 targets and a 28% target share during that span. There should be more targets to go around if Tua returns in Week 8 and Jonnu may have earned a bigger role in the offense moving forward.
Courtland Sutton – 0 targets, 0 rec
Troy Franklin – 6 targets, 5 rec
For the first time in his 88-game career, Sutton failed to receive a single target. It came in a game where Denver dominated throughout, and it should be noted that Sutton was still on the field for 86% of the offensive snaps and led the Broncos in routes run. It doesn’t appear that Sutton is in the dog house but it probably isn’t a coincidence that his goose egg came in the same game that rookie Troy Franklin, Bo Nix’s college teammate, logged a new season-high six targets.
Jordan Whittington – 0 targets, 0 rec
Whittington was one of the biggest letdowns of Week 7. He had seen 18 targets in the previous two weeks before the Ram’s bye and Cooper Kupp sat again, theoretically keeping the target door open for Whittington. He was cleared to play but a shoulder injury may have hindered him against the Raiders, as he played just 16% of the offensive snaps and didn’t see a single target. As the rest of the Rams’ wide receivers return to health, it appears Whittington’s role has disappeared, at least for now.