Fantasy Football: 25 WR Statistics from 2018
Another crazy fantasy football season in the books which means, another season filled with amazing, eye-popping stats. This “25 Statistics” series will cover all relevant fantasy football positions (QB, WR, RB, TE, DST, and yes, even kickers). In this edition, we will revisit some of the stats that the wide receiver position generated in 2018. This list will include a lot of stats that will surprise you and some may encourage you to look ahead into what it could mean for the 2019 season.
*Stats below are based on Half PPR scoring
25 Statistics: WRs in 2018
1. Davante Adams finished the REAL fantasy football season (thru Week 16) as the #1 WR. He had career highs in targets (169), receptions (111), rec yards (1386), and TDs (13). You may have caught the prediction of his career high season back in July in my “Can Davante Adams Be The #1 WR in 2018” article. #humblebrag
2. Michael Thomas not only led all WRs in receptions (125), he also had the best catch percentage for any WR, catching 85% of his 147 targets. (WRs with more than 25 targets)
3. Two WRs finished the season leading all other WRs in fantasy points from inside the 5-yard line with 29.1 points. They had identical stats with 4 receptions for 11 yards and 4 TDs. They play on the same team. Have you guessed yet? It’s Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs.
4. The San Francisco 49ers and the Washington Redskins were the only two teams to not have a WR with 100 or more fantasy points on the season.
5. Tyreek Hill scored more than 3x the fantasy points (284.5) than the top WR for the 49ers (Kendrick Bourne – 93.7) and the top WR for the Redskins (Josh Doctson – 87.2).
6. Amari Cooper scored more fantasy points in his 3 game stretch from weeks 12, 13, & 14 (88.2) than he had in his first 9 games of 2018 COMBINED (75.8).
7. Although Robby Anderson finished the season as the 36th ranked WR, he was a top-4 WR in his final 4 games.
8. Julio Jones finished 2018 as the receiving yards champion with 1677. He was the only top 5 WR to not have double-digit TDs this season. Jones is the only WR in the NFL to have over 1,400 receiving yards in each of his last 5 seasons.
Tony Quinn/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
9. DeAndre Hopkins recorded a career high in receptions with 115. What makes this more impressive? He had ZERO drops on the season. Hopkins finished as the #2 WR on the year.
10. Adam Thielen had himself a “Jekyll and Hyde” type season. In his first 8 games, he totaled 925 receiving yards (115.625 YPG) and 6 TDs. In his final 8 games, he had just 448 receiving yards (56 YPG) and 3 TDs.
11. Despite playing just 12 games before going down with a torn ACL, Emmanuel Sanders still ended the season as the #23 WR. He finished ahead of guys like Larry Fitzgerald, Corey Davis, Adam Humphries, Sterling Shepard, and many more WRs that played a full 16 games.
12. JuJu Smith-Schuster had the longest reception of the season. It’s now the second year in a row he has claimed the top spot in that category. Both times were 97-yard TD receptions. He also had a great season as the #9 WR.
13. Amari Cooper had the highest scoring week for a WR with 44.7 fantasy points in Week 14. Tyreek Hill had the second-best fantasy week for a WR with 38.5 points in Week 11. Hill also holds 3 of the top 10 weekly fantasy performances among all WRs for 2018.
14. There were 7 WRs with double-digit touchdown receptions in 2018. That’s the most since 2015 (10).
15. The most targets any WR earned in a single game this season was 19. Five WRs had games with 19 targets (Julio Jones: Week 1, JuJu Smith-Schuster: Week 2, Adam Thielen: Week 3, Keenan Allen: Week 13, and Antonio Brown: Week 16.). Surprisingly, none of these WRs had the most receptions for a single game. That belongs to Michael Thomas. He caught 16 passes on 17 targets in Week 1.
16. Michael Thomas had more receptions than any WR had targets not named Julio Jones and Antonio Brown, Week 1.
17. Cordarrelle Patterson ranked 110th among WRs in receiving yards with 247. Patterson did have the most rushing yards for any WR with 228. In fact, only 5 WRs had 100+ rushing yards on the season, including a second WR from the Patriots (Julian Edelman, 107). A surprisingly low number of wideouts considering the amount of trick plays WRs were involved in this season.
18. The touchdown reception king in 2018? Antonio Brown with 15. He now has double-digit TD receptions in 4 of his last 5 seasons.
19. T.Y. Hilton had one of the quietest WR14 seasons in recent memory. Almost no one was talking about him. He finished the season with 1,270 yards and 6 TDs. Hilton now has over 1,000 receiving yards in 5 of his last 6 seasons. Will likely be a value in 2019 fantasy drafts.
20. Very few talked about the WR8 on the season as well, Mike Evans. He quietly put up the best statistical season of his career: 139 targets (12th), 86 receptions (17th), 1524 yards (3rd), and 8 TDs (13th). Credit: @TheFantasyPT. Just to add to this, Mike Evans came into the league in 2014 and has had over 1,000 receiving yards EVERY season.
Cliff Welch/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
21. Keenan Allen rounded out the WR1s in 2018 as the #12 WR. Although his end results were productive, Allen hurt his fantasy owners with under 10 fantasy points in 7 games. This includes the fantasy playoffs in Week 15 when he left with a hip injury recording ZERO fantasy points on the day.
22. Tyreek Hill had his career-best season. If you count Week 17 (you shouldn’t) in your rankings, Hill finished the season as the #1 WR in fantasy football. He played all 16 games for the first time in his young career. He had career highs in targets (137), receptions (87), receiving yards (1,479), and TDs (12).
23. Rookie D.J. Moore could have been the spokesman for Butterfingers as he led all WRs in lost fumbles. He lost 3 of his 4 fumbles on the season.
24. Robert Woods was the best WR on the Rams in 2018. He racked up 86 receptions on 130 targets for 1,219 yards and 6 TDs. He was the #10 WR. Prior to this season, his career highs were: 65 receptions on 104 targets, 781 receiving yards, and 5 TDs. He is a good candidate for regression in 2019.
25. The Steelers (Antonio Brown: WR4 & JuJu Smith-Schuster: WR9) and Vikings (Adam Thielen: WR7 & Stefon Diggs: WR11) each had two WR1s in fantasy this season.
Whispers: There are clearly more than 25 stats on this list.
Hope you enjoyed! Please share your favorite stat from this list with me on Twitter: @DomiNateFF