Fantasy Football Target Report for Week 12
In typical 2020 fashion, Week 12 was another wild one for fantasy football. Now that it’s (mostly) wrapped, here’s the weekly review of the target landscape in the NFL. Keenan Allen added to his league lead and now stands at 122 targets on the season, a solid 12 more than the next closest in Stefon Diggs. His 11.1 targets/game give him a razor-thin edge over Davante Adams (11.0).
Not much has changed for tight ends, although Darren Waller did join Travis Kelce as the only tight ends with at least 90 targets on the season. Evan Engram and Hunter Henry are tied for third with 76 targets apiece.
Alvin Kamara’s once-dominant target lead is holding up, but dwindling fast. Despite seeing just three targets over the last two games, his 83 targets on the season are still 15 in front of the current runner-up J.D. McKissic. More on Kamara near the end of the article.
Now onto the most intriguing target performances of Week 12.
Austin Ekeler – 16 targets, 11 rec
Welcome back Austin Ekeler. In his first game since suffering a scary hamstring injury early in Week 4, he showed up and tied his career-high in targets this week. It marked the sixth time he’s seen double-digit targets in a game and the second time he’s done it this season. He’s averaged an impressive 10.3 targets/game in the three full games he’s played with Justin Herbert at quarterback.
Tyreek Hill – 15 targets, 13 rec
As you know by now, Hill absolutely erupted with a fantasy outing for the ages in Week 12. Over the past three weeks, he’s accumulated an absurd 47 targets, putting him up to 101 on the season and finally pushing him past teammate Travis Kelce. The 15 that he saw this week turned into career-highs in receptions (13), yards (269), and touchdowns (3).
DeVante Parker – 14 targets, 8 rec
Nobody should be happier than Parker managers to see Ryan Fitzpatrick starting at quarterback for Miami. In four games with Tua Tagovailoa, Parker was averaging 6.3 targets/game. This week he saw 14, coming up just one short of his career-high. That brings his average up to 7.7 targets/game when Fitzpatrick has started this season.
Deebo Samuel – 13 targets, 11 rec
Samuel, like Ekeler, returned from an extended injury absence and immediately saw a career-high in targets. It was the first time in over a full calendar year that he logged double-digit targets in a game. Three of the targets were high-percentage “tap passes” behind the line of scrimmage, but they all count the same on the stat sheet and speak to his involvement as a centerpiece of the San Fransisco offense.
Justin Jefferson – 13 targets, 7 rec
With Adam Thielen sidelined it was predictable that Jefferson would see an increased target share in Minnesota. Sure enough, the rookie saw double-digit targets for the third time this season and set another career-high with 13 targets. He’s now just four targets behind Thielen on the season.
Marvin Jones – 12 targets, 6 rec
Marvin Jones has had some big performances on Thanksgiving Day. This year he recorded a season-high 12 targets, though they didn’t amount to much production. Jones has played all 11 games for Detroit this season and has team-high 69 targets, one more than tight end T.J. Hockenson. Meanwhile, Kenny Golladay continues to battle injuries and has seen 32 targets in just five games played in 2020.
Hunter Henry – 10 targets, 7 rec
Henry was joined by Dallas Goedert Monday night as the only tight ends to see double-digit targets in Week 12. The 76 targets he’s seen are tied for the third-most at the position so far this season. They also tie his career-high for targets in a season, which he set in 12 games played last season. He should easily hit triple-digit targets for the year if he can stay on the field for five more games in the Justin Herbert led Chargers offense.
Collin Johnson – 8 targets, 4 rec
Johnson is the latest of many class of 2020 wideouts to make an appearance in the target report. The big receiver from Texas only had 13 targets all season before Week 12, but he stepped up with teammates D.J. Chark and Chris Conley sidelined to lead the Jaguars in targets against the Browns. He could potentially continue to get looks with Jacksonville’s quarterback situation in limbo.
Derrick Henry – 4 targets, 2 rec
Henry won’t be among the league leaders in targets, but every target he does get only increases his already sky-high fantasy value. He’s currently on pace for 38 targets on the season, 12 more than the career-high he set last season. He fell just one target short of his single-game career-high, which he could’ve hit if the official bookkeeper had judged his first touchdown of the game, seen below, as a forward pass instead of a lateral.
.@KingHenry_2 is scoring TDs!
📺: #TENvsIND on CBS
📱: NFL app // Yahoo Sports app: https://t.co/bEHwkuL043 pic.twitter.com/moX0nVKnoS— NFL (@NFL) November 29, 2020
Alvin Kamara – 2 targets, 1 rec
Kamara has been featured in this article regularly throughout the season, though it was for very different reasons earlier in the year. In the two games that Taysom Hill has started at quarterback, Kamara has compiled three targets, one catch, and negative two receiving yards. He still accounted for a respected 12.5% target share this week, but that doesn’t amount to much when there are only 16 pass attempts for your team. After Week 10 Kamara was on a record-setting pace with 8.9 targets/game. After Hill’s first start in Week 11 that dropped to 8.1 targets/game. After Week 12 he now sits at 7.5 targets/game.
Other notable target counts from Week 12:
DK Metcalf – 13
Robert Woods – 12
Keenan Allen – 10
Allen Robinson – 10
Dallas Goedert – 10
Nyheim Hines – 10
Terry McLaurin – 9
Stefon Diggs – 9
Devante Adams – 9
D.J. Moore – 9
Chris Godwin – 9
Mike Evans – 9
Calvin Ridley – 9
Michael Pittman – 9
Golden Tate – 9
Darnell Mooney – 9
Hunter Renfrow – 9
Evan Engram – 9
Amari Cooper – 8
Michael Gallup – 8
Sterling Shepard – 8
Breshad Perriman – 8
Denzel Mims – 8
Travis Kelce – 8
Hayden Hurst – 8
T.J. Hockenson – 8
DeAndre Hopkins – 7
Will Fuller – 7
CeeDee Lamb – 7
Robby Anderson – 7
Sammy Watkins – 7
Jalen Reagor – 7
Damiere Byrd – 7
Chad Beebe – 7
Bisi Johnson – 7
Antonio Gibson – 7
Darren Waller – 7
Rob Gronkowski – 7
Michael Thomas – 6
Allen Lazard – 6
Tyler Boyd – 6
A.J. Brown – 6
Trey Burton – 6
Jordan Reed – 6
Cameron Brate – 6
Mike Davis – 6
David Montgomery – 6
James Robinson – 6
Cooper Kupp – 5
Jamison Crowder – 5
Antonio Brown – 3
Jonnu Smith – 0