Fantasy Football Target Report for Week 3
Welcome to the Week 3 Target Report! In the intro this week I want to take a moment to breakdown the targets in the wild shootout between Dallas and Seattle this week. It saw three players, Tyler Lockett, Ezekiel Elliot, and Amari Cooper, top 12 targets in the game. Cooper is currently tied for the second-most targets in the NFL, while Zeke is the second-most targeted running back in the NFL. The game also saw six other players get targeted 6+ times. None were more surprising than Cedrick Wilson, who had eight career targets and had gone untargeted in the first two weeks of the season before getting seven on Sunday. It was one of the most entertaining games of the young season and we should see plenty more pass attempts headed towards Dak Prescott‘s and Russell Wison’s pass-catchers throughout the season.
Now let’s look at the most intriguing target performances from the rest of the games.
Keenan Allen – 19 targets, 13 rec
Allen is no stranger to targets. He’s averaged 101 targets per season over the past three years and recorded a career-high 149 in 2019. He’s now seen double-digit targets in each of Justin Herbert’s first two career starts. His 19 targets on Sunday were the most since Julio Jones put up 20 in Week 15 last season. Allen’s target volume looks to remain safe, especially since Mike Williams picked up a hamstring injury in Week 3.
Alvin Kamara – 14 targets, 13 rec
It’s loud and clear that Kamara is the Saints’ top receiving option with Michael Thomas sidelined. His 14 targets were the most seen by a running back in a game so far this season, and he leads all running backs with 31 on the year. Ezekiel Elliot is second with 23 and no other running back has topped 18 so far. Kamara is currently on pace for 165(!) targets, which would crush Christian McCaffrey’s NFL record of 142 from last season.
Greg Ward – 11 targets, 8 rec
Ward was a staple of the Eagles offense down the homestretch last season, averaging 7.5 targets/game over Philly’s last four games in 2019 when their receiving corps was riddled with injuries. Here we are again with injuries to DeSean Jackson, Jalen Reagor, and Dallas Goedert. Alshon Jeffery is still without a clear timetable to return and even JJ Arcega-Whiteside apparently suffered an injury in pre-game warmups. All signs point to more targets for Ward in the coming weeks.
Austin Ekeler – 11 targets, 11 rec
Remember when everybody was panicking after Ekeler only saw one target in Week 1? How quickly things can change. The outlook was a bit more promising after Week 2 when he saw four targets. Now it’s all systems go after he was targeted 11 times in Week 3. Even better, he has a 100% catch rate on his 16 targets so far this season.
Jimmy Graham – 10 targets, 6 rec
Nick Foles replaced Mitchell Trubisky in Week 3 and may have indirectly resurrected Jimmy Graham’s career. He saw double-digit targets for the first time since 2018 and turned two of them into touchdowns. It’s tough to trust Jimmy “Grandpa” in lineups but given the tight end landscape in fantasy football and the fact that 2020 has taught us to expect the unexpected, you never know.
Hunter Renfrow – 9 targets, 6 rec
Renfrow ended 2019 with back-to-back nine target outings in Weeks 16 and 17 but only logged five targets through the first two weeks of 2020. That changed in Week 3 after first-round pick Henry Ruggs was ruled out with a hamstring injury and the Patriots essentially erased last week’s target leader Darren Waller from the gameplan.
Mike Davis – 9 targets, 8 rec
In one of the least predictable outcomes through three weeks of the season, Mike Davis is currently the fourth-most targeted running back in the NFL. This comes even after he played just three snaps and didn’t touch the ball or get targeted in Week 1. Since then, however, he’s seen 17 targets in just two games and shows no sign of slowing down until Christian McCaffrey is able to return.
Justin Jefferson – 9 targets, 7 rec
It was a slow start to the season for the Vikings’ first-round draft pick. Jefferson only received three targets in each of his first two games, then he tripled that number in Week 3. He’s likely to be one of the hottest waiver wire adds this week as he showed that he just may be able to fill Stefon Diggs‘s shoes in Minnesota.
D.J Moore – 4 targets, 2 rec
Moore has felt like a fantasy football disappointment so far this season but he still leads Carolina in targets and is within the top ten most targeted wideouts in the entire league after three weeks, despite only seeing four targets this week. Fantasy managers that roster Moore may not be paying attention to targets, making him a great buy-low candidate in trades.
Derrick Henry – 3 targets, 2 rec
Henry is far from a pass-catching specialist, but he’s now seen eight targets through three weeks. OK, that also probably doesn’t seem like much, but it puts him on track for 43 targets over 16 games, far outpacing the career-high 24 he saw last season. Henry can take it to the house anytime he gets the ball in his hands, so an increase in targets is extremely encouraging. Oh and in case you were wondering, he’s also on pace for 437 carries this season, which would be an NFL single-season record
Other notable target counts in Week 3:
Allen Robinson – 13
Tyler Boyd – 13
Calvin Ridley – 13
DeAndre Hopkins – 12
Cooper Kupp – 10
Rex Burkhead – 10
Zach Ertz – 10
Noah Fant – 10
Michael Gallup – 9
Jerry Jeudy – 9
Tee Higgins – 9
DK Metcalf – 8
Jonnu Smith – 8
Miles Sanders – 8
Brandon Aiyuk – 8
Terry McLaurin – 8
Allen Lazard – 8
Kenny Golladay – 7
T.J. Hockenson – 7
Eric Ebron – 7
James Washington – 7
Darius Slayton – 7
Golden Tate – 7
Logan Thomas – 7
Rob Gronkowski – 7
A.J. Green – 6
Odell Beckham Jr. – 6
CeeDee Lamb – 6
Dalton Schultz – 6
Chris Godwin – 6
Mike Evans – 4
Drew Sample – 1