Fantasy Football Target Report for Week 9
Another wild week of fantasy football is in the books, let’s check out where the targets stand after Week 9. Last week I noted that no player had accumulated 80 targets over eight weeks. Now NFL target leader Stefon Diggs has surpassed 90 targets in nine weeks after his 12 targets against Seattle pushed his season total to 91. When it comes to targets/game, we’re down to just three players with an average in the double-digits: Davante Adams (11.5), Keenan Allen (10.8), and Stefon Diggs (10.1)
Alvin Kamara continues to dominate running back targets. His 72 targets are 23 more than the next closest running backs, Ezekiel Elliott and Mike Davis. That’s even more impressive considering Kamara has had his bye and the other two haven’t yet.
When it comes to tight ends, two stand out far above the rest. Darren Waller is leading the way with 9 targets/game, pacing slightly ahead of Travis Kelce, who is averaging 8.9.
Tyreek Hill – 18 targets, 9 rec
Hill, the WR1 through nine weeks, was the most targeted player on the week. The 18 targets fell just one short of his career-high set in Week 10 of last season. He’s now seen double-digit targets in three games this season but has still been out targeted by his tight end teammate Travis Kelce 72 to 80.
J.D. McKissic – 14 targets, 9 rec
The Washington Football Team’s backfield has two college wideouts that have been converted to NFL running backs, but only one is getting the chance to display his receiving chops. McKissic never saw more than seven targets in a game before signing with Washington but he’s already seen at least eight in three games this season. Meanwhile, Antonio Gibson has just 26 targets so far this season.
Jerry Jeudy – 14 targets, 7 rec
K.J. Hamler – 10 targets, 6 rec
Drew Lock set a career-high in pass attempts Sunday and his two rookie wideouts both benefited. Jeudy set a new career-high in targets with his second straight double-digit target performance and has carried a 29% target share over the last two weeks. You’ve probably already seen his ridiculous route from the game, but just in case you haven’t, see below.
Jeudy sold the go route and then stopped on a dime. Route running pro 🔥 @jerryjeudy @Broncos
(h/t @receiverfactor1) pic.twitter.com/x1jKoW2pKe
— The Checkdown (@thecheckdown) November 9, 2020
Fellow rookie K.J. Hamler also saw double-digit targets, a first for him.
Chase Claypool – 13 targets, 8 rec
Claypool was yet another rookie who saw his career-high in targets during Week 9. He still trails teammates Diontae Johnson and JuJu Smith Schuster in targets on the season, but he leads the Steelers in both receiving yards and Air Yards.
Richie James – 13 targets, 9 rec
James hadn’t seen a target all season before Week 9, but he exploded with 13 targets for the depleted 49ers offense. There are still plenty of questions among San Fransisco pass catchers with Kendrick Bourne getting placed back on the COVID-19 list, Deebo Samuel still nursing a hamstring injury, and George Kittle out for the foreseeable future with his foot injury. It wouldn’t be a surprise for James to maintain a role in the 49ers offense in Week 10.
D.J. Chark – 12 targets, 7 rec
Back in Week 6, Chark turned 14 targets into seven catches for 45 yards. He was slightly more efficient this week, going for 101 more yards on two fewer targets. Unfortunately, that production may have been left on a lot of fantasy benches this week after Chark posted three straight duds and unknown rookie Jake Luton was announced as Jacksonville’s starting quarterback.
Stefon Diggs – 12 targets, 9 rec
John Brown – 11 targets, 8 rec
Josh Allen and the Bills resumed their pass-happy ways in Week 9, running the ball just three times in the first half against Seattle. Diggs maintained his spot atop the league’s target leaderboard and Brown saw his season-high with 11 targets. Cole Beasley, on the other hand, saw just three targets in the game.
Darnell Mooney – 11 targets, 5 rec
Sticking to the theme this week, Mooney was yet another rookie wideout to hit a new high target mark. Unfortunately for Mooney, the targets from Nick Foles didn’t translate into much production. The 11 targets only amounted to five catches for 43 yards, a meager 3.9 yards/target.
Christian McCaffrey – 10 targets, 10 rec
The NFL record holder for most running back targets in a season didn’t miss a beat in his return to action this week. He caught all ten targets thrown his way and has now hauled in 17 of the 19 targets he’s seen across three games this season. Unfortunately, fantasy managers are left monitoring another injury situation as CMC suffered a shoulder injury in his first game back from the ankle injury.
Evan Engram – 10 targets, 5 rec
Engram has now seen at least nine targets in three consecutive games and ten targets in back-to-back games. This week he finally turned one of them into his first receiving touchdown of the season. The only tight ends with more targets than Engram on the season are Travis Kelce and Darren Waller.
DeAndre Hopkins – 3 targets, 3 rec
Perhaps the most surprising target total of the week was the three target performance from Hopkins. It was the fewest targets he’s seen in his last 97 games, going all the way back to Week 6 of 2014. The full story, however, goes beyond the box score. Hopkins was primarily covered by shutdown corner Xavien Howard, who was called for pass interference against Hopkins on four separate plays that don’t go down on the stat sheet as official targets.
Other notable target counts from Week 9:
Jakobi Meyers – 14
Robby Anderson – 13
Davante Adams – 12
Travis Kelce – 12
Keenan Allen – 11
Diontae Johnson – 10
Darren Waller – 10
Danny Amendola – 10
Damiere Byrd – 9
DK Metcalf – 9
Curtis Samuel – 9
Allen Robinson – 9
A.J. Brown – 9
Brandin Cooks – 9
Tim Patrick – 9
Sterling Shephard – 8
Terry McLaurin – 8
Anthony Miller – 8
T.J. Hockenson – 8
Chris Conley – 8
Hayden Hurst – 8
Christian Kirk – 8
Michael Pittman – 7
Marcus Johnson – 7
Tyler Lockett – 7
Jacob Hollister – 7
Julio Jones – 7
Mike Williams – 7
Hunter Henry – 7
JuJu Smith-Schuster – 7
CeeDee Lamb – 7
Dalton Schultz – 7
Michael Gallup – 7
DeVante Parker – 7
Mike Davis – 6
Amari Cooper – 6
Eric Ebron – 6
Micheal Thomas – 6
Alvin Kamara – 6
Mike Evans – 6
Chris Godwin – 6
Leonard Fournette – 6
Rob Gronkowski – 6
Adam Thielen – 5
Marquise Brown – 5
Mark Andrews – 5
Antonio Brown – 5
Justin Jefferson – 4
D.J. Moore – 3
Jamison Crowder – 2
Jonnu Smith – 2
Darius Slayton – 1
Laviska Shenault – 1