Fantasy Football Target Trends for Week 6
Welcome to the target trends article for Week 6! We now have five weeks of target data to work with. Using it to examine target trends is more important than ever with by weeks kicking in this week. Highly targeted players, even if they haven’t produced much fantasy output yet, make great bye week fill-ins and waiver-wire targets.
As usual, let’s step back first and check in on the most targeted players at each position. Davante Adams is back atop the overall target leaderboard with 61 on the season. Darren Waller continues to lead tight ends with 48, and Najee Harris remains the leader among running backs with 39.
But enough about the season-long leaders, let’s take a look at the most telling target performances from Week 5.
Davante Adams: 16 targets, 11 rec
Adams tied for the target lead on the week and overtook Cooper Kupp to regain the overall lead on the season. He’s averaging a ridiculous, but not surprising, 15 targets/game over the last three weeks. Thanks to the added 17th game this season he’s on pace for 207 targets, which gives him a shot to break Rob Moore’s record of 208 in a single season.
Mike Williams: 16 targets, 8 rec
Over his first four seasons, Williams averaged 4.7 targets/game. He’s averaging more than twice that at 10.2 targets/game so far this season. He’s seen 12+ targets twice already this season, something he had only done once prior in his career. Despite the huge target boost this season, he still trails teammate Keenan Allen by two for the team lead.
Robert Woods: 14 targets, 12 rec
Cooper Kupp: 10 targets, 7 rec
Woods had been quiet through the first four games of the season, seeing just 25 targets and turning them into 15 catches for 172 yards. He nearly matched that in a single game Thursday when he turned 14 targets into 12 catches for 150 yards. Even with Woods’ big game, Cooper Kupp wasn’t left behind. He remains the only player to see double-digit targets in every game so far this season.
Kadarius Toney: 13 targets, 10 rec
After seeing just five targets over his first three games, Toney has exploded with 22 over the past two weeks. The absence of Sterling Shepard and Darius Slayton forced the Giants to expand Toney’s role last week, and that was amplified when both Saquon Barkley and Kenny Golladay left early against the Cowboys. He’s been productive with the targets, making highlight-reel moves and putting up 267 receiving yards the past two weeks. The target share in New York will be worth monitoring closely as other offensive weapons begin to return.
Tyreek Hill: 13 targets, 7 rec
Mecole Hardman: 12 targets, 9 rec
Travis Kelce: 10 targets, 6 rec
It isn’t surprising to see Hill or Kelce with double-digit targets, as they’re both in the top-15 most-targeted players overall this season. This is the first time in his three-year career, however, that Mecole Hardman has accomplished the feat. He’s seen 30 targets through five games this season, nearly halfway to the 62 targets he saw last season.
Mark Andrews: 13 targets, 11 rec
Andrews went off for a career-high 13 targets in the thrilling Monday night overtime game against the Colts. The big target total wasn’t a product of overtime, he saw 12 of those targets in regulation. He’s now tied with Marquise Brown for the team lead with 38 targets on the season.
Miles Gaskin: 10 targets, 10 rec
With his career-high ten targets against Tampa Bay, Gaskin went from being untargeted in Week 4 to the most targeted running back of Week 5. The depleted Dolphins were down two starting receivers in Will Fuller and DeVante Parker and were still without starting quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. Moving forward, Gaskin should remain involved through the air, though it may take a step back when Fuller and Parker get back.
Dan Arnold: 8 targets, 6 rec
Jamal Agnew: 8 targets, 6 rec
With D.J. Chark out for the season, this felt like a smash spot for Jacksonville to hyper-target Laviska Shenault and/or Marvin Jones. Instead, Trevor Lawrence targeted newly acquired tight end Dan Arnold and return specialist Jamal Agnew eight times each. Meanwhile, Jones tied Tavon Austin with five targets, and Shenault saw just three.
Alvin Kamara: 8 targets, 5 rec
Hopefully, fantasy managers didn’t overreact to his first career untargeted game last week. After his eight target outing in Week 5, he’s back up to a team-high 19.8% target share. He’s both on a career-high carry pace and New Orlean’s top receiving option, at least until Michael Thomas returns.
Hunter Henry: 8 targets, 6 rec
Jonnu Smith: 2 targets, 2 rec
This split looks bad for Smith, but fantasy managers probably shouldn’t overreact. On the season, Smith has just three fewer targets than Henry. Neither Patriot tight is likely to become a target hog this season, and trying to decide which to play every week could be an exercise in futility.
T.J. Hockenson: 3 targets, 2 rec
After starting the season on fire, Hockenson’s targets have been trending in the wrong direction recently. He saw 20 targets over his first two games but has seen that number plummet to 15 over his last three, and that includes an eight-target game in Week 4. He’s now fallen two targets behind teammate D’Andre Swift.
Diontae Johnson: 2 targets, 2 rec
Johnson is no stranger to this article series, though he’s usually much closer to the top. Week 5 marked the first time he didn’t see double-digit targets in a game since Week 17 of 2020. Thankfully for his fantasy managers, he still salvaged a decent day with a 50-yard touchdown on his first target of the game. The low target outing is likely just a blip on the radar, especially with teammate JuJu Smith-Schuster suffering a season-ending injury.
Check here for all the season-long target leaders.