Fantasy Football: Week 12 Target Report
Welcome to the weekly Target Report, where each week I highlight several key players who jump out to me in terms of their target share.
Julio Jones: 15 Targets
He only had one TD going into Week 12 along with his trademarked patent pending season-long nagging lower limb injury, but you’re never out of the fight if he’s in your lineup. This is why you drafted him with your first pick; because he’s capable of having these types of games.
Zach Ertz: 12 Targets
This performance served as a nice welcome back party for owners that weathered the storm for the last few weeks. He missed a week with a hamstring injury and then came out flat against Dallas in Week 11, before returning to his old ways of total domination this week at the TE position.
Ted Ginn: 11 Targets
This is the most targets that Ginn has seen in a single game this season. Usually thought of as more of a deep threat, field stretcher, boom or bust type of play, he received enough volume this week to make him relevant despite not finding the end zone. He averaged 10.1 yards per reception in this game which is notably below his 15.7 average through the first 11 weeks.
Tyreek Hill: 11 Targets
Not only is this the most targets he’s had in a single game, he has also tied his season high in receptions in back to back weeks with 7. The Chiefs are on a woeful losing streak and seem to believe that one of the best things that they can do is get the ball into Tyreek Hill’s hands. I think going forward you can expect his weekly reception to remain in the 5-7 range at which point it becomes a matter of whether or not he can break a long play, something that he’s more capable of than most. Bad offense or not, Hill remains an autostart to me for now.
Mike Wallace: 11 Targets
If you told me that Mike Wallace was going to get over 10 targets against the Houston Texans who have given up the 5th most fantasy points to the WR position, I would have expected him to finish as one of the weeks highest scorers. Alas, Joe Flacco looked like white-hot garbage in this prime-time performance, as he has for most of the year. The QB and overall offensive struggles in Baltimore really beg the question about whether or not you should trust any Ravens WR. That includes Jeremy Maclin who I’m told does still play for this team, despite the fact that we haven’t seen him in a while.
Dede Westbrook: 10 Targets
The rookie led the Jaguars pass-catchers in both targets and receptions this week. A stat that is likely inflated based on the fact that Marqise Lee had CB Patrick Peterson to contend with. Still, it was good to see Bortles looking his way this much as Westbrook continues to get more integrated into the offense since making his debut coming off of an injury just one week prior. Let’s just not get carried away with this one. At the end of the day, he’s still the second option WR on a run-heavy team with a bad QB.
C.J. Fiedorowicz: 8 Targets
The Mad Hatter returns! Tied for the 2nd most targets among all TEs this week, his volume likely flew in under the radar since it was not accompanied by a very good stat line (4 receptions for 37 yards). With Ryan Griffin placed on season-ending IR, a healthy Fiedorowicz could re-emerge as one of the more reliable TE options for fantasy, just as he was a season ago.