On Target: Diggity, Diggity

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Updated on October 23, 2015 1:00PM EST

At this point in the season, it's becoming clear what we have in most players. Devonta Freeman is an amazing bet to finish as a top-3 RB in fantasy, DeAndre Hopkins will lead the way in fantasy point scoring, Eddie Lacy isn't getting it done and Tyler Eifert has firmly cemented himself as Baby Gronk. Most useful fantasy analysis now will be reacting to injuries, coaching changes, small tidbits of information that can shape our game. In your seasonal leagues, you probably know if you have a contender or a team that needs serious help. Your 2-4 team would do better shipping off players who have yet to have their byes for upside plays, whereas your 4-2 squads should be turning a hopeful eye to the playoffs. Keep these ideas in mind as I discuss receivers the next few weeks. With that, on to this week's data.

2015 Red-Zone Conversions

(Click columns to sort.)

PLAYER	TARGETS	REC	YARDS	TD	RZ CONV%
Larry Fitzgerald	7	6	33	5	71
Tyler Eifert	9	6	58	6	67
Gary Barnidge	7	5	63	4	57
Rob Gronkowski	7	4	25	4	57
Allen Robinson	7	4	23	4	57
Randall Cobb	9	5	25	4	44
Pierre Garcon	7	5	33	3	43
Brandon Marshall	8	5	51	3	38
Leonard Hankerson	7	4	36	2	29
Marvin Jones	7	3	29	2	29
Antonio Gates	7	2	23	2	29
Kyle Rudolph	7	2	9	2	29
DeAndre Hopkins	16	8	62

PLAYER	TARGETS	REC	YARDS	TD	RZ CONV%
Larry Fitzgerald	7	6	33	5	71
Tyler Eifert	9	6	58	6	67
Gary Barnidge	7	5	63	4	57
Rob Gronkowski	7	4	25	4	57
Allen Robinson	7	4	23	4	57
Randall Cobb	9	5	25	4	44
Pierre Garcon	7	5	33	3	43
Brandon Marshall	8	5	51	3	38
Leonard Hankerson	7	4	36	2	29
Marvin Jones	7	3	29	2	29
Antonio Gates	7	2	23	2	29
Kyle Rudolph	7	2	9	2	29
DeAndre Hopkins	16	8	62	4	25
Calvin Johnson	8	4	34	2	25
A.J. Green	8	4	32	2	25
Larry Donnell	8	4	27	2	25
Odell Beckham	9	7	66	2	22
Greg Olsen	9	6	65	2	22
Julian Edelman	9	7	43	2	22
Vincent Jackson	9	4	40	2	22
Julio Jones	9	5	32	2	22
Anquan Boldin	14	6	52	2	14
Jordan Matthews	7	6	49	1	14
Chris Thompson	7	6	41	1	14
Jimmy Graham	7	3	8	1	14
Heath Miller	8	6	48	1	13
Matt Forte	8	5	33	1	13
Jordan Cameron	8	2	25	1	13
Eddie Royal	8	5	21	1	13
T.Y. Hilton	9	5	34	1	11
Terrance Williams	9	2	25	1	11
Steve Smith	9	2	23	1	11
Jarvis Landry	13	7	49	0	0

As you can see, there is a ton of room for positive regression for Jarvis Landry. He's been mentioned before in this space, but my advice remains the same. He's super valuable in PPR leagues, and if you can buy him at a discount, you should. He remains really valuable in daily fantasy as well due to his high target floor, and at some point he'll have some touchdown regression (i.e getting a rushing touchdown this last week). A few others who we can expect to have touchdown regression are Matt Forte, Anquan Boldin and, oddly enough, ... DeAndre Hopkins. Forte has double-digit red-zone opportunities but only three total touchdowns. Boldin is really the only red-zone passing option on the 49ers; they are, granted, not a good offense but will still generate red-zone opportunities, and Boldin has historically been a good touchdown scorer. Hopkins is, of course, the No. 1 WR in fantasy this season and a lack of efficiency is to be expected given his QB play, but his sheer number of targets suggests more touchdowns could be on their way in the red zone.

And, of course, after our weekly target analysis, here are several more pass catchers who deserve our time.

Stefon Diggs

With Charles Johnson and Mike Wallace injured the last two games for Minnesota, Diggs has exploded on to the scene with 19 targets, 13 receptions and 216 yards for the Vikings. It is unclear if he has wrested the starting job away from Charles Johnson, but I am pretty confident in saying that it is unlikely he gets benched. The Vikings' offense ranks last in the league in yards gained and receiving touchdowns. The only receiver Teddy Bridgewater has seemed to have any rapport with at all is Diggs. The touchdown upside with Diggs won't be there week to week simply because he doesn't play in a good offense and getting red-zone looks isn't projectable for him. However, it does seem likely he will be a primary short-yardage wide receiver and see some deep targets (two 30-plus yard receptions against the Chiefs). With his cost still relatively cheap in both seasonal and daily, now is the time to speculate on the former high school and college standout. Diggs always had an excellent pedigree but suffered the ignominy of breaking a leg and horrific QB play at Maryland, which lead to his draft stock slipping.

Martavis Bryant

If there is one wide receiver drafted in the fifth round or later of fantasy drafts this season who will go in the first next year, it's Martavis Bryant. In his first game back from suspension and injury, he already played a greater percentage of the Steelers' snaps than he did in any game last season. The team is done giving Markus Wheaton and Darrius Heyward-Bey meaningful snaps when it has what Bryant's teammates call "the alien." On only eight targets (and after gaining just eight yards in the first half), Bryant scored two touchdowns and gained 137 yards. Both of his touchdowns were examples of his sensational athleticism with one leaping catch in the back of the end zone and the other a long catch-and-run where he made multiple defenders look silly. There is a slight chance that the owner in your league is looking to sell high on Bryant: pay him what he wants. He has to be regarded as at least a top-15 WR, if not much higher. In daily fantasy, his pricetag is absurdly low for what we just saw him do and should be exploited.

Jamison Crowder

Unlike Diggs, I am unsure what role Crowder will have once all components of the Washington offense are healthy. Garcon, DeSean Jackson, Jordan Reed, Chris Thompson and Crowder make the most sense as the "base" offense, but coach Jay Gruden has given snaps to Ryan Grant, Andre Roberts and Rashad Ross. Crowder, much like Diggs, is also a high pedigree player. His combine numbers were rather unimpressive, but he had an excellent junior season at Duke as the No. 1 option in the passing game. His role as a dump-off man and short-yardage target seems to be relatively safe even when Jackson returns, as he is the team's best at that role. You don't need to look too terribly hard to get Crowder on your roster, and he mostly has value in deeper formats, but I think he illustrates a good example. When filling holes on your rosters, you really just need to be looking at opportunity, and that often comes through injuries. I would not have predicted Crowder for a role in this offense in 2015 at all, but here we are. Many unspectacular players can become fantasy assets when given enough volume, and Crowder is no different.