This article is part of our On Target series.
| PLAYER | TARGETS | REC | YDS | TDS | PTS/TARGET |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DeAndre Hopkins | 101 | 58 | 777 | 5 | 1.07 |
| Julio Jones | 89 | 58 | 730 | 5 | 1.16 |
| Keenan Allen | 84 | 62 | 690 | 3 | 1.04 |
| Demaryius Thomas | 75 | 48 | 527 | 1 | 0.78 |
| T.Y. Hilton | 74 | 37 | 606 | 3 | 1.06 |
| Allen Robinson | 69 | 34 | 586 | 6 | 1.37 |
| Calvin Johnson | 68 | 43 | 574 | 3 | 1.11 |
| Antonio Brown | 66 | 46 | 671 | 2 | 1.20 |
| Steve Smith | 66 | 41 | 588 | 3 | 1.16 |
| Odell Beckham | 66 | 42 | 524 | 4 | 1.16 |
| Julian Edelman | 66 | 45 | 503 | 4 | 1.13 |
| Emmanuel Sanders | 65 | 38 | 527 | 3 | 1.09 |
| Jordan Matthews | 63 | 39 | 398 | 1 | 0.73 |
| Golden Tate | 61 | 34 | 318 | 1 | 0.62 |
| Brandon Marshall | 60 | 41 | 578 | 4 | 1.36 |
| Travis Benjamin | 60 | 35 | 575 | 4 | 1.36 |
| Larry Fitzgerald | 59 | 46 | 622 | 6 | 1.66 |
| Brandin Cooks | 58 | 35 |
Before we get into our weekly analysis, I wanted to discuss down weeks for Larry Fitzgerald and DeAndre Hopkins. It's sort of easy to diagnose what is happening with Fitz. He plays for a great team that is normally ahead in their games, therefore not making them throw 50 times a game. He also has two very capable teammates in Michael Floyd and John Brown who reduce his target workload. He was never going to continue the outrageous pace from the beginning of the year, though he did definitively show that he is not "cooked" and was more productive than his draft day price tag. I think his "struggles" are explainable by a lack of volume that was semi-projectable. I'm of the mind that I would both sell high on him, if someone was willing to pay face value and buy low, if you could get him for cheap after two down weeks. Hopkins, on the other hand... I'm not sure if I have a reasonable explanation for last week's game against Miami. The Texans are terrible and going to be facing a ton of blowouts for the rest of the season with everything crumbling down. I think there will continue to be some random games where the Texans offense looks miserable for three quarters but the fourth quarter garbage time doesn't ever get there for Hopkins simply because it's hard to play football when you're getting destroyed. That said, this week against the Titans, Hopkins probably couldn't be in a better spot.
Alshon Jeffrey
Somewhere in between the time this article is published, you read it, and contests start on Sunday is the last chance you will have to buy low on Jeffrey's amazing skill set. He is one of the 10 best receivers in the NFL and the Bears were not dumb to let Brandon Marshall go and hope to tie Alshon down after this season is over. Even if he doesn't come back to Chicago as part of rebuilding effort, he is going to get himself PAID down the stretch this season. He nabbed 11 targets in his return to the lineup against the Lions and I think that is sort of his floor projection of targets for the rest of the season (11 per game). He's available way too cheaply in daily fantasy formats and is going to be one of my favorite plays in that format. I'm also sending out multiple trade offers for him in my seasonal leagues as I think people are just happy he got back for one game from injury but have forgotten how dominant he can be with loads of targets.
Vincent Jackson is looking like he is going to miss multiple weeks with injury and No. 3 wide receiver Louis Murphy has been placed on the IR. Evans is all the Bucs have left and it is going to turn into a Hopkins-esque glorious feast of targets. He had 164 yards and a touchdown last week against Washington and had a second touchdown called back by questionable offensive pass interference. I've maintained that the only move with Evans all season was to try and buy low every single week but this is legit your last chance. You may get lucky with him playing Desmond Trufant and the Falcons this week, which could produce a high-target, low-efficiency type game, but I highly doubt it. Along with Alshon, I would make sending out trade offers of guys you consider RB2s in conjunction with your WR2s for Evans. I definitely prefer Alshon this week for DFS as well, but Evans is firmly in play.
I have avoided writing about the Browns answer to Rob Gronkowski because honestly, I don't understand him. You really just don't see 30-year-old players with no track record of excellent or pedigree pop out as fantasy-viable pass catchers. It can happen with running backs all the time because that is basically dependent on injuries and volume. If enough running backs get hurt, eventually some 28-year-old UDFA special teamer will get the ball. With pass catchers though, targets are often an indication of quality. Up until this point, no one thought Barnidge was a quality player but with Josh McCown at the helm, Barnidge has scored a touchdown or hit 100 yards in every game since Week 3. So what do you do? If you grabbed him off the waiver wire, start him every week until the gravy train slows down. Use him in DFS while his price tag still hasn't adjusted to his every-week production. In trading? I mean, you can definitely offer some of your lower-tier WRs and maybe even your Antonio Gates/Jason Witten shares but unless someone really doesn't believe, I don't know if there is a reasonable deal to be done.
