X
Lost password?

Don't have an account?
Join the Best Live Fantasy Chat Community!

X

Receive free daily analysis

NFL
NBA
NHL
NASCAR
CFB
MLB
MMA
PGA
ESPORTS
BETTING

Already have an account? Log In

X

Forgot Password


LINEUP RESOURCES

Articles & Tools
Import Your Leagues
Weekly Rankings
Compare Any Players
Starts and Sit
Daily Fantasy
Who To Pickup
Fantasy Updates
24x7 News and Alerts

Bull Rush - Wide Receivers With Target Share Increases

What is a wide receiver without a target? A warm body on a gridiron, that's it. Each and every summer we face the same question because most NFL franchises and also some players themselves decide to go try and test new assets and places. Every time a contract runs out, the possibility of finding a new team arrives for every wide receiver part of the NFL community, and with those changes of teams come changes in usage patterns. Some dud can turn into a stud only because he goes from being a role player to become a much more important part of a slim offense that uses him as the go-to guy.

This is the most used cliché ever, and the most widely known advice and phrase to keep in mind, but opportunity trumps everything in fantasy football. With no chances to rack up points, well, points won't ever come. It doesn't matter if your favorite receiver logs 100% of the offensive snaps of his team if all he does is look at his quarterback throw the football away from him or hand it off. The more targets a player is likely to see, the more receptions, yards, and subsequently fantasy points he will accrue.

With that deep knowledge in place, it's time to assess the market of fantasy receivers to come up with some of them poised for an increase in targets due to different circumstances. Let's get to it.

 

Stefon Diggs, Buffalo Bills

One of the biggest moves of the offseason was also one of the most expected to happen. The relationship between Diggs and the Vikings for the past few months--and years, if you push it--had not been the best one and it ended with Minnesota getting rid of its best wideout. Could Diggs have landed in a better team and situation than Buffalo? Probably. Are the Bills a bad team for him to thrive in 2020? Far from it.

Buffalo features a gunslinger at the quarterback position in third-year man Josh Allen. While Allen topped at 461 pass attempts last season (21st-most), his options were really limited with only John Brown and Cole Beasley worth throwing to. Diggs is now part of that unit and he's also the most talented receiver featured in it, so Allen will have 1) more weapons to throw a larger amount of passes to, and 2) every reason to pick Diggs as his first read and no. 1 option.

Stefon Diggs already comes from a low-volume passing offense (Kirk Cousins attempted 444 passes in 2019), was targeted 94 times while sharing half of the year with another great receiver in Adam Thielen, and everything should point to an increase in both targets and production once the season kicks off in Buffalo. And the Bills would benefit from it: Diggs averaged 2.26 FP per target last season, the sixth-highest mark among WR targeted at least 40 times.

 

Adam Thielen, Minnesota Vikings

Speaking of Diggs, it's worth covering all the bases he has left open in Minny which, undoubtedly, will go Thielen's way in 2020. What was a one-two punch until this offseason has turned into a one-man offense for the Vikings. Finding themselves in such a situation, the Vikings drafted Justin Jefferson with the 21st pick of this year's draft and will thrust him into a heavy role from day one. Even with that, Thielen (assuming a healthy season) should trump the rookie in every statistical category.

In 10 games last season, Thielen logged a paltry 48 targets that would have translated to just 77 over a full 16-game schedule. Take away Diggs' 94 targets and the fact that it will be very hard for Jefferson to beat Thielen in targets, and all of a sudden you're looking at the very least at Thielen logging 90-plus targets in 2020. The best news for Adam Thielen's truthers: if you read Diggs' blurb above you know he was one of the most efficient per-target fantasy players; Thielen was even better averaging 2.38 FP/target in 2019, third-best among wideouts with 40-plus targets.

With Jefferson's addition as the only impact-move made at the receiving positions in Minnesota, Thielen should be in for a great season. Remember, after he missed time last year he had played every game since he entered the league in 2014 while logging 142 and 153 targets in 2017 and 2018 respectively. No reason to think he won't get back to those numbers in 2020.

 

Advertising

A.J. Brown, Tennessee Titans

How would you define Brown's rookie year for the Titans? It seemed like the freshman came out of nowhere, took the league by storm, and absolutely destroyed defenses while riding the wave Tennessee was able to generate late in the year with the ascension of Ryan Tannehill and Derrick Henry. Brown finished the year with a massive 1,051 yards, 52 receptions, and eight touchdowns... on just 84 targets. That is what I call efficiency: his average of 2.58 FP/target was the best for WR with at least 80 targets.

Brown proved to be the clear best receiver of that Titans team, but Tennesse "wasted" more than 40 targets on each Adam Humphries, Corey Davis, and Jonnu Smith and the most they could do was getting to 86.5, 115.1, and 104.7 PPR points respectively. Brown lapped them finishing the season with 217.1 fantasy points himself and averaging 13.6 PPG, making him the 21st-best wideout of 2019 and a clear-cut fantasy WR2 as a rookie.

The 2020 Titans are a re-do of the 2019 version. No changes at the quarterback nor running back positions, no additions to the wide receiver corps, and no differences when it comes to tight ends. While you could reasonably expect no variation, I see a clear bump in Brown's usage going forward. There is no WR in Tennessee that has looked better than Brown during the 2019 season and with a year of experience under his belt, it is not hard to picture Brown breaking the 100-target barrier next year with his teammates surrendering some of those targets in his favor.

 

Allen Lazard, Green Bay Packers

All hail Green Bay, saviors of Lazards! Every Packer (fans and players) should be pissed off at the team mind-bending decisions during this past draft except their already-in-place wideouts, starting by Allen Lazard. If there was something Green Bay should have done this offseason, that was fixing/improving/bulking its wide receiver corps. Davante Adams (127 targets) was the only wide receiver targeted more than 56 times by the Packers last season, with RB Aaron Jones (68) and TE Jimmy Graham (60) ranking second and third. What did Green Bay do? Losing Graham and signing WR Devin Funchess, if that counts...

With no real-threat at the tight end position (Marcedes Lewis pencils as the potential starter) and none other than Adams as a true weapon as a wideout, Lazard should become Rodger's no. 2 weapon on offense. Sure, Lazar was the less targeted wide receiver last season (52) but he was also the most productive of all receivers in Green Bay's offense on a per-target basis. Lazard averaged 1.98 FP per target, a way better mark than those of MVS (1.50) and Geronimo Allison (1.37), and also superior to Funchess' 2018 mark of 1.56 (his last healthy season).

Even while on low-volume and barely used in 2019, Lazard was able to average 9.3 PPG during the last 12 weeks of the season and his 102.8 PPR points over the full season ranked third among WR targeted fewer than 55 times (only behind Mecole Hardman and Adam Thielen). Lazard has proven to be good enough to give him a bigger chunk of the offensive opportunities and it is not like Green Bay has many more options to throw the ball too, so the bump in targets must be coming his way.

 

Calvin Ridley, Atlanta Falcons

You can read Ridley's case as a Lazard's powered-up, 2.0-case-on-steroids. The same as Lazard's might find himself as the no. 2 receiver in Green Bay playing behind a clear leader (Davante Adams), Ridley is without a doubt the no. 2 wideout on Atlanta's offense behind go-to beast Julio Jones. That isn't going to change for a few years still, but the Falcons better be turning their attention to the third-year man out of Alabama. Jones is entering his 31-year-old season in 2020 and although his production is far from declining, that should start happening sooner rather than later.

Jones' 2019 season saw him targeted a monster 157 times, second only to Michael Thomas. Even playing next to such a pass-magnet, Ridley still got 93 targets himself and racked up all of 866 yards while averaging 2.12 FP per target. That mark was the sixth-highest among wide receivers targeted at least 90 times, making him one of the most efficient WRs in the league and putting him way above Jones' 1.75 average. Ridley, by the way, missed three games entirely in 2019 and his 93 targets would have translated to at least 115 had he played 16 games.

The torch will be passed from Jones to Ridley at some point down the line, and we might have started to see the transition at the end of last year. During the final part of last season, Ridley already out-performed Jones by averaging almost three more PPG and getting into 2020 he projects as a 120-target, 1,000-yard potential WR1 for the first time in his career (he finished as WR22 and WR27 in his rookie and sophomore seasons).

More Fantasy Football Analysis

Advertising



LINEUP RESOURCES

Articles & Tools
Import Your Leagues
Weekly Rankings
Compare Any Players
Starts and Sit
Daily Fantasy
Who To Pickup
Fantasy Updates
24x7 News and Alerts

WIN MORE IN 2024

Articles & Tools
Import Your Leagues
Weekly Rankings
Compare Any Players
Starts and Sit
Daily Fantasy
Who To Pickup
Fantasy Updates
24x7 News and Alerts

ROTOBALLER PLAYER NEWS

RANKINGS
C
1B
2B
3B
SS
OF
SP
RP

MORE RECENT ARTICLES

 
Alexis Diaz fantasy baseball closers rankings draft sleepers waiver wire pickups

MLB Closers and Saves: Fantasy Baseball Depth Charts

Saves are an important component for many fantasy baseball leagues. Closers are one of the most volatile positions in fantasy baseball, and one of the highest turnover positions in MLB. Each year, closers drop like flies and many MLB teams make in-season changes due to injuries or poor performance. In addition to closers and saves, relief... Read More


Do These Prospects Matter for Fantasy Baseball?

The 2023 fantasy baseball season has been highlighted by the promotion of nearly two-dozen top prospects to the major leagues to impact fantasy rosters. This week's edition features one player who was called up as the piece was being written. Will these strong performers join the ranks of those who have moved to the majors... Read More


clayton kershaw fantasy baseball rankings draft sleepers MLB injury news

articles report test

this is a test


Starting Pitcher Waiver Wire Pickups for Fantasy Baseball - Week 24

Welcome back! It's Week 24 of our fantasy baseball Starting Pitcher Waiver Wire Pickups series! There are just two precious weeks left, and every start is becoming more and more important as most of the fantasy baseball world is in playoff matchups. If you've made it this far, there's a good chance you don't really... Read More


Aaron Nola - Fantasy Baseball Rankings, MLB Injury News, DFS Lineup Picks

Starts & Sits for MLB Week 23 - All Starting Pitcher Matchups for Fantasy Baseball

Welcome back RotoBallers! Big week in fantasy leagues as we approach the end of the season and playoffs! As always, we are here with our starting pitcher starts and sits series to help you set those winning lineups for the week ahead! For those who are not familiar, RotoBaller puts out a weekly grid of... Read More


Gunnar Henderson - Fantasy Baseball Rankings, MLB Prospects, Draft Sleepers

Points League Hitters: Waiver Wire Pickups for Fantasy Baseball - Week 24

Welcome to Week 24 and our fantasy baseball waiver wire hitters. We'll be doing this roundup of points leagues every week here at RotoBaller, with waiver wire targets and streaming pitchers being evaluated in terms of the different scoring systems of ESPN, Yahoo!, CBS, and Fantrax. Player values can vary wildly from platform to platform,... Read More


Brayan Bello - Fantasy Baseball Rankings, Draft Sleepers, Waiver Wire Pickups

Two-Start Pitcher Streamers for Fantasy Baseball - Week 24

Yo, it's Jon Anderson, continuing to run the show here in terms of late-summer fantasy baseball writing. There are just two weeks left of streaming pitchers, so let's make it count! This weekly fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups column aims to identify starting pitchers expected to make two starts in the upcoming fantasy baseball week,... Read More


Fantasy Baseball Week 24 Injury News and Updates: Tyler Glasnow, Ozzie Albies, Starling Marte, Anthony Rizzo, Zack Wheeler

September is now more than half over. The baseball season is slowly coming to a close. At this point, fantasy players are pushing for their league titles or just playing for pride. Major League Baseball teams continue to do the same and injuries continue to happen, now with the dreaded term "done for the season"... Read More


Joe Musgrove - Fantasy Baseball Rankings, Draft Sleepers, MLB Injury News

Free MLB Betting Picks - Today's Best Bets, Expert Predictions, Odds (9/17/22)

Happy Saturday, RotoBallers, we're back for another weekend of MLB betting picks! Make sure you're following my Twitter, as I can't guarantee that I'll always be able to get the added plays written here in the article, but I will typically add whatever else I'm playing throughout the day. The entire RotoBaller team has been... Read More


DraftKings, FanDuel Daily Fantasy Baseball Picks (9/17/22): Today's Top MLB DFS Lineups

Today's MLB slates are split up as is the norm for September baseball. Half the guys I think will play will not, so you have to be as flexible as Gumby to play MLB DFS in September, but that also means that there is a lot of money out there should you dare to dive... Read More


Max Fried - Fantasy Baseball Rankings, Draft Sleepers, MLB Injury News

Free MLB Betting Picks - Today's Best Bets, Expert Predictions, Odds (9/15/22)

Happy Friday, RotoBallers, we're back for another weekend of MLB betting picks! Make sure you're following my Twitter, as I can't guarantee that I'll always be able to get the added plays written here in the article, but I will typically add whatever else I'm playing throughout the day. The entire RotoBaller team has been... Read More


Robbie Ray - Fantasy Baseball Rankings, MLB Injury News, Draft Sleepers

DraftKings, FanDuel Daily Fantasy Baseball Picks (9/16/22): Today's Top MLB DFS Lineups

Fridays are big MLB DFS days and offer a nice respite from the NFL, who command our attention on Thursdays, Sundays, and Mondays. This slate, like most Friday slates, is a big one as all MLB teams are in action today and 28 of those teams are on tonight's 14-game DFS slate. This was a... Read More


kyle farmer fantasy baseball rankings draft sleepers MLB injury news

Top Hitter Streamers and Starts for Fantasy Baseball - Week 24

There are only two weeks left of fantasy baseball! It's going to be very sad when the season comes to an end, but the impending end of the season means that these are the most important, and therefore most fun weeks of the year – for those of you still competing, at least. I have... Read More


TODAY’S MOST VIEWED PLAYERS

rotating JS ad test

RANKINGS

QB
RB
WR
TE
K
DEF

MORE RECENT ARTICLES

 
derrick henry fantasy football rankings news NFL DFS lineup picks

test publish 5 mins in future

Hello everybody and welcome! The 2022 NFL season is finally underway and that means our friends over at PrizePicks have a TON of great props we can look to take advantage of. PrizePicks is a great DFS picks site where you can choose to select plays in terms of fantasy points or single stats. The... Read More


PrizePicks NFL DFS Picks - Monday Night Football

Hello everybody and welcome! The 2022 NFL season is finally underway and that means our friends over at PrizePicks have a TON of great props we can look to take advantage of. PrizePicks is a great DFS picks site where you can choose to select plays in terms of fantasy points or single stats. The... Read More


D'Andre Swift - Fantasy Football Rankings, NFL DFS Lineup Picks

Fantasy Football Injury Reports For NFL RBs: Updates for Aaron Rodgers

Warning: Undefined array key "amp_post_template_footer" in /var/www/rotoballer.com/wp-content/plugins/php-code-for-posts/Classes/Shortcode.php(91) : eval()'d code on line 6 Warning: foreach() argument must be of type array|object, null given in /var/www/rotoballer.com/wp-content/plugins/php-code-for-posts/Classes/Shortcode.php(91) : eval()'d code on line 6 Featured Promo: Get any full-season NFL Premium Pass for 50% off and win big in 2022. Exclusive access to our Premium articles, 15 lineup... Read More


derrick henry fantasy football rankings news NFL DFS lineup picks

PrizePicks NFL DFS Picks - Monday Night Football

Hello everybody and welcome! The 2022 NFL season is finally underway and that means our friends over at PrizePicks have a TON of great props we can look to take advantage of. PrizePicks is a great DFS picks site where you can choose to select plays in terms of fantasy points or single stats. The... Read More


Justin Jefferson - Fantasy Football Rankings, DFS Lineup Picks, NFL Injury News

NFL DFS Prop Picks for Monkey Knife Fight - Monday Night Football

Welcome to NFL Monday Night Football, where we have two games scheduled between the Minnesota Vikings vs. Philadelphia Eagles and the Tennessee Titans vs. Buffalo Bills.  Monday's games mean our friends at Monkey Knife Fight are offering some fantastic props for us to play once again! The good people at Monkey Knife Fight offer some... Read More


D'Andre Swift - Fantasy Football Rankings, NFL DFS Lineup Picks

Fantasy Football Injury Reports For NFL RBs: Week 2 Updates for Najee Harris, J.K. Dobbins, D'Andre Swift, Alvin Kamara, Mark Ingram

Below you will find our fantasy football injuries report for running backs in Week 2, as of September 17. The injury statuses for various NFL running backs are up in the air for Week 2 including D'Andre Swift, Najee Harris, Alvin Kamara, J.K. Dobbins, and more. The fantasy football season may be just getting underway,... Read More


michael pittman jr. fantasy football rankings NFL DFS lineup picks

Fantasy Football Injury Reports For NFL WRs: Week 2 Updates for Michael Pittman Jr., Mike Evans, Tee Higgins, Allen Lazard, Julio Jones

Welcome to Week 2 of the fantasy football season and the Saturday edition of our WR injury reports! Below you will find our fantasy football injuries report for wide receivers in Week 2 as of September 16th. The injury statuses for various NFL wide receivers are up in the air for Week 2, including Michael... Read More


justin herbert fantasy football rankings NFL DFS lineup picks

Fantasy Football Injury Reports for QBs: Week 2 Updates for Dak Prescott, Justin Herbert, Jameis Winston, Mac Jones

Below you will find our updated fantasy football injuries report for quarterbacks in the days before Week 2 of the 2022 NFL season as of Friday, September 16. There are a few NFL QBs dealing with injuries, including Dak Prescott, Justin Herbert, Jameis Winston, and Mac Jones. Being up-to-date on NFL injury news can give... Read More


Trey Lance - Fantasy Football Rankings, Draft Sleepers, NFL Injury News

Key Starters and Tough Calls - Lineup Spotlights for Fantasy Football Week 2

Every week, I share some of my favored choices and players to go with when dealing with challenging lineup decisions. These selections are based on my Premium Weekly Lineup Rankings, available as part of the RotoBaller NFL Premium Pass. Enter promo code KING at checkout for a discount and get access to my ranks in all formats, plus... Read More


Saquon Barkley - Fantasy Football Rankings, NFL Injury News, Draft Sleepers

Week 2 NFL Pick Em Selections for No House Advantage

Hello everybody and welcome! The 2022 NFL season is underway and that means our friends over at No House Advantage have a TON of great DFS plays we can look to take advantage of. No House Advantage is a unique DFS prop picks site where you do not have to play against the house to... Read More


Wide Receiver Matchups to Target in Week 2: Greg Dortch, Terry McLaurin, Christian Kirk

Week 1 made some things come to light as we got some clarity on some murky situations. Unfortunately, many of our WR targets for DFS last week were victims of this. Robert Woods finished the game with one reception for 13 yards, as the Titans used the rookie receivers much more than him. Brandon Aiyuk... Read More


Carson Wentz - Fantasy Football Rankings, Waiver Wire Pickups, Draft Sleepers

Thunder Dan's NFL Betting Picks for Week 2: Top NFL Player Props Bets

Football season is back! Whether you like to bet game totals, sides, or player props, I have something in here for you, and try to cover a little bit of everything! This year, I started my own free sports betting newsletter, and the good people here at RotoBaller are allowing me to share my picks... Read More


Fantasy Football IDP Injury Reports For NFL Defensive Players: Week 2 Updates for T.J. Watt, Jamal Adams, Jalen Thompson, Ed Oliver

T.J. Watt owners, you know the feeling... I had T.J. Watt in my home league last season. He was constantly checking out of games early with nagging minor injuries, but he must have led every IDP manager who started him to the playoffs. I went back to the well and drafted him early this year.... Read More