We have just two weeks to go and boy things are getting interesting. A lot of big names have made moves to the top of the leaderboards and we could have someone reach 200 targets. It’s been a long year but it’s not over yet! Let’s dive in, y’all!
| Player Name | Team | Pass Att | Rec | Targets | Yds | TD | RZ Target | RZ Target % | Drops | Tgt % |
| DeAndre Hopkins | HOU | 484 | 92 | 170 | 1,313 | 12 | 18 | 44.44% | 5 | 35.12% |
| Antonio Brown | PIT | 533 | 101 | 162 | 1,533 | 9 | 21 | 57.14% | 4 | 30.39% |
| Jarvis Landry | MIA | 520 | 98 | 143 | 844 | 8 | 20 | 75% | 6 | 27.50% |
| Keenan Allen | LAC | 506 | 88 | 137 | 1,197 | 5 | 22 | 40.91% | 9 | 27.08% |
| Michael Thomas | NO | 478 | 94 | 136 | 1,085 | 5 | 16 | 56.25% | 1 | 28.45% |
| Larry Fitzgerald | ARI | 529 | 92 | 133 | 982 | 5 | 17 | 58.82% | 3 | 25.14% |
| Adam Thielen | MIN | 473 | 83 | 130 | 1,191 | 4 | 17 | 29.41% | 5 | 27.48% |
| Demaryius Thomas | DEN | 497 | 73 | 127 | 840 | 4 | 15 | 60% | 9 | 25.55% |
| Julio Jones | ATL | 449 | 76 | 126 | 1,215 | 3 | 17 | 23.53% | 7 | 28.06% |
| A.J. Green | CIN | 425 | 67 | 125 | 980 | 8 | 14 | 50% | 4 | 29.41% |
| Dez Bryant | DAL | 429 | 63 | 119 | 771 | 6 | 19 | 52.63% | 9 | 27.74% |
| Davante Adams | GB | 490 | 74 | 117 | 885 | 10 | 23 | 65.22% | 5 | 23.88% |
| Alshon Jeffery | PHI | 492 | 56 | 116 | 781 | 9 | 16 | 50% | 3 | 23.58% |
| Travis Kelce | KC | 468 | 79 | 115 | 991 | 7 | 19 | 47.37% | 6 | 24.57% |
| Mike Evans | TB | 527 | 60 | 114 | 839 | 5 | 15 | 20% | 3 | 21.63% |
| Evan Engram | NYG | 535 | 63 | 113 | 710 | 6 | 11 | 63.64% | 11 | 21.12% |
| Golden Tate | DET | 506 | 82 | 108 | 885 | 4 | 7 | 85.71% | 3 | 21.34% |
| Doug Baldwin | SEA | 505 | 67 | 106 | 866 | 5 | 6 | 50% | 1 | 20.99% |
| Robby Anderson | NYJ | 446 | 57 | 104 | 888 | 7 | 9 | 33.33% | 6 | 23.32% |
| Devin Funchess | CAR | 441 | 58 | 102 | 781 | 7 | 13 | 46.15% | 3 | 23.13% |
| Delanie Walker | TEN | 436 | 68 | 101 | 755 | 3 | 10 | 40% | 3 | 23.17% |
| Christian McCaffrey | CAR | 441 | 73 | 101 | 592 | 5 | 13 | 84.62% | 1 | 22.90% |
| Rob Gronkowski | NE | 519 | 64 | 99 | 11,017 | 7 | 19 | 47.37% | 5 | 19.08% |
| Le'Veon Bell | PIT | 533 | 80 | 99 | 627 | 2 | 15 | 66.67% | 3 | 18.57% |
| Marvin Jones Jr. | DET | 506 | 54 | 98 | 970 | 8 | 13 | 30.77% | 3 | 19.37% |
| Brandin Cooks | NE | 519 | 58 | 98 | 984 | 6 | 8 | 62.50% | 6 | 18.88% |
| Tyreek Hill | KC | 468 | 69 | 98 | 1,074 | 7 | 3 | 33.33% | 4 | 20.94% |
| Michael Crabtree | OAK | 501 | 56 | 96 | 601 | 8 | 13 | 53.85% | 6 | 19.16% |
| Marqise Lee | JAX | 443 | 56 | 96 | 702 | 3 | 8 | 62.50% | 8 | 21.67% |
| Marquise Goodwin | SF | 544 | 51 | 95 | 897 | 1 | 13 | 30.77% | 6 | 17.46% |
| Emmanuel Sanders | DEN | 497 | 47 | 94 | 555 | 2 | 10 | 50% | 5 | 18.91% |
| Zach Ertz | PHI | 492 | 63 | 94 | 719 | 8 | 15 | 73.33% | 3 | 19.11% |
| Kenny Stills | MIA | 520 | 51 | 93 | 759 | 6 | 8 | 62.50% | 3 | 17.88% |
| Jamison Crowder | WAS | 466 | 59 | 93 | 717 | 2 | 13 | 46.15% | 6 | 19.96% |
| Jack Doyle | IND | 429 | 71 | 92 | 611 | 3 | 7 | 71.43% | 4 | 21.45% |
| DeSean Jackson | TB | 527 | 50 | 91 | 668 | 3 | 6 | 66.67% | 1 | 17.27% |
| Jimmy Graham | SEA | 505 | 53 | 90 | 472 | 9 | 25 | 60% | 7 | 17.82% |
| T.Y. Hilton | IND | 429 | 48 | 90 | 852 | 4 | 8 | 25% | 3 | 20.98% |
| Cooper Kupp | LAR | 445 | 58 | 89 | 804 | 4 | 22 | 54.55% | 6 | 20.00% |
| Jermaine Kearse | NYJ | 446 | 55 | 88 | 709 | 5 | 7 | 71.43% | 3 | 19.73% |
| Amari Cooper | OAK | 501 | 42 | 86 | 499 | 5 | 9 | 33.33% | 10 | 17.17% |
| Nelson Agholor | PHI | 492 | 55 | 85 | 722 | 8 | 18 | 72.22% | 4 | 17.28% |
| Alvin Kamara | NO | 478 | 68 | 84 | 684 | 5 | 15 | 80% | 4 | 17.57% |
| Jordy Nelson | GB | 490 | 50 | 83 | 471 | 6 | 12 | 83.33% | 1 | 16.94% |
| Mohamed Sanu | ATL | 449 | 56 | 81 | 601 | 5 | 10 | 70% | 3 | 18.04% |
| Rishard Matthews | TEN | 436 | 50 | 81 | 740 | 4 | 8 | 50% | 3 | 18.58% |
| Stefon Diggs | MIN | 473 | 53 | 81 | 724 | 6 | 10 | 80% | 3 | 17.12% |
| Jared Cook | OAK | 501 | 50 | 80 | 638 | 2 | 9 | 11.11% | 6 | 15.97% |
| Carlos Hyde | SF | 544 | 54 | 80 | 321 | 0 | 9 | 77.78% | 9 | 14.71% |
| Duke Johnson Jr. | CLE | 508 | 61 | 80 | 537 | 3 | 5 | 60% | 3 | 15.75% |
| DeVante Parker | MIA | 520 | 46 | 79 | 543 | 1 | 11 | 36.36% | 4 | 15.19% |
Target Leaders
We knew he’d be heavily targeted with Amari Cooper out, but Michael Crabtree led all players in targets in Week 15 with 17 looks which was kind of a surprise. He only caught seven of them, but two came in the end zone. Cooper has a bum ankle and it wouldn’t be surprising to see him sit out the final two games of the season, which would only benefit Crabtree’s value for the rest of the season. The Eagles secondary just allowed Eli Manning to slice them up for 400-plus yards so Derek Carr and Michael Crabtree could be in line for a big connection Week 16.
So unfortunately for Antonio Brown, DeAndre Hopkins will outlast the chase for the number one targeted player in football this year due to a regular season injury. Brown will still finish his regular season with 101 receptions, 162 targets, 1,533 yards and nine touchdowns which by my calculations are pretty good numbers. Hopkins, on the other hand, does have an outside shot at 200 targets if he averages 15 for the final two contests of the year. He’s averaging a touch over 14 in his last three games so this is absolutely doable.
Someone who has taken our leaderboards by storm over the past three weeks is Marquise Goodwin. Goodwin was fifth in targets this week with 13 and has 33 over his last three games. It’s no coincidence that this stretch of play began when Jimmy Garopollo took over the reigns at quarterback. Goodwin has already smashed his career-high (68) in targets and with five more he’ll reach 100 for the year.
Target Percentage
Now that Antonio Brown’s regular season is over, he’s going to slip under 30-percent of the team’s targets by years end, leaving DeAndre Hopkins the lone wolf barring anything crazy from A.J. Green and or Michael Thomas by years end. Carlos Hyde checks in with the lowest target percentage on our list at 14.71-percent while DeAndre Hopkins paces our list and the league at 35.12-percent.
Red Zone Targets
It was welcome back Aaron Rodgers for Davante Adams as he saw two red zone targets, one going for a touchdown in Week 15. Adams is now just two off the league lead with 23 total this season. He’s turned seven of those 23 red zone targets into touchdowns and that number might be even higher if Aaron Rodgers were able to stay healthy all year long.
Nelson Agholor was a red zone monster this past week and has been basically all year long. He’s caught 13-of-18 RZ targets this year and has punched it in the end zone on four occasions. Nick Foles looked his way four times inside the 20 in Week 15 and Agholor caught all four passes. If last week was any indication on how the final two games will play out for Philly in the red zone than Agholor creeps into high-end WR2 discussion for season-long and an elite secondary WR in DFS formats.
Out of all players that have double-digit red zone targets, Kyle Rudolph has the best catch percentage followed by Christian McCaffrey and Jordy Nelson. All three have caught north of 83-percent of their red zone targets while scoring four times or more. Mike Evans, Julio Jones and Adam Thielen’s red zone catch percentage is all under 30-percent which is disappointing to hear seeing how they’re three of arguably the 10 best wide outs in the game. They could be having much bigger fantasy campaigns if they caught a few more balls that came their way inside the 20.
Drops
Amari Cooper is off the hook! Stop the presses! It’s been 10 weeks since Cooper’s name didn’t head the drops leaderboard but with two drops in Week 15, Evan Engram has surpassed him. The rookie has had a fantastic overall season, but 11 drops is way too many. Cooper’s ankle is still a problem and if he doesn’t suit up again this year he’ll guarantee himself the fact he won’t lead the league in that category.
This week, my prediction for most targets comes with a little hope. I would love to see DeAndre Hopkins reach 200 targets and that could be something he and his team are aware of. They’re not playing for anything meaningful at this point in the year so it’s possible we could see Hopkins around 20 looks in Week 16.