In the weekly red zone reports, the trends and targets of the previous week’s passing games will be examined. All in an effort to help you decide who is getting that precious roster spot you’re debating about. With the nature of team’s passing attacks involving practically everyone with hands being a potential target, the occasional running back will make the summary, when warranted.

Week 1 of the NFL season saw some interesting games. Some defenses were much stronger than anticipated and some offenses were a little sluggish to get going and some other just used the big play to post their offensive numbers.

Favorite Targets

Amari Cooper led the way in Week 1 with four passes thrown his way in the wild one in Tennessee. This isn’t necessarily a shock, though he did account for an impressive 66.7% of the team’s red zone attempts. Cooper translated those four targets into one catch for eight yards and a score. Seeing more catches out of those targets would be nice as we head into Week 2 and a matchup against the Jets.

Eric Decker proved to be Marcus Mariota’s favorite receiver inside the 20, with three targets of his own. Decker has been known as a red zone beast for a while now, dating back to his time with Denver, but it’s encouraging to see that even through the missed time this offseason and a new team, he still fits that role. He nabbed two catches out of the three looks but didn’t manage a score. 

Larry Fitzgerald saw three balls thrown his way near the end zone in the shootout with Detroit. Fitz didn’t see as high a percentage of his team’s targets as the two above, but did lead the Cardinals nonetheless. He caught one of the three balls for a total of five yards inside the 20 and didn’t score, but with DJ now out for much of, if not all of, the year, Fitzgerald should continue to see a hefty amount of looks.

Most Efficient

The Saints had a bit of a struggle integrating Coby Fleener into their offense last season, but that problem seems to be fading. He saw three targets in the Monday night game and caught all three, including a touchdown. The departed Brandin Cooks took a fair amount of looks away from others last season, and now some of those will undoubtedly go in Fleener’s direction.

Stefon Diggs made his own case for most efficient red zone presence of the week on Monday. He had a big game overall, but it was the two red zone grabs, out of two targets, for two touchdowns that really put a cap on it. Diggs is the unquestioned top target in Minnesota all over the field, though Kyle Rudolph does draw red zone attention too, having two grabs (two targets) and a score himself on Monday.

Most people know the weapons available to Trevor Siemian in Demaryius Thomas, Emmanuel Sanders, C.J. Anderson, Virgil Green, and A.J. Darby. But the best red zone player on the field on Monday was Bennie Fowler. Fowler garnered two targets, the most on the team, and converted those to two catches for two TDs.  He was the surprise this week given that he only had 11 catches and two scores all of last season, but if teams keep locking in on Sanders and Thomas, Fowler could sneak his way to more scores.

Ones to Watch

Dez Bryant saw three targets come his way against the Giants in Week 1, failing to catch any of them. He was targeted nine times overall in the game and should see those kind of numbers again in Week 2, even against a tough Denver D. If he converts one of those red zone looks into a score, it’s a whole different fantasy day for him.

Jesse James had a great day on Sunday with two catches, on three targets (accounting for 75% of the team’s targets), and two scores against the Browns. Most believe Vance McDonald will be the receiving threat TE in the offense, but James put up solid enough numbers last year, and the start of this year, that he should remain the top-TE target in the offense.

Allen Hurns and Marqise Lee are coming off a week with one combined red zone target. The season-ending injury to Allen Robinson however, clears some targets for them starting this upcoming week. In 2016, Hurns and Lee combined for 20 targets all season which, matched Robinson’s total by himself. Week 2 brings a Tennessee defense in that allowed six red zone passes from Derek Carr a week ago so there should be ample work to go around.