- WR Puka Nacua, Los Angeles Rams: Nacua is the NFL’s most productive pass catcher and a per-play basis.
- Jacksonville Jaguars: Their passing offense profiles as a high-upside unit in 2026.
- 2026 NFL Draft season is here: Try the best-in-class PFF Mock Draft Simulator and learn about 2026's top prospects while trading and drafting for your favorite NFL team.
Estimated Reading Time: 10 minutes
High-end NFL target earners fare well in fantasy football, regardless of format. Drafting skill position players possessing workloads featuring first-read targets and centerfield targets is a smart fantasy football draft strategy.
The article below breaks down the NFL’s best total target earners, first-read target earners, next-read target earners, deep-target earners and centerfield target earners.
Best overall target earners
Among NFL skill position players from Weeks 1-Super Bowl LX, 38 players earned 100-plus targets. Among the qualifying 38 NFL skill position players, Los Angeles Rams No. 1 wide receiver Puka Nacua ranks first in total targets (200), yards per route run (YPRR, 3.57) and target rate (34.8%). He is the NFL’s premier overall target earner and pass catcher.
Seattle Seahawks No. 1 wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba (182 and 31.3%) and Cincinnati Bengals No. 1 wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase (182 and 28.8%) tie for second in targets while ranking second and third, respectively, in target rate.
Smith-Njigba averages 3.42 YPRR. He and Nacua are the only two qualifying players to average 2.55-plus.
Nacua, Smith-Njigba and Chase are the only players to earn 165-plus targets across the full NFL season. Detroit Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown (28.6%) is the only remaining player among the aforementioned 38 to earn targets at a 26.6% rate or higher.
Nacua earns a 96.1 PFF receiving grade, Smith-Njigba earns a 93.2 PFF receiving grade, Chase earns a 90.1 PFF receiving grade and St. Brown earns a 90.6 PFF receiving grade.
All four players are relatively safe 2026 WR1 candidates.
Cleveland Browns rookie tight end Harold Fannin Jr.’s 23.8% target rate notably ranks 14th among qualifying NFL skill position players and first among qualifying tight ends. He earns a 76.4 PFF receiving grade.
Best first-read target earners
Among NFL skill position players from Weeks 1-Super Bowl LX, 38 players earned 75-plus first-read targets. The four players listed in order above lead the league in first-read targets: Nacua (163), Smith-Njigba (148), Chase (140) and St. Brown (133).
While Nacua (43.0%) and Smith-Njigba (38.3%) again lead the qualifying sample in target rate, Atlanta Falcons No. 1 wide receiver Drake London snags the No. 3 spot, earning first-read targets at a 37.4% rate, which gave him a 1.5% edge over St. Brown (35.9%), who ranks fourth. Chase (34.4%) ranks fifth. London is likewise a safe WR1 candidate.
Los Angeles Rams No. 2 wide receiver Davante Adams notably ranks ninth in first-read target rate (30.1%) in head coach Sean McVay’s fantasy-friendly, condensed passing attack.
Chicago Bears rookie tight end Colston Loveland’s 28.6% first-read target rate ranks 14th among qualifying NFL skill position players and first among six qualifying tight ends. Fannin sits two spots behind him among the qualifying skill position players with a 28.3% first-read target rate.
Adams, 33 years old, earns a qualifying 88.3 PFF receiving grade. Loveland earns a qualifying 92.3 PFF receiving grade.
Best next-read target earners
Among NFL skill position players from Weeks 1-Super Bowl LX, 30 players earned 12-plus next-read targets. PFF charts 10,865 first-read passing attempts, 1,555 next-read passing attempts and 1,890 checkdowns thrown during the full 2025 season. The latter category will be explored in future pieces. All NFL teams currently average faster than 4.00 seconds in their average time to throw, leaving little time for quarterbacks to progress between the first read and the checkdown. Top-tier next-read target earners tend to be high-end pass catchers, regardless of position, highlighting how critical it is for pass catchers to be featured as first-read weapons for fantasy football purposes.
NFL next-read target earners among 30 NFL skill position players with at least 12 qualifying targets.
| NFL Next-Read Target Earners | NFL Player Tally |
| Players With 15-plus Next-Read Targets | 9 |
| No. 1 WRs | 12 |
| Nos. 2-3 WRs | 14 |
| No. 1 TEs | 4 |
Adams (26), Detroit Lions No. 2 wide receiver Jameson Williams (21), Denver Broncos No. 1 wide receiver Courtland Sutton (19), Dallas Cowboys No. 2 wide receiver George Pickens (18), Los Angeles Chargers No. 1 wide receiver Ladd McConkey (17) and Atlanta Falcons tight end Kyle Pitts (17) occupy six of the top-seven total target-earning spots, though their target rates are far more volatile.
Adams (40.0%), Williams (30.0%) and Sutton (27.1%) rank among the top six. Pickens (22.5%), Pitts (21.5%) and McConkey (16.7%) rank 12th or lower.
Atlanta Falcons ineffectual No. 2 wide receiver Darnell Mooney earned 18 qualifying targets while earning a qualifying 52.4 PFF receiving grade. Denver Broncos No. 2 wide receiver Troy Franklin earns next-read targets at a 34.9% rate while earning a 63.6 PFF receiving grade. Their next-read workloads may be quarterback-related, which will be explored in a future article.
Chargers rookie tight end Oronde Gadsden II’s qualifying 15 targets and 23.8% target rate both rank in the top 10. Chargers No. 2 wide receiver Keenan Allen’s 14 qualifying targets tie for 11th and 18.2% ranks 24th. This pass-catching corps’ next-read target data could be quarterback-related. Gadsden earns a 71.1 PFF receiving grade, while Allen banks a 76.1 PFF receiving grade.
Williams earns a 76.7 PFF receiving grade, Sutton earns a 74.2 PFF receiving grade, Pickens earns a 87.2 PFF receiving grade, McConkey earns a 68.0 PFF receiving grade and Pitts earns an 82.0 PFF receiving grade.
Next-read opportunities must be viewed as ceiling elevators rather than reliable workload percentages.
Best deep-target earners
Among 65 NFL skill position players with at least 80 targets, Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Alec Pierce’s 33.7% deep-target rate ranks first, Chicago Bears wide receiver Rome Odunze’s 29.3% deep-target rate ranks second, and Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Parker Washington’s 27.6% deep-target rate ranks third. Pierce earns an 81.0 PFF receiving grade, Odunze earns a 71.0 PFF receiving grade, and Washington earns an 85.6 PFF receiving grade.
All three players may improve their overall productivity in 2026. Pierce enters free agency following a breakout season and could take on a diversified route tree this season. Odunze’s 2025 campaign was derailed by a recurring stress fracture in his foot. Washington could operate as a starter this season.
Among NFL skill position players from Weeks 1-Super Bowl LX, 31 earned 20-plus deep targets 20-plus yards downfield. Pierce (28), Odunze (29) and Washington (27) all rank in the top eight in qualifying targets. Nacua and Smith-Njigba unsurprisingly tie for second with 32, while New Orleans Saints No. 1 wide receiver Chris Olave’s 33 rank first. Olave earns a qualifying 90.8 PFF receiving grade.
Best high-value, centerfield target earners
Targets thrown 10-plus yards downfield, between the painted numbers, are the most valuable passes for fantasy football purposes.
Among NFL skill position players in Weeks 1-18, 14 earned 25-plus qualifying targets. Detroit’s Williams (38) and St. Brown (35) rank first and second, respectively. Smith-Njigba (33), third, is followed by Tampa Bay Buccaneers rookie wide receiver Emeka Egbuka (32) and Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Jakobi Meyers (31), who was traded from the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 10, round out the 30-plus category. Egbuka earns a 68.5 PFF receiving grade this season. Meyers earns a 73.2 PFF receiving grade.
Jacksonville’s Washington notably earned 32 qualifying targets among games played in Weeks 1-Super Bowl LX, tying for sixth overall. Fantasy managers should target Jaguars pass catchers as high-upside draft picks as the offense enters its second season under head coach Liam Coen in 2026.
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