High-end fantasy football performances and weekly finishes are fueled by routes run and high-value targets and touches. The majority of top scorers from last week saw healthy doses of end-zone targets, air yards, routes run, deep targets and goal-line carries.
Chris Godwin, Terry McLaurin and Bryan Edwards were all long overdue to score based on their previous target volume inside the end zone. Each hit paydirt in Week 7: Trust the process.
To find Week 8's version of Godwin or Edwards in the fantasy football rankings or as a waiver wire pickup, fantasy managers can leverage PFF’s fantasy stats tool to identify the players who saw the most high-value opportunities but failed to cash in.
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These guys are the perfect “buy-low” candidates and will soon exceed fantasy expectations for weekly fantasy matchups or large-field DFS contests.
END-ZONE TARGETS
Most end-zone targets | Week 7
| Player | End-zone targets | End-zone touchdowns |
| Mike Evans | 3 | 2 |
| DeAndre Hopkins | 2 | 1 |
| Jack Doyle | 2 | 0 |
| Cameron Brate | 2 | 0 |
| Chris Godwin | 2 | 1 |
| Darrell Henderson Jr. | 2 | 0 |
| Allen Lazard | 2 | 1 |
| Terry McLaurin | 2 | 1 |
| Tee Higgins | 2 | 0 |
Welcome to Tee Higgins week. The Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver led all players in targets (16) in Week 7, many of which were the high-value variety. Higgins saw two end-zone targets, three targets of 20-plus air yards and 177 total air yards. Unfortunately, he failed to haul in any of his high-value touches from Joe Burrow, as his quarterback failed to deliver an accurate ball on these potential big plays.
Don’t expect that to be the norm — Burrow owns the league’s ninth-highest completion rate. Look for Higgins to cash in on his premier looks and team-leading 30% target share over the past three weeks in a massive way versus the New York Jets. Gang Green owns PFF’s sixth-worst coverage grade this season.
Higgins is a steal at just $5,200 on DraftKings for Week 8.
Mo Alie-Cox is bound to generate buzz off the waiver wire, but he is not running more routes or seeing more end-zone targets than fellow tight end Jack Doyle. This makes chasing the behemoth's streak of four touchdowns in the last four weeks ill-advised until he completely overtakes the TE1 role.
Cameron Brate separated himself from O.J. Howard in routes run versus the Chicago Bears and also commanded two end-zone targets. He’s a decent streaming tight end option if Rob Gronkowski misses another week.
Other wide receivers/tight ends who should experience positive touchdown regression based on their target volume inside the 5-yard line include CeeDee Lamb, Courtland Sutton, DeVonta Smith, Diontae Johnson, Odell Beckham Jr., David Njoku, Ricky Seals-Jones, Tyler Higbee and Allen Robinson II.
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