Opportunity is king in fantasy football, and chasing target volume has always been a winning strategy — especially in PPR leagues. PFF premium stats offers proprietary data that goes well beyond the box score, including routes run for every player on the depth chart.
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Targeting players who are running a high percentage of routes is a good strategy for identifying breakout candidates, DFS targets and the best waiver wire pickups. This weekly report will look at the previous week's rate of routes run per dropback compared to larger samples to find sleeper running backs, wide receivers and tight ends who are garnering more or less opportunities in the passing game.
Last week's article highlighted the likes of Ricky Seals-Jones, Tim Patrick and Darrell Henderson Jr. as players whose usage was likely to transform into fantasy production sooner than later.
This data does not include the Monday Night Football game between the Buffalo Bills and Tennessee Titans.
WIDE RECEIVERS
Rate of routes run per dropback | Weeks 1-6
| Player | % of routes run per dropback |
| DeAndre Hopkins | 98% |
| Adam Thielen | 97% |
| Terry McLaurin | 97% |
| Michael Pittman Jr. | 96% |
| Justin Jefferson | 96% |
| Cooper Kupp | 95% |
| Jakobi Meyers | 95% |
| Brandin Cooks | 95% |
| Ja'Marr Chase | 95% |
| DeVonta Smith | 94% |
| Tyler Lockett | 94% |
| Darnell Mooney | 94% |
DeAndre Hopkins is currently playing at his fantasy ceiling. He is maxed out in routes run in the Arizona Cardinals offense, but unfortunately it has not been nearly enough aid to his declining target share. He owns just a 20% target share on the season and is coming off a Week 6 performance where he received fewer targets than Christian Kirk.
With a six-week sample size in the books, Hopkins does not seem likely to consistently crest the 30% target share mark in an offense dead-set on spreading the ball around.
Arizona remains undefeated following this offensive approach, so there is no need to bombard Hopkins with targets like it did last season. Hopkins is a prime “sell-high” after his two-touchdown week.
Rate of routes run per dropback | Last four weeks
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