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 heading into Week 10.
Last week's article highlighted the likes of Michael Pittman Jr., Brandon Aiyuk, Tim Patrick, Elijah Moore and Devontae Booker as players whose receiving usage was likely to transform into fantasy production sooner than later.
This data does not include the Monday Night Football game between the Chicago Bears and Pittsburgh Steelers.
WIDE RECEIVERS
Rate of routes run per dropback | Week 9
| Player | Routes run | % of routes run per dropback |
| Emmanuel Sanders | 56 | 100% |
| Brandin Cooks | 52 | 100% |
| Davante Adams | 41 | 100% |
| Jakobi Meyers | 22 | 100% |
| Christian Kirk | 31 | 100% |
| Cooper Kupp | 57 | 98% |
| Ja'Marr Chase | 50 | 98% |
| Michael Pittman Jr. | 32 | 97% |
| Robert Woods | 56 | 97% |
| Van Jefferson | 56 | 97% |
| Zay Jones | 47 | 96% |
| Bryan Edwards | 47 | 96% |
| Quez Watkins | 23 | 96% |
| Nelson Agholor | 21 | 95% |
| Robby Anderson | 36 | 95% |
| Marquise Brown | 54 | 95% |
| Brandon Aiyuk | 46 | 94% |
| Marvin Jones Jr. | 30 | 94% |
| Adam Thielen | 28 | 93% |
| Deebo Samuel | 45 | 92% |
| DeVonta Smith | 22 | 92% |
Brandon Aiyuk is back. For the second straight week, Aiyuk ran more routes than Deebo Samuel, and he backed up his increase in playing time with solid numbers. The second-year wide receiver set season highs in targets (eight), receptions (six), receiving yards (89) and PFF receiving grade (73.4).
Aiyuk’s recent development has him back on the fantasy radar for the remainder of the season.
Add Van Jefferson Jr. You’ll be hard-pressed to find any other team’s No. 3 wide receiver running a route on over 97% of their team’s dropbacks, but that’s the case with Jefferson, who continues to stay heavily involved in the Los Angeles Rams’ elite passing attack.
The counting stats weren’t there from Sunday Night Football, but Matthew Stafford missed him multiple times on plays that could have resulted in a bunch of fantasy points. Fantasy managers should want pieces of the Rams offense, and Jefferson is the cheapest way to get exposure.
Rate of routes run per dropback | Weeks 1-9
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