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Week 10 fantasy football waiver wire pickups, trade candidates and start or sit roster decisions based on PFF routes run

Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk (11) returns a kick during the first quarter against the Seattle Seahawks at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports

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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