Fantasy Football Red Zone Report: Keenan Allen, Gus Edwards, Jahmyr Gibbs

Football, more than any sport, is so determined by injuries. A team’s record, whether or not they make the playoffs, and an individual player’s opportunities to get into a game can change week to week based on injuries. One week, a player can be targeted 12 times, but see his playing time cut in half the next week when an injured player returns. This is often the case around the goal line as well. We can use the FantasySP Red Zone Tool to stay on top of trends in this all-important area of the field for fantasy football.

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Fantasy Football Red Zone Report Week 11

Red Zone Target Leaders Week 11

This week, six receivers had three or more red zone targets. These three receivers led the way with four red zone targets:

Keenan Allen, Los Angeles Chargers: Allen had a whopping 16 targets with 10 receptions for 116 yards and a TD. But, for all those targets and catches, he only caught one of his four red zone targets.

Nico Collins, Houston Texans: This is one of those situations I mentioned in the intro with regards to snaps, targets, and injuries. Although Tank Dell has seen an uptick in playing time and numbers lately, the return of Nico Collins will surely affect Dell going forward. Although Dell had one more catch than Collins, eight to seven, Collins had one more overall target, 11 to 10, along with four red zone targets to none for Dell. Collins caught two of those red-zone targets. Dell still had a monster game, catching eight of his 10 targets for 149 yards and a TD. But the return of Collins will see Dell’s numbers decrease.

Amon-Ra St. Brown, Detroit Lions: St. Brown had an incredibly efficient and productive game. He caught eight out of 11 targets, and three out of four red zone targets. He gained 77 yards and scored a TD.

These three receivers had three red-zone targets

Mike Evans, Tampa Bay Buccaneers: For all of Evans’ targets, and all of his activity in the red zone, it was a quiet game for the WR. He did score a TD, but only had five receptions on 12 overall targets, for 43 yards. And, he only caught one of his three red zone targets.

Calvin Ridley, Jacksonville Jaguars: Unlike Evans, Ridley had an awesome game. He caught seven of nine targets, and two out of three in the red zone. He gained 103 yards and scored two TDs.

Puka Nacua, Los Angeles Rams: Nacua is in the opposite situation to Tank Dell. Dell had to endure the return of a player, while Nacua got the benefit of an injured Cooper Kupp. With Kupp injured at the start of the year, Nacua put up gaudy numbers. And with Kupp’s return, Nacua started to see his numbers drop. With Kupp exiting early in Week 11, he caught five out of seven targets for 70 yards and a TD. And two out of three were in the red zone.

Red Zone Rush Leaders Week 11

It’s not always the RB1 who gets the ball around the end zone. Out of the four RBs who had five or more red zone touches this week, only two would be considered to be in the top tier. The interesting thing about these four RBs is that they combined for 22 red zone touches but didn’t score a rushing TD … although Christian McCaffrey caught a TD pass.

Christian McCaffrey, San Francisco 49ers: McCaffrey extended his lead in red zone touches this week, adding six to bring his season’s total to 45. He was on the field for 52 snaps and had 26 touches, in essence in on 50% of the team’s offense when he was on the field.

Royce Freeman, Los Angeles Rams: For the entire season, Freeman has only been on the field for 128 snaps, with 50 touches. On Sunday, he had six red zone touches. Before that, he only had two all season. In the last three weeks, his touches have increased from nine, to 12, to 17. He is averaging 4.3 yards per carry and has a TD on the year. He stands to get more opportunities around the goal line with more chances to get TDs, although the return of Kyren Williams could change that. 

Alexander Mattison, Minnesota Vikings: For the season, Mattison, who is Minnesota’s RB1, has 23 red zone touches, which is basically half of what McCaffrey has. On Sunday, he had five red zone touches but didn’t score. He was on the field for 48 snaps with 19 touches and 18 rushes for 81 yards.

Travis Etienne, Jacksonville Jaguars: Etienne is fifth in the league with 670 rushing yards. He leads all RBs with 530 snaps. He’s third with 206 touches. But he’s only 18th in red zone touches. He may not get the ball as much in the red zone as other RBs, but still has seven rushing TDs and eight overall.

Six other RBs had 30% or more of their touches in the red zone this week. These six all had three or four red zone touches:

Gus Edwards, Baltimore Ravens: In 25 snaps, Edwards had four red zone touches out of a total of 12. He managed 62 yards with a 5.2 average and two TDs.

Javonte Williams, Denver Broncos: Williams also had four red zone touches, out of only 11 total. Overall, it was a soft game for him, only rushing for 37 yards.

Jahmyr Gibbs, Detroit Lions: With the return of David Montgomery, Gibbs' production has diminished some. On Sunday, he only had 14 touches with eight rushes for 36 yards, but he did manage a TD. That he is still seeing goal-line work with Montgomery back is a welcome change for Gibbs managers from early in the season. Even though it’s clear Montgomery is getting back into his RB1 status, Gibbs did have more snaps, 35 to 25.

Austin Ekeler, Los Angeles Chargers: Ekeler was on the field for 46 snaps but only had 12 touches with 10 rushes and only 46 yards. More alarming is that he only had two receptions on three passing targets. A talent like Ekeler must be more involved in the offense.

Rico Dowdle, Dallas Cowboys: This year, Dowdle has only been on the field a third of the time compared to Tony Pollard. His touches are about a third, as well as his attempts. He only has 13 red zone attempts this season, but three of them were on Sunday. 

D’Onta Foreman, Chicago Bears: Foreman left the game with an ankle injury and was only on the field for 18 snaps. In those 18 snaps, he had six touches, with three of them in the red zone. Even in that limited action, and with only 14 yards of production, he managed to find the end zone for a rushing TD.