Fantasy Football Snap & Target Report Week 12: Josh Downs, Kyren Williams, Isiah Pacheco
Cam takes a look at some of the most important usage numbers for fantasy football coming out of Week 12.
Fantasy Football Snap & Target Report Week 12
Fantasy Football Target Leaders
Keenan Allen has been an absolute monster for the Chargers. Unfortunately, he’s been the only bright spot on the team. For the season, he’s been in on 660 snaps, while no other receiver has had over 400 snaps. He’s been targeted 129 times this year, which is three times more than any other receiver. The lack of options has telegraphed their offense, which is making it harder for Justin Herbert and easier for opposing defenses.
On Sunday, Allen was targeted 16 times and had 14 receptions. And, he’s only one of two WRs to have been targeted 10 times or more each of the last three weeks, with the other being Miami’s Tyreek Hill. Over the last three weeks, Allen has been targeted 46 times, while Hill has been targeted 33 times. It is just a continuation of the entire season. Allen has the most targets in the league with 129, while Hill is third with 120.
Hill had an average game by his standards. He caught 75% of his 12 targets for 102 yards and a TD. Make no mistake about it, he is the clear WR1 in Miami, but Jaylen Waddle is so much more than a WR2, and would be a WR1 on at least half the teams in the league. Waddle has been targeted 75 times this year, which is 32nd among receivers.
Two other receivers have had 10 or more targets over the last two weeks:
Michael Pittman, Indianapolis Colts: Over the last two weeks, Pittman has been targeted 25 times. On Sunday, he caught 10 of 13 targets for 107 yards. And on the season, he’s third in the NFL in snaps, only behind D.J. Moore and DeVonta Smith. He’s tied for seventh in targets with 111 and eighth in receptions with 76. The biggest knocks against him are his yards per catch, which sits at a pedestrian 10.3, and that he only has three TDs on the year.
Amon-Ra St. Brown, Detroit Lions: St. Brown has been targeted 22 times over the last two weeks, with 11 each week. On Thanksgiving, he caught nine of his 11 targets for 95 yards. He didn’t find the end zone, and his average was only a smidge over 10 yards per reception. He is a much more explosive receiver than that. For the year, he is averaging 12.1 yards per catch. He’s sixth in yardage and has caught 75% of his targets all season. As of now, he is the clear WR1 on the team. In fact, the next closest receiver to him is rookie TE Sam LaPorta. If the Lions can snag another top-tier WR, they will be extremely dangerous for years to come.
As wonderful as it is for a receiver to be targeted often in a game, it’s only valuable if he catches the majority of passes thrown to him. This week, there were two WRs who had double-digit targets but caught under 40% of the passes thrown to them.
Josh Downs, Indianapolis Colts: Downs only caught five of 13 targets for 43 yards. For the season, he’s only caught 66% of his targets, which is still far greater than the 38% success rate he had on Sunday.
Terry McLaurin, Washington Commanders: McLaurin has only caught 63% of his targets this season, but on Sunday he only caught four of 11 targets, which is an even worse 36.3% completion rate. He is the de facto WR1 on the team, with Jahan Dotson a close second. For the season he only has 11 fewer snaps but has a 15% target share to McLaurin's 23%. And Dotson’s 61% catch percentage is actually lower than McLaurin’s.
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Fantasy Football Running Back Touch Leaders
There have been five RBs who have had over 20 touches in each of the last two weeks, with only one over 20 touches in three consecutive weeks:
Christian McCaffrey, San Francisco 49ers: Of course, McCaffrey is the RB who has had over 20 touches for three straight weeks. On Sunday, he was on the field for 51 snaps. He rushed the ball 19 times for 114 yards and two rushing TDs. For the season, he’s third in snaps and rushing attempts. He’s first in rushing yards and receiving yards among RBs. And he has the most combined TDs with 16. He's in a league of his own.
Rhamondre Stevenson, New England Patriots: It’s nice to see Stevenson have a solid game for the Pats. Not much has gone right for the team, and Stevenson has had a bit of a lost season. He is attempting to be the first Patriots RB to have back-to-back 1000-yard seasons since Curtis Martin did it about 30 years ago. He currently has 580 yards with only six games left on the schedule. It will be a hard task. On Sunday he was on the field for 53 snaps and rushed the ball 21 times for 98 yards and the team’s lone TD.
James Cook, Buffalo Bills: Cook touched the ball 53.6% of the time he was on the field on Sunday, which is an extremely high rate. To put it in perspective, even McCaffrey only touched the ball 47% of the time he was on the field. Cook gained 100 total yards, aided by six catches for 57 yards. For the season, he has 731 rushing yards, which nearly triples fellow Buffalo RB Latavius Murray's total. He has 50% more snaps and nearly double the number of touches, but he just isn’t a difference maker, only scoring three combined TDs for the season.
Isiah Pacheco, Kansas City Chiefs: Pacheco has exactly 20 touches each of the last two weeks. In 42 snaps on Sunday he gained 89 combined yards with two rushing TDs.
Raheem Mostert, Miami Dolphins: Mostert has 43 touches over the last two weeks, and on Sunday he touched the ball 47.6% of the time he was on the field. He gained 94 rushing yards and, like Pacheco, also added two rushing TDs.
I made a big deal about Cook touching the ball over 50% of the time he was on the field because it is rare, especially for those RBs who are on the field a great deal. This week, there were only three other RBs who had 40 or more snaps who had that distinction:
Travis Etienne, Jacksonville Jaguars: For the season, Etienne has touched the ball just under 40% of the time he’s on the field, but this week he eclipsed 50%, with 24 touches on 47 snaps. Overall, he wasn’t very productive, though, only gaining 86 total yards.
Josh Jacobs, Las Vegas Raiders: Jacobs has been a workhorse back for the last few years, and this season is no different. He touches the ball about 45% of the time he’s on the field, and Sunday was no different. He had 24 touches in 44 snaps, which is a whopping 54.5% of the time.
Kyren Williams, Los Angeles Rams: Welcome back, Mr. Williams. What a game he put together, catapulting the Rams to victory. He touched the ball 22 times in 41 snaps. He gained 204 combined yards, although even though 143 of those yards were on the ground, his two TDs were catches.
