Stefon Diggs shines in Week 9 Opportunity Report Published: Nov 06, 2016 at 02:24 PM Matt Harmon Opportunity is the name of the game in . Talent matters, of course, but we want players who see a healthy volume of targets and touches to anchor our lineups, especially in daily fantasy. Every week in the second season of the Opportunity Report, we'll look at all the pa sing targets for every NFL team and the percentage each player owns. Franchise will handle the backfield touches section this year and his Week 9 piece is tabbed above. Atlanta Falcons With out for this game, played on 75 percent of the team snaps. If Tamme continues to mi s time, or if the just decide to keep rolling their rookie out there, Hooper could buck the trend of rookie tight ends not contributing. Hooper hauled in a red-zone touchdown on Thursday night, and Tamme came into Week 9 leading the NFL in targets inside the 20-yard line. There's clearly a role to carve out here, and the talented Hooper has a chance to sustain this momentum. Baltimore Ravens returned to a full workload right away, leading the team in targets and playing 81 percent of the snaps. also played on 81 percent of the snaps but only saw three targets go his way. Both running backs were also involved in the pa sing game in this contest. These v. games almost always result in slow-paced, low-scoring slugfests. It's hard to know how much credence we should give the results in this game. Carolina Panthers The pa sing distribution is one of the most predictable in the NFL. and are going to split the target lead role more often than not. This was not a particularly effective pa sing game for the with under dure s on a number of snaps, so neither of the top pa s-catchers truly acce sed their ceilings. Benjamin, however, has developed something of a strong
Clayton Richard Jersey floor. Week 9 was the fourth-straight game in which Benjamin has hit at least 70 receiving yards. This was only the third game in which saw seven or more targets, and he has not eclipsed 60 yards since Week 3. Cleveland Browns returned to full-action right away, playing on 91 percent of the team's snaps. That trailed by just one total play, and the two saw an identical share of the team targets. The explosive rookie will be a bigger factor in coming weeks when the the play teams that don't limit the opposition's time of po se sion quite like Dallas does. Cleveland only ran 44 offensive plays on Sunday. Cleveland gets Baltimore on Thursday night, and if draws shadow coverage from , Coleman will be in great position to produce. Dallas Cowboys A week after seeing 14 targets go his way, handled just 14.3 percent of the team targets in Week 9 and caught just one of them
Randy Jones Jersey for 19 yards. There were certainly a few targets where Bryant could have done more to make a play, including a misplay in the end zone. Dallas has never been the type of offense to funnel all the action through Bryant, and there's even le s reason to do so this year. has shown no willingne s to force the i sue downfield when it's not there, and is quite content to make it work with players like and underneath. Bryant will have his big days, but sorry about your luck, you're going to have to take some of these weeks too. Denver Broncos Denver continues to have a strictly defined pa sing game distribution. did creep in and handle four targets, but that's well outside of the norm. In this offense, we are only ever interested in the top two wide receivers, especially with 's play starting to turn back into a pumpkin. Detroit Lions was once again marginalized in the ' Week 9 win over the . After starting the year on fire, including a 205-yard game in Week 3, Jones has 253 receiving yards since. Jones will still have productive games, but he's also showing that he can't nece sarily defeat top-tier corners or added defensive attention like a true No. 1 receiver. The most valuable pa s-catcher on this team might be . Playing 81 percent of the team's snaps, Ebron posted another strong line. Ebron has 18 targets and 14 catches in his two games since returning from an injury absence. Green Bay Packers With only playing 21 snaps after being a surprise late "active," once again chipped in at the slot position, accumulating 36 percent of his yardage there. This undoubtably helped him get free for his second-straight 90-plus yard receiving day. However, per Next Gen Stats, Sunday brought us an improved as he averaged 3.2 yards of separation at target, which was his highest figure of the season. The once again lived in the four and five wide receiver set, doling out those formations on 56.9 percent of their plays on Sunday. The i sue with Green Bay is that they reverted back to their old ways trying too hard to push the ball down the field, after having a ton of succe s with a quick-strike short pa sing game in their previous two outings. Rodgers went 1-of-9 on pa ses of 20-plus air yards. Rodgers also had the second-worst air yards differential among Week 9 quarterbacks with a -6.2 mark (12.5 intended air yards/attempt, 6.3 completed air yards/attempt). The need to understand what their identity is right now, and stick to it. Indianapolis Colts led the team in wide receiver snaps with 97 percent. His production will only go up as he continues to establish himself as the top touchdown threat on the team. returned from a multi-week absence, but still trailed in snaps, 65 to 73 percent. It appears that Doyle has earned the job of 's top tight end, which is a money role. Allen's return did have a negative effect on the already unproductive . The 2015 first-rounder dipped down to playing only 62 percent of the snaps. Jacksonville Jaguars continues to keep his floor afloat by seeing a tremendous share of the team targets. However, he can't acce s the ceiling he showed last season with continuing to play unspeakably bad, so we just need to adjust expectations going forward. The rest of the offense didn't offer much, either, outside of a rare downfield target for the much improved . played on just 55 percent of the snaps, his second-lowest total of the season. Any lo s of playing time is a killer to any predictable value Thomas may have had left. Kansas City Chiefs came into this game highly questionable and left the contest after just two plays. He never returned. With Maclin down it was , not who emerged as the injury replacement. He played 70 percent of the snaps, trailing only 's 88 percent, and led the team in targets. If Maclin is forced to mi s any time, Wilson would come into focus as a sleeper play against the next week. Los Angeles Rams The tried their best to attack the with the tight end, and outside of a ghastly mi s at the goal line, helped the team on Sunday. had a forgettable outing, trailing Kendricks (81 percent) by playing only 45 percent of the snaps and hauling in just one of his seven targets. and continue to lead the wide receivers in opportunities. mi sed Quick on a wide open deep shot and in the end zone. He's still a big-play dart throw for desperate fantasy players. 's two targets were a season-low and he only played one more snap than Quick. Miami Dolphins It's gone a bit under-discu sed, but the emergence of and a foundation running game has had (and will continue to have) a negative effect on the statistical output of the Miami receivers. The handed off to their running backs
Chris Paddack Jersey 29 times compared to 28 pa s attempts from . was already barely a factor, and he saw only four targets despite playing 90 percent of the team snaps with leaving early with an injury. The biggest loser is , who the team will no longer need to use as an extension of the running game as often as they have in the past. Landry has not seen double-digit targets go his way since September ended, after starting off with four straight games with 10 or more targets. Minnesota Vikings has one of the safest floors in the NFL when he's 100 percent healthy. He just dominates the target share in the offense, and saw a whopping 14 targets on Sunday. Diggs averaged 11.8 targets in the four games where he was not on the injury report heading into the game. While Diggs might not have the same ceiling he showed in the first two weeks thanks to a broken offensive line and new scaled-back approach, he has a predictable floor to lean on. continues to play as the No. 2 receiver, going out on 58 percent of the offensive snaps. He could have had a touchdown on the day, but saw it clank off his hands in the end zone. New Orleans Saints is quite clearly the No. 1 receiver in this offense. Not only did Thomas lead the team in targets, he played 83 percent of the team snaps, which was way ahead of ' 65 percent and 's 59 percent. He also showed more downfield ability than he had in previous weeks, including hauling in a long touchdown pa s. Thomas' average depth of target in Week 9 (12.1) was well above his season average of 8.1. Elsewhere, was once again marginalized in favor of superior blocker . Fleener played just 32 percent of the snaps whereas Hill played 76 percent. It's going to be tough for Fleener to ever see double-digit targets with that kind of snap share. New York Giants The ran out three receivers on all but three of their offensive plays on Sunday. With suffering an injury in this game, undrafted free agent stepped up to play 57 percent of the offensive snaps. He caught one of his two pa ses for a 30-yard touchdown on a terrific route. If Cruz mi ses an extended stretch, Lewis could push him for playing time. Cruz has not scored since Week 1 or cro sed 60 receiving yards since Week 3. New York Jets The rocky quarterback play in New York is without question affecting the value of their pa s-catchers. hasn't had a reliable ceiling or floor in weeks, while completely disappeared after a solid outing in Week 8. He played fewer snaps than , 74 to 94 percent respectively. Oakland Raiders We expected the receivers to be slowed a bit in this game, and that did indeed come to pa s. gave up five catches for 54 yards to
San Diego Padres Jersey on 17 pa s plays, while was only able to manage two catches against on 15 pa s plays. With the distribution of targets the same as ever, there's no reason to change projections on these players going forward. Philadelphia Eagles threw a career-high 47 pa ses in the ' losing effort against the , so the distribution was a bit more spread out than usual. led the way with 10 targets but just a 21.3 percent share. Catching zero of his five targets is no way for to earn more playing time. Pittsburgh Steelers continued his trend of playing below expectations in his first (usually hasty) game back from injury. Volume was able to keep afloat. handled a surprising 10 targets and went over 100 yards receiving. He out-snapped 69 to 63 percent. Coates committed a brutal drop in the end zone, which he's wont to do every now and again. Coates will come back into focus as a fantasy a set next week when Roethlisberger should be close to full health and the will be at home. San Diego Chargers was, predictably, used quite sparingly while playing through a PCL injury. He played a season-low seven snaps and was targeted just once. With also on the shelf, played a whopping 81 percent of the snaps and led the team with three red zone targets. Coming second in red zone looks (tied with Melvin Gordon) was . The breakout receiver is an ideal fit for the type of that the love to run. San Francisco 49ers turned in a surprise dynamic performance against the in Week 9. His stats weren't a lie either, as according to Next Gen Stats, Patton's 4.5 average separation at target led all wide receivers on Sunday. We know better than to spend much time chasing receivers, and the same goes for . On the season, 61.9 percent of McDonald's 226 yards have come on two long touchdown scampers. Tampa Bay Buccaneers continues to absorb an outrageous amount of volume every single week. After handling 17 targets and absorbing a huge hit on a dynamic one-handed sideline catch, Evans looked legitimately ga sed from the usage by the end of the contest. With showing up on the inactives list, took a full complement of snaps, going out on 93 percent. snagged a red-zone touchdown, which he's a threat for every week, and played 68 percent of the snaps in a pa s-heavy game script. On the LIVE Podcast, Alex Gelhar noted that identifying when Tampa Bay should be in those pa s-heavy contests, as it will keep the blocking-deficient Brate on the field. The good news is that with
Erick Aybar Jersey their defense, those games shouldn't be too hard to come by. Tenne see Titans Over the last five weeks no player has more touchdowns than . He's only hit 70 yards receiving in just one of those games, but has five scores to show for himself. All five of those have come in the red zone, where Matthews trails only in targets seven to five. Matthews' 100 percent conversion rate inside the 20-yard line is just screaming for some regre sion, but his playing time is now up to leading the team in wide receiver snaps with 89 percent on Sunday. With playing so well, and Matthews' opportunities seemingly on the upswing, this could be a turning point in the season for him. This article has been reproduced in a new format and may be mi sing content or contain faulty links. Please use the Contact Us link in our site footer to report an i sue.
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