2021 Targets – Honorable Mention
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Following the same thinking I did with 2021 Targets – Regular Season Recap last week, I went and dug a little deeper for this week continuing to look at Targets. I found players that if their roles were to increase (or if they stayed healthy for a whole 17 game season) could crack the top 50 Targets in the 2022 Regular Season.
With Targets the majority of the players we will come across are going to be Wide Receivers (they are your primary ball catchers). Other positions do mix in and as the NFL becomes more and more friendly to those throwing passes and catching them, the more I value those pass catchers (especially if they aren’t a wide receiver by position).
Opportunity and availability play a part but some names to target next season are listed below (with Targets and Games Played after their name). They are players who played 14 games or less, averaged 3.0 Targets per game and are ranked in order of their Targets per Game Average.
| Player | Team | Receptions | Yards | Total TDs | Targets | Games Played | Targets/Game |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calvin Ridley | ATL | 31 | 281 | 2 | 52 | 5 | 10.40 |
| Chris Godwin | TB | 98 | 1,103 | 5 | 127 | 14 | 9.07 |
| Antonio Brown | TB | 42 | 545 | 4 | 62 | 7 | 8.86 |
| Darren Waller | LV | 55 | 665 | 2 | 93 | 11 | 8.45 |
| A.J. Brown | TEN | 63 | 869 | 5 | 105 | 13 | 8.08 |
| Tee Higgins | CIN | 74 | 1,091 | 6 | 110 | 14 | 7.86 |
| Robert Woods | LA | 45 | 556 | 4 | 69 | 9 | 7.67 |
| Sterling Shepard | NYG | 36 | 366 | 1 | 53 | 7 | 7.57 |
| Rob Gronkowski | TB | 55 | 802 | 6 | 89 | 12 | 7.42 |
| Adam Thielen | MIN | 67 | 726 | 10 | 95 | 13 | 7.31 |
| DeVante Parker | MIA | 40 | 515 | 2 | 73 | 10 | 7.30 |
| Jarvis Landry | CLE | 52 | 570 | 2 | 87 | 12 | 7.25 |
| T.J. Hockenson | DET | 61 | 583 | 4 | 84 | 12 | 7.00 |
| Elijah Moore | NYJ | 43 | 538 | 5 | 77 | 11 | 7.00 |
| Michael Gallup | DAL | 35 | 445 | 2 | 62 | 9 | 6.89 |
| Russell Gage | ATL | 66 | 770 | 4 | 94 | 14 | 6.71 |
| George Kittle | SF | 71 | 910 | 6 | 94 | 14 | 6.71 |
| Corey Davis | NYJ | 34 | 492 | 4 | 59 | 9 | 6.56 |
| DeAndre Hopkins | ARI | 42 | 572 | 8 | 64 | 10 | 6.40 |
| Leonard Fournette | TB | 69 | 454 | 2 | 84 | 14 | 6.00 |
| D'Andre Swift | DET | 62 | 452 | 2 | 78 | 13 | 6.00 |
| Jamison Crowder | NYJ | 51 | 447 | 2 | 71 | 12 | 5.92 |
| Odell Beckham Jr. | CLE/LA | 44 | 537 | 5 | 82 | 14 | 5.86 |
| Christian McCaffrey | CAR | 37 | 343 | 1 | 41 | 7 | 5.86 |
| Kadarius Toney | NYG | 39 | 420 | 0 | 57 | 10 | 5.70 |
| Jerry Jeudy | DEN | 38 | 467 | 0 | 56 | 10 | 5.60 |
| JuJu Smith-Schuster | PIT | 15 | 129 | 0 | 28 | 5 | 5.60 |
| Rashod Bateman | BAL | 46 | 515 | 1 | 67 | 12 | 5.58 |
| Allen Robinson | CHI | 38 | 410 | 1 | 66 | 12 | 5.50 |
| D.J. Chark | JAX | 7 | 154 | 2 | 22 | 4 | 5.50 |
| Kenny Golladay | NYG | 37 | 521 | 0 | 76 | 14 | 5.43 |
| Dante Pettis | NYG | 10 | 87 | 1 | 16 | 3 | 5.33 |
| Alvin Kamara | NO | 47 | 439 | 5 | 67 | 13 | 5.15 |
| Emmanuel Sanders | BUF | 42 | 626 | 4 | 72 | 14 | 5.14 |
| Henry Ruggs | LV | 24 | 469 | 2 | 36 | 7 | 5.14 |
| Marquez Valdes-Scantling | GB | 26 | 430 | 3 | 55 | 11 | 5.00 |
| James O'Shaughnessy | JAX | 24 | 244 | 0 | 34 | 7 | 4.86 |
| J.D. McKissic | WAS | 43 | 397 | 2 | 53 | 11 | 4.82 |
| Julio Jones | TEN | 31 | 434 | 1 | 48 | 10 | 4.80 |
| Dan Arnold | CAR/JAX | 35 | 408 | 0 | 52 | 11 | 4.73 |
| James White | NE | 12 | 94 | 0 | 14 | 3 | 4.67 |
| Danny Amendola | HOU | 24 | 248 | 3 | 37 | 8 | 4.63 |
| Rondale Moore | ARI | 54 | 435 | 1 | 64 | 14 | 4.57 |
| Tre'Quan Smith | NO | 32 | 377 | 3 | 50 | 11 | 4.55 |
| Deonte Harris | NO | 36 | 570 | 3 | 59 | 13 | 4.54 |
| Darius Slayton | NYG | 26 | 339 | 2 | 58 | 13 | 4.46 |
| Chase Edmonds | ARI | 43 | 311 | 0 | 53 | 12 | 4.42 |
| Quintez Cephus | DET | 15 | 204 | 2 | 22 | 5 | 4.40 |
| Saquon Barkley | NYG | 41 | 263 | 2 | 57 | 13 | 4.38 |
| Nico Collins | HOU | 33 | 446 | 1 | 61 | 14 | 4.36 |
| Laquon Treadwell | JAX | 33 | 434 | 1 | 51 | 12 | 4.25 |
| Logan Thomas | WAS | 18 | 196 | 3 | 25 | 6 | 4.17 |
| Donovan Peoples-Jones | CLE | 34 | 597 | 3 | 58 | 14 | 4.14 |
| Josh Reynolds | TEN/DET | 29 | 396 | 2 | 49 | 12 | 4.08 |
| Anthony Miller | HOU/PIT | 6 | 25 | 1 | 12 | 3 | 4.00 |
| Will Fuller | MIA | 4 | 26 | 0 | 8 | 2 | 4.00 |
| Michael Carter | NYJ | 36 | 325 | 0 | 55 | 14 | 3.93 |
| David Montgomery | CHI | 42 | 301 | 0 | 51 | 13 | 3.92 |
| Jamal Agnew | JAX | 24 | 229 | 1 | 39 | 10 | 3.90 |
| Dalvin Cook | MIN | 34 | 224 | 0 | 49 | 13 | 3.77 |
| Ricky Seals-Jones | WAS | 30 | 271 | 2 | 49 | 13 | 3.77 |
| Sammy Watkins | BAL | 27 | 394 | 1 | 49 | 13 | 3.77 |
| T.Y. Hilton | IND | 23 | 331 | 3 | 37 | 10 | 3.70 |
| Robert Tonyan | GB | 18 | 204 | 2 | 29 | 8 | 3.63 |
| Maxx Williams | ARI | 16 | 193 | 1 | 17 | 5 | 3.40 |
| Kareem Hunt | CLE | 22 | 174 | 0 | 27 | 8 | 3.38 |
| Kenyan Drake | LV | 30 | 291 | 1 | 40 | 12 | 3.33 |
| Darrell Henderson | LA | 29 | 176 | 3 | 40 | 12 | 3.33 |
| Parris Campbell | IND | 10 | 162 | 1 | 20 | 6 | 3.33 |
| KJ Hamler | DEN | 5 | 74 | 0 | 10 | 3 | 3.33 |
| Adam Trautman | NO | 27 | 263 | 2 | 43 | 13 | 3.31 |
| James Robinson | JAX | 31 | 222 | 0 | 46 | 14 | 3.29 |
| Randall Cobb | GB | 28 | 375 | 5 | 39 | 12 | 3.25 |
| Dontrell Hilliard | TEN | 19 | 87 | 0 | 26 | 8 | 3.25 |
| David Johnson | HOU | 32 | 225 | 1 | 42 | 13 | 3.23 |
| Brevin Jordan | HOU | 20 | 178 | 3 | 28 | 9 | 3.11 |
| Ryan Griffin | NYJ | 27 | 261 | 2 | 42 | 14 | 3.00 |
| Mohamed Sanu | SF | 15 | 177 | 0 | 24 | 8 | 3.00 |
| Breshad Perriman | TB | 11 | 167 | 1 | 18 | 6 | 3.00 |
| Cam Akers | LA | 3 | 10 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 3.00 |
| Tyrell Williams | DET | 2 | 14 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 3.00 |
Targets – By Position
Below are some positional breakdowns of the information above:
Targets – Running Backs
- Leonard Fournette – 84, 14 games
- D’Andre Swift – 78, 13 games
- Christian McCaffrey – 41, 7 games
- Alvin Kamara – 67, 13 games
- J.D. McKissic – 53, 11 games
- James White – 14, 3 games
- Chase Edmonds – 53, 12 games
- Saquon Barkley – 57, 13 games
- Michael Carter – 55, 14 games
- David Montgomery – 51, 13 games
- Dalvin Cook – 49, 13 games
- Kareem Hunt – 27, 8 games
- Kenyan Drake – 40, 12 games
- Darrell Henderson – 40, 12 games
- James Robinson – 46, 14 games
- Dontrell Hilliard – 26, 8 games
- David Johnson – 42, 13 games
- Cam Akers – 3, 1 game
Targets – Tight Ends
- Darren Waller – 93, 11 games
- Rob Gronkowski – 89, 12 games
- T.J. Hockenson – 84, 12 games
- George Kittle – 94, 14 games
- James O’Shaughnessy – 34, 7 games
- Dan Arnold – 52, 11 games
- Logan Thomas – 25, 6 games
- Ricky Seals-Jones – 49, 13 games
- Robert Tonyan – 29, 8 games
- Maxx Williams – 17, 5 games
- Adam Trautman – 43, 13 games
- Brevin Jordan – 28, 9 games
- Ryan Griffin – 42, 14 games
Targets – Wide Receivers
- Calvin Ridley – 52, 5 games
- Chris Godwin – 127, 14 games
- Antonio Brown – 62, 7 games
- A.J. Brown – 105, 13 games
- Tee Higgins – 110, 14 games
- Robert Woods – 69, 9 games
- Sterling Shepard – 53, 7 games
- Adam Thielen – 95, 13 games
- DeVante Parker – 73, 10 games
- Jarvis Landry – 87, 12 games
- Elijah Moore – 77, 11 games
- Michael Gallup – 62, 9 games
- Russell Gage – 94, 14 games
- Corey Davis – 59, 9 games
- DeAndre Hopkins – 64, 10 games
2021 Targets – Honorable Mention – Final Word
At the end of the day (or season) the best ability is availability. Plenty of players aren’t available all season long and their production can sometimes be missed on year end stat sheets. With this in mind I find it helpful to review their per game averages to compare them to their peers. It could give a head start to opportunity for more Targets in 2022. Certainly, a good number of the names listed are expected but always interesting to see some names on the list that you are not expecting to see. They could be the true undervalued commodities come the 2022 Regular Season.
Do you pick all these highlighted players in the first few rounds of your 2022 drafts? Probably not. Although when you compare them to others around their average draft position, I would tend to lean towards the player that is getting more Targets than not. Feel free to reference the Targets and Touchdowns pages to see who has gotten the looks and end-zone appearances through the regular season. Targets are a great stat to keep track to help find opportunities and the next players ready to score you points in fantasy football!
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Targets and TDs Fantasy Football
Find players that will have: Ability – Availability – Opportunity – Consistency – Advantage/Upside – Matchup
If your players are on an offensive team that can get many Targets and Touchdowns, you know I would be interested in them! Statistics courtesy of The Football Database , a great resource for your NFL players statistics. If you enjoyed the article please share it with others (via the social media links Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest).
Missed any recent posts?!, check them out below as you get your mind focused on fantasy football opportunities!
- 2021 Targets – Regular Season Recap
- Super Bowl LVI – Rams at Bengals
- 2021 Conference Championship – AFC/NFC
- 2021 Divisional Round – NFC
- 2021 Divisional Round – AFC
I hope everyone continues to stay safe and healthy! Enjoy the journey throughout the 2021 – 2022 Fantasy Football Season!
