Fantasy Football: Buy-low trade targets and DFS options seeing high-value touches and targets

When it comes to fantasy football, volume has always been king. We want the players who generate the most targets and touches — more opportunities equates to more fantasy points. But not all opportunities are created equal.

Over the summer, I wrote about money opportunities — the most high-value touches and targets players can receive, including end-zone targets, deep targets (20 yards or more), air yards, carries inside the 10-yard and carries inside the 5-yard line.

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It's time to take a look at players whose stocks are up based on the high-value opportunities they saw in Week 1. Whether these opportunities resulted in fantasy production is irrelevant — if these players keep seeing high-value opportunities, fantasy points will follow. We can use this information to inform our Week 2 sit/start decisions and help us identify intriguing buy-low trade targets and upside DFS options.  

End-zone targets

Most WR end-zone targets | Week 1

Calvin Ridley and Darius Slayton were the only wide receivers to see three end-zone targets in Week 1, and they each converted two into touchdowns. This has been a common theme for these young WRs.

Since entering the NFL in 2018, Ridley has now scored 19 touchdowns — that's just one fewer than Tyreek Hill and Davante Adams. Slayton now has 10 TDs over his rookie season and Week 1 of this year, which is just one fewer than Kenny Golladay over that stretch. (Golladay, of course, missed Week 1, but Slayton only played 14 games last season.)

When accounting for plays negated by penalties, two other wide receivers also saw three end-zone targets: A.J. Green and Adam Thielen. Thielen also scored two touchdowns, but Green went scoreless after being called for a questionable offensive pass interference call in the end zone on what would have been a game-winning score for Cincinnati.

End-zone targets are extremely predictive of future touchdowns. With rookie quarterback Joe Burrow frequently looking for Green in the end zone, he's going to find paydirt sooner than later. The matchup on Thursday night is also favorable for Green, as the Browns allowed four end-zone targets in Week 1.

We want to be buying players who see multiple end-zone targets but don't score. For Week 2, other players who stood out based on their usage include D.J. Moore, Kendrick Bourne and Emmanuel Sanders.