As the NFL becomes more and more pass-heavy, fantasy football managers need to know where and how teams are distributing their targets in the passing game.
Receiver usage data — specifically targets, air yards and routes run — is much better at predicting future receiving production than simply scanning box scores. This passing report analyzes every team’s target, air yard and route run from the previous week so that fantasy managers can make informed decisions with information that's actionable and up to date.
The report includes five categories, which are defined as the following:
- Target: a pass attempt to a receiver
- Target share: the percentage of targets that a player receives out of his team’s total number of targeted pass attempts
- Route run %: the percentage of routes run by a receiver out of his team’s total number of passing plays
- Air yards: the number of yards the ball travels in the air for every pass attempt, measured from the point at which the QB throws the football to the receiver’s location at the spot of the target.
- Air-yard share: the percentage of air yards a player receives out of his team’s total air yards.
Before we get to the team-by-team breakdown, I have identified several players who are seeing real role changes as of late. These players have new receiving usage data over the last few games, indicating a potential change in their future production. Their fantasy stock is either rising or falling based on these usage metrics.
Fantasy Football Stock Up