In this weekly article, Bjorn Yang-Vaernet uses the Advanced Stat Explorer and other RotoViz tools to dive deep into wide receiver usage trends. Usage is key for making waiver wire adds, start/sit decisions, and finding the next blow-up WR in DFS.

We are reaching the point in the season that Scott Hanson would call “The Witching Hour.” These last three or four weeks are crucial for teams aiming for playoffs spots. Nothing is more frustrating than starting brand name WRs and getting no production out of them. I would know! I’ve started Mike Williams for several weeks, thinking that the Chargers may finally get him involved again, despite writing in last week’s article about how his usage has fundamentally changed. That hasn’t turned out well for me.^[1]Nor for the Chargers. They are 1-2 out of their bye and the offense looks a lot less dynamic.

Learn from my mistakes and trust that the underlying usage can help us understand a WR’s realistic range of outcomes. Let’s dive into the stats heading into Week 11.

Routes Run and Routes per Target

Routes run is the first key statistic I’ll focus on because WRs need to be on the field to produce. The second statistic is routes per target. Unlike RBs usage, targets are earned as a WR and routes per target is a helpful measure in figuring out which players are good (or which players coaches want to get the ball to).