In this weekly article, Ryan Ramsarran 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.
Week 11 was a wild one, highlighted by the Cowboys’ 40-3 win over the then 8-1 Minnesota Vikings. Unfortunately, a common element of Week 11 was injuries. Some of the injuries this week include:
- Wan’Dale Robinson (torn ACL – season-ending)
- Kyle Pitts (MCL injury – season-ending)
- Cooper Kupp (high ankle sprain in Week 10, confirmed this week to be season-ending)
Another big note over the past few days is quarterback changes. Some of the QB changes set for Week 12:
- Mike White is starting for NYJ (Zach Wilson benched)
- Sam Darnold is starting for CAR (Baker Mayfield benched)
- Kyle Allen is starting for HOU (Davis Mills benched)
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 RB 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).
*Routes for Monday’s game are not included