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 12 is in the books, and we were treated to a full slate of games as no teams were on bye. Hopefully, everyone had a great thanksgiving! You definitely did if you are a Bills fan, Vikings fan, or Cowboys fan.
In terms of wide receiver news, it’s bittersweet. The long-awaited return of Marquise Brown finally happened, and in his first game, he out-targetted DeAndre Hopkins. Unfortunately, with one receiver back from injury, one has left. Darnell Mooney suffered a season-ending ankle injury this week, a massive blow to the Chicago offense that was starting to get it going.
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