In this weekly article, Bjorn Yang-Vaernet will use 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 3 is in the books and another unpredictable week with injuries ensued. During best ball season, the RotoViz team explained the historically low injury rates of WRs, yet it felt like so many players were sidelined. A few notable ones:
- Tee Higgins – Shoulder
- A.J. Brown – Hamstring
- Sterling Shepard – Hamstring
- Diontae Johnson – Knee
- JuJu Smith-Schuster – Ribs
In this article, I will take an underlying look at the usage behind Chase Claypool’s 15 targets as the WR1 for the Steelers and uncover some breakout targets to monitor in the coming weeks. Using advanced statistics beyond the box score is the best way to know if a player’s production is real or a façade — let’s dig in.
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).
