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.
What a weird Week 9. As Murphy’s Law states: “Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.”
A few of the unexpected outcomes of Week 9:
- Bills scored six total points against the Jaguars
- Chiefs scored 13 total points
- Dallas was shutout through three and a half quarters before Malik Turner scored two touchdowns in garbage time
- The Rams only pass for one touchdown—to Sony Michel of all players
While the fantasy outcomes were disappointing, it is in weeks like this one where analyzing underlying usage is more enlightening than usual. Let’s dig in below.
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).
