Last week was the first week with teams on bye, but we have to deal with missing players through Week 11. Keeping your eye on surprising stats pointing you towards players or situations that other might now acknowledge will be key in getting the edge that you need over competitors.
Fasten your seatbelts, #FANation! It’s going to be a bumpy ride.
Zach Ertz leads all tight ends in fantasy points in both standard and PPR formats. He has yet to get less than eight targets in a game. No tight end playing Carolina has seen more than six targets, but Gronkowski did catch four passes for 80 yards and Darren Fells was able to catch two touchdowns on both of his targets last week against the Panthers.
Week 5 was the first time all season that Jonathan Stewart out-snapped Christian McCaffrey. The Eagles have allowed the third most passing yards to opposing running backs, while also allowing the second fewest rushing yards to opposing running backs.
Tanner Gentry was called up from the practice squad this week, and in turn, they cut receiver Deonte Thompson. He led all Bears’ wide receivers during the preseason with four catches for 77 yards and a touchdown. Gentry was a favorite target for Trubisky during preseason practice. Also surprising, it’s Markus Wheaton who played in the most snaps out of all the Chicago wide receivers on Monday Night Football against the Vikings. And while Wheaton played in 75 percent of the offensive snaps, Tre McBride played in 70 percent and Kendall Wright played in 54 percent. Watch to see how these snap counts (and target share) evolves with a new quarterback under center.
Joe Flacco has thrown five touchdowns to six interceptions and has yet to throw for over 250 yards in a game this season.
Since Week 1, Ricardo Louis has been the leading receiver in offensive snaps played. He’s also seen 23 targets over that same time span.
Deshaun Watson is one of three rookies in NFL history with five or more touchdown passes and zero interceptions in a game. He accomplished that feat last week against the Kansas City Chiefs. The week before he threw four touchdown passes, but also logged an interception against the Tennessee Titans. This week he faces the Browns.
So far this season, Aaron Rodgers has thrown for over 300 yards and/or at least three passing touchdowns in each of his games.
Case Keenum has thrown for an average of 294 yards, scored three touchdowns, and has yet to throw a pick during his first two starts at home as a Minnesota Vikings starting quarterback.
Last week Darren Fells caught six passes for 64 yards and two touchdowns. Eric Ebron has only had more than six targets once this season, and he could only catch two of them for a total of nine yards.
Alvin Kamara hasn’t played in more than 35 percent of the team’s offensive snaps since Week 1. He has yet to play in more than 50 percent of the team’s snaps.
Jarvis Landry leads the Dolphins with four targets in the red zone, of when he caught three, and scored once.
Julio Jones is nursing a hip flexor injury, but he will likely play and draw coverage, regardless. Jones has 35 or fewer yards in five of his last 18 outings. He’s only scored one touchdown since Week 10 of the 2016 season.
Chris Hogan disappointed in Week 1 with only one catch for eight yards. But since then he’s caught at least four passes for at least 60 yards and scored in each outing. But Danny Amendola has also gone over 77 yards or caught a touchdown in each of the four games he’s played this season.
He isn’t getting volume, but Jeremy Kerley is 17-17 and has yet to not catch a pass thrown his way this season.
Pierre Garcon is the only wide receiver with more than 40 targets on the season who has yet to score a touchdown. Garçon is tied with Brandin Cooks with the seventh most receiving yards among wide receivers.
Terrelle Pryor has played in 81 percent of the team’s offensive snaps. His highest percentage of snaps played this season came in Week 4, before then bye, when he played in 86 percent of the snaps.
Cameron Brate leads all tight ends with 11 touchdowns scored since the beginning of the 2016 season.
Larry Fitzgerald leads the league with 10 targets inside the red zone (inside the 20). He’s also second in the league with 50 of his yards coming from within the red zone. And yet, he has only scored two touchdowns on the season.
Sean McVay will run with Todd Gurley against the Jaguars, who give up an average of 130.0 rushing yards per game to opposing running backs. That is the second most in the league.
Leonard Fournette is one of five rookie running backs in NFL history with touchdowns in each of his first five games. The Los Angeles Rams give up an average of 1.4 touchdowns per game to opposing running backs, the absolute most in the league.
Juju Smith-Schuster out-snapped Martavis Bryant in each of their last three games. Since Week 3 Smith-Schuster has played in at least 71 percent of the Steelers’ offensive snaps.
Kareem Hunt leads the league with 775 yards from scrimmage, an average of 155 yards per game. Hunt and Adrian Peterson are the only two rookies in NFL history to post 100-plus yards from scrimmage in each of his first five games.
Tyrell Williams has played in the second most offensive snaps on the entire team, only behind Philip Rivers. But he’s only gone over 54 yards in one tame and that was the only game in which he scored a touchdown.
Amari Cooper has four catches for 23 yards in three games. This may be the most surprising stat line of the season.
These are the names of the wide receivers projected to see the field for the New York Giants when they face the Broncos in Denver: Roger Lewis, Tavarres King, Travis Rudolph, Ed Eagan
In Week 4 before the Broncos bye, A.J. Derby caught four of his six passes for 75 yards and a touchdown. The Giants give up an average of 74.8 yards per game to opposing tight ends, the absolute most in the league. They have also allowed six touchdowns to tight ends in five games, the absolute most in the league… again.
Last week T.Y. Hilton has his second 150-plus receiving yard performance of the season. He and Antonio Brown are the only wide receivers with two of those games on the season. The only other receivers with even one game of over 150 receiving yards are A.J. Green, Adam Thielen, and Stefon Diggs.
DeMarco Murray’s percentage of snaps played: Week 1 (73%), Week 2 (54% - Murray hamstring injury occurs during this game), Week 3 (66%), Week 4 (56%), Week 5 (83% - first week of full practice)
Derrick Henry’s percentage of snaps played: Week 1 (28%), Week 2 (44%), Week 3 (41%), Week 4 (44%), Week 5 (19%)
Derrick Henry has yet to play over 44 percent of the team’s offensive snaps this season, even when DeMarco Murray wasn’t at full health. Henry has yet to play over 28 percent of the time when Murray is at full health.