Target Watch: Mitchell Friedman?

Forgive the baseball reference here, but one of my all-time favorite moments in a sports movie comes from the cult-classic "Major League." After spring training is complete, there’s a montage of the fans looking over the Indians roster in their morning papers, obviously in disbelief over the names of the players who made the team that year. “Mitchell Friedman?”

Why bring that up? Well, that was exactly how I felt after watching the games in Week 10 and that touchdown montage the Red Zone Network proudly shows at the end of their broadcast. Ed Dickson? Rhett Ellison? Justin Perillo? Who the heck are these guys and what are they doing catching touchdown passes in the NFL? The list actually doesn’t end there.

Joining the aforementioned mystery three, we also saw touchdown grabs from Zach Miller (twice), Brandon Pettigrew, Maxx Williams, Scott Chandler, Jermaine Gresham and Clive Walford. It was like, “Attack of the Back-Up Tight Ends.” OK, maybe we can take Walford out since he’s actually now the starter in Oakland, but really, when these names were being rattled off by the announcers, I was literally waiting for one of them to jokingly throw in the name Mitchell Friedman just to see if we were paying attention.

And the list of unrenowned names spilled off into the receivers as well as Andre Holmes, Dwayne Harris, Chris Givens, Jamison Crowder, Josh Huff and Andre Caldwell also did some end zone dancing themselves. Sure, we saw some of the usual suspects find their way into the scoring column, but of the 43 receiving touchdowns caught in Week 10, 13 of them (30.2-percent) went to a bunch of no-names who were more-than-likely unowned in both season-long and daily.

So now the question remains, what are we supposed to do with this? Are any of these guys able to be relied upon in the future? Well, it’s a tough call. First off, you’ve got to look at the player and his standing within the team’s depth chart. Like we said about Walford, he’s now the starting tight end for the Raiders and certainly warrants consideration in both season-long and daily play. Givens gets a slight bump as the new No. 2 receiver in Baltimore in the wake of their injuries and if you listened to Jeff Mans on Sirius last week, he actually called the four-catch, minimal yards but with a touchdown performance. Even guys like Harris and Crowder may warrant looks in extremely deep seasonal leagues or the occasional dart in a GPP, but in truth, the rest of them may never be heard from again. They are not recommended pick-ups off the wire and while you may be tempted to throw a dart in a GPP, the odds of hitting with them are seriously stacked against you.

Just be warned – you need to look at more than just the previous week’s statistics. It sounds silly to many of you, but believe me, there are plenty of people who fall for the “Flavor of the Week” all too often. Don’t be that guy…or gal.

Now let’s look at some of the targets from Week 10 and how they affect the overall leaderboard.

Week 10 Target Leaders

Davante Adams, WR GB – While the 47.6-percent catch rate is unappealing, let’s focus on the 21 targets. Yeah, 21. Crazy, right? While James Jones has completely fallen off the Packers wideout map, Adams has stepped into the spotlight and is now perpetually sitting in Aaron Rodgers’ crosshairs. He now has double-digit targets in each of his last two games and it’s only a matter of time before he starts finding the end zone with some semblance of regularity. With little or no ground game in Green Bay, Rodgers is likely to focus heavily on the second-year receiver.

Kamar Aiken, WR BAL – Joe Flacco left zero doubt as to who his new No. 1 receiver is now that Steve Smith is done for the season. Aiken has had a few good games this season and even has a pair of touchdown receptions from earlier in the year. But moving forward now, he’s going to be leaned on heavily to help the Ravens move the chains. He’s going to be a PPR monster moving forward and should start finding the end zone a little more as well.

Danny Amendola, WR NE – I was very adamant at the start of the season regarding fantasy owners overvaluing Davante Adams in the wake of the Jordy Nelson injury. Everyone just expected Adams to slide right in as if the two were the same receiver and it took Adams 10 weeks to get a hold of his quarterback’s attention. Well, if there were two receivers who are potentially interchangeable, it would have to be Amendola and Julian Edelman. They are built the same way and play the game in similar fashion. You can probably expect Amendola to slide right into Edelman’s spot which makes him a must-own and a must-start each week.

Overall Targets Leaderboard

Target Percentage Leaders

Jimmy Graham, TE SEA – It still blows me away that the Seahawks went out and traded their Pro Bowl center for Graham and still have no idea how to use him in their offense. While he may lead the team in target percentage, he is still an extremely under-utilized asset. He sits just outside the top-10 of tight ends in PPR leagues and has just two touchdowns all year. He remains the perfect example of how a change in system can completely ruin the fantasy value of a player.

Allen Hurns, WR JAC – He may not see the same number of targets as Allen Robinson sees, but Hurns is easily just as important to the success of the franchise. He’s the second-most targeted receiver on the team, including tight end Julius Thomas and remains a must-start in all formats as he goes for his eighth-staright game with a touchdown in Week 11.

Red Zone Target Leaders

Brandon Marshall/Eric Decker, WR NYJ – While Marshall always seems to be the guy who sits front-and-center, it’s Decker who continues to prove that he has the more reliable hands. Decker has the better catch rate and is now starting to catch Marshall with regard to red zone looks. With more touchdowns already, it’s difficult to think that he won’t surpass him in the red zone targets moving forward.

Theo Riddick, RB DET – For those still scrambling around looking for a running back to play, check to see if the Detroit back is still available. He’s been utilized more and more inside the red zone and has built quite the lead in red zone target rate over Golden Tate. He’s not just a change-of-pace guy anymore as he seems to be a lot closer to the featured back with Joique Bell and Ameer Abdullah fading into the background.

Potential Risers

Potential Fallers

Week 11 Matchup to Watch

Oakland Raiders at Detroit Lions – Not the most marquee matchup we’ve got in the NFL, but one I am looking at for a ton of fantasy points. The Raiders' pass defense ranks 20^th and the Lions’ ranks 28^th in the league. Each team has allowed 16 passing touchdowns and have given up over 2,300 in passing yards this season. Look for Derek Carr to hit Amari Cooper and Michael Crabtree regularly as well as…you guessed it…Clive Walford. The Lions rank 27^th in the league against the tight end. Meanwhile, Matthew Stafford will lean heavily on the likes of Calvin Johnson, Golden Tate and Eric Ebron while also getting Theo Riddick involved in a number of running back pass plays, against which the Raiders rank 26^th in the league. Get ‘em ready, folks. This one’s fixin’ to be a shootout!