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One of the primary benefits of examining the weekly and season-long target leaders every week is to look for buying opportunities, whether via waivers or trade. Not every target hog is going to turn his opportunities into fantasy production, but I feel much more comfortable trading for a top receiver or chasing waiver potential if I know there are targets available. If you can find someone with a consistent target share you may be a bit unlucky in the touchdown department, you should definitely consider pursuing a trade. Let’s look at a couple of players who fit that description, as well as the several other noteworthy receivers heading into Week 7.
| Player | Team | Targets | Rec | Yards | TDs | Drops | Catch % | ADoT | Yards Per Target |
| Adam Thielen | MIN | 78 | 58 | 712 | 4 | 3 | 74 | 9.5 | 9.1 |
| Antonio Brown | PIT | 71 | 40 | 478 | 6 | 1 | 56 | 11.3 | 6.7 |
| Zach Ertz | PHI | 66 | 48 | 480 | 2 | 3 | 73 | 7.1 | 7.3 |
| Julio Jones | ATL | 65 | 44 | 707 | 0 | 3 | 68 | 15.6 | 10.9 |
| Odell Beckham Jr. | NYG | 65 | 45 | 506 | 1 | 1 | 69 | 10.8 | 7.8 |
| Davante Adams | GB | 65 | 47 | 557 | 6 | 4 | 72 | 10.4 | 8.6 |
| DeAndre Hopkins | HST | 63 | 44 | 657 | 3 | 0 | 70 | 13.6 | 10.4 |
| JuJu Smith-Schuster | PIT | 60 | 42 | 561 | 2 | 2 | 70 | 9.9 | 9.4 |
| Jarvis Landry | CLV | 58 | 31 | 392 | 1 | 4 | 53 | 10.2 | 6.8 |
| Michael Crabtree | BLT | 55 | 30 | 343 | 2 | 8 | 55 | 10.5 | 6.2 |
| A.J. Green | CIN | 55 | 33 | 494 | 5 | 3 | 60 | 13.7 | 9 |
| Emmanuel Sanders | DEN | 53 | 40 | 490 | 2 | 1 | 75 | 9.2 | 9.2 |
| Stefon Diggs | MIN | 53 | 40 | 435 | 3 | 0 | 75 | 10.5 | 8.2 |
| Tyreek Hill | KC | 50 | 34 | 567 | 6 | 2 | 68 | 15.8 | 11.3 |
| Eric Ebron | IND | 50 | 30 | 326 | 6 | 1 | 60 | 10.8 | 6.5 |
| Michael Thomas | NO | 49 | 46 | 519 | 3 | 1 | 94 | 7.4 | 10.6 |
| Robert Woods | LAR | 49 | 36 | 524 | 3 | 0 | 73 | 11.8 | 10.7 |
| Travis Kelce | KC | 48 | 33 | 468 | 3 | 2 | 69 | 9.6 | 9.8 |
| Corey Davis | TEN | 48 | 27 | 385 | 1 | 1 | 56 | 10.6 | 8 |
| Saquon Barkley | NYG | 48 | 40 | 373 | 2 | 1 | 83 | 0.1 | 7.8 |
| James White | NE | 47 | 37 | 323 | 4 | 1 | 79 | 3.6 | 6.9 |
| Tyler Boyd | CIN | 47 | 37 | 455 | 4 | 0 | 79 | 9.4 | 9.7 |
| Alvin Kamara | NO | 47 | 38 | 351 | 1 | 1 | 81 | 2.2 | 7.5 |
| Keenan Allen | LAC | 46 | 36 | 434 | 1 | 1 | 78 | 8.7 | 9.4 |
| Golden Tate | DET | 45 | 33 | 431 | 3 | 4 | 73 | 7.1 | 9.6 |
| Mike Evans | TB | 44 | 33 | 484 | 3 | 3 | 75 | 15.5 | 11 |
| Demaryius Thomas | DEN | 43 | 28 | 330 | 3 | 5 | 65 | 11.5 | 7.7 |
| Nelson Agholor | PHI | 43 | 32 | 310 | 1 | 3 | 74 | 8.1 | 7.2 |
| Jared Cook | OAK | 42 | 32 | 400 | 2 | 1 | 76 | 6.9 | 9.5 |
| John Brown | BLT | 42 | 21 | 424 | 3 | 2 | 50 | 22.3 | 10.1 |
| David Njoku | CLV | 41 | 27 | 245 | 1 | 5 | 66 | 8.3 | 6 |
| Chester Rogers | IND | 41 | 28 | 255 | 1 | 6 | 68 | 7.1 | 6.2 |
| Sterling Shepard | NYG | 41 | 31 | 341 | 2 | 1 | 76 | 8.5 | 8.3 |
| George Kittle | SF | 40 | 27 | 429 | 1 | 1 | 68 | 7.5 | 10.7 |
| Willie Snead IV | BLT | 40 | 30 | 313 | 1 | 1 | 75 | 10 | 7.8 |
| Kenny Golladay | DET | 40 | 27 | 428 | 3 | 1 | 68 | 10.9 | 10.7 |
| Jimmy Graham | GB | 40 | 27 | 349 | 1 | 0 | 68 | 9.8 | 8.7 |
| Quincy Enunwa | NYJ | 40 | 22 | 287 | 1 | 4 | 55 | 8.8 | 7.2 |
| Christian McCaffrey | CAR | 39 | 34 | 238 | 1 | 0 | 87 | 1.7 | 6.1 |
| Melvin Gordon III | LAC | 38 | 30 | 279 | 3 | 6 | 79 | 0.4 | 7.3 |
| Donte Moncrief | JAX | 38 | 18 | 253 | 2 | 3 | 47 | 15.2 | 6.7 |
| Allen Robinson II | CHI | 38 | 24 | 281 | 2 | 0 | 63 | 12.5 | 7.4 |
| Cooper Kupp | LAR | 37 | 30 | 438 | 5 | 2 | 81 | 9 | 11.8 |
| Ryan Grant | IND | 37 | 26 | 270 | 1 | 2 | 70 | 10.9 | 7.3 |
| Nyheim Hines | IND | 37 | 31 | 185 | 2 | 2 | 84 | 1.7 | 5 |
| Larry Fitzgerald | ARZ | 36 | 22 | 215 | 0 | 2 | 61 | 9.4 | 6 |
| Brandin Cooks | LAR | 36 | 28 | 505 | 1 | 1 | 78 | 13.2 | 14 |
| Keelan Cole | JAX | 36 | 25 | 336 | 1 | 2 | 69 | 9.8 | 9.3 |
| Austin Hooper | ATL | 36 | 30 | 273 | 2 | 1 | 83 | 7.1 | 7.6 |
| Pierre Garcon | SF | 35 | 20 | 225 | 0 | 4 | 57 | 9.2 | 6.4 |
| Dede Westbrook | JAX | 35 | 27 | 385 | 2 | 4 | 77 | 8.8 | 11 |
| Rob Gronkowski | NE | 35 | 26 | 405 | 1 | 1 | 74 | 12.6 | 11.6 |
| Antonio Callaway | CLV | 35 | 15 | 186 | 1 | 4 | 43 | 16.5 | 5.3 |
| Jalen Richard | OAK | 35 | 31 | 253 | 0 | 0 | 89 | 1 | 7.2 |
| T.Y. Hilton | IND | 35 | 21 | 294 | 2 | 2 | 60 | 10.2 | 8.4 |
| Devin Funchess | CAR | 35 | 23 | 312 | 2 | 1 | 66 | 13.7 | 8.9 |
Breakdowns
Alshon Jeffery is still at least a week away from making our target leaderboard after missing the first three weeks of the season, but it is only a matter of time. Jeffery had a season-high 12 targets Thursday night, giving him 29 through three games. Jeffery has vaulted himself into must-start territory going forward, but I wouldn’t blame anyone who wanted to try to sell high. In addition to Jeffery’s injury risk, the Eagles have the Panthers, Jaguars and their bye the next three weeks.- Odell Beckham has at least nine targets in every game this season. He still only has one receiving touchdown this season, and it is entirely possible his owner in your league is starting to panic. You should definitely find out.
- It is nearly impossible to trust small pass-catching backs week in and week out (just ask Nyheim Hines owners), but there is no doubt the Bears offense is at its best when Tarik Cohen is heavily involved. Cohen caught seven of nine targets for 90 yards Sunday, giving him 14 receptions on 17 targets over the last two games.
- Danny Amendola caught eight passes on 11 targets Sunday after catching 12 passes on 14 targets in his first four games combined. Brock Osweiler is obviously a check down artist, and Amendola is likely to see a high volume whenever Osweiler plays.
- Albert Wilson garnered some attention for racking up 155 receiving yards and two touchdowns on six catches Sunday. Wilson’s nine targets were encouraging, but his 6.0 ADot was not. Wilson isn’t a terrible desperation play if you are dealing with byes and injuries, but his big day had far more to do with the Bears being unable to tackle than anything Wilson was doing.
- Stefon Diggs may have fallen well behind Adam Theilen in Minnesota’s passing game, but he was still tied for eighth in the NFL in targets heading into Week 6. Diggs hasn’t caught a touchdown since Week 2, and you should at least see if the Diggs owner in your league is beginning to panic.
- Meanwhile, the aforementioned Theilen is on pace for 154 receptions on 216 targets, both of which would be NFL records.I can’t help but wonder if teams will decide at some point to shift their coverage towards Thielen and take their chances with Stefon Diggs .
- Cole Beasley is a thing again. If you want a reason to be encouraged, I would point to his 8.1 ADoT in Week 6. I still think he is a poor man’s Danny Amendola , but he wasn’t used that way on Sunday. At the same time, most of Beasley’s nine receptions came when he was wide open against zone coverage. After his second touchdown, Tony Romo commented on the broadcast that the Jacksonville defense didn’t have a plan for stopping Beasley. I can’t help but feel that if they had wanted to, they could have done so pretty easily. Beasley caught 10 passes total Weeks 2 through 5, and he still doesn’t have enough targets to crack our leaderboard. Until he does, he can safely be ignored outside of 16-team leagues.
- For the second consecutive week, Austin Hooper caught nine passes for 70+ yards on 10+ targets. He even threw in a touchdown for good measure. The Falcons lost Calvin Ridley and Mohammed Sanu in this game, and Hooper is startable in all leagues of both of those receivers are out.
- Jarvis Landry remains in the top 10 in targets this season, but he is outside the top 20 in receptions. I still think Landry is a good player, but I’m beginning to think he may be miscast as a No. 1 receiver. He is probably being held back by his quarterback as well. Landry’s numbers are remarkably similar to Michael Crabtree ’s, and I don’t see anything on tape that makes me think he should be ranked significantly ahead of Crabtree most weeks. That being said, I suspect a lot of fantasy players will be looking to trade away Landry or at least bench him after he caught just two of nine targets for 11 yards Sunday, and I think that would be a mistake.
- Keenan Allen had just five targets Sunday, but he is still 24th in targets, 16th in receptions and 21st in receiving yards on the season. We have already started getting “What’s wrong with Keenan Allen ” questions in the FantasyAlarm Sunday chat, and you should absolutely email the Keenan Allen owner in your league and see if he is willing to buy low. At the very least, Allen remains a high-end WR2 every week, and in a league where reliable receiving options are hard to come by, that still has a lot of value.
Player News
ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reports the Cowboys’ plan is for George Pickens “to play out his rookie deal.”
It looks like we won’t see any sort of long-term contract struck between Pickens and the Cowboys after the mercurial wideout was traded from the Steelers to Dallas in exchange for a 2026 third round draft pick and a 2027 fifth rounder. Dallas coaches and Jerry Jones likely want to see how Pickens, 24, acclimates to his new team after alienating coaches and teammates in Pittsburgh last season. Pickens, who has 2,841 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns over three NFL seasons, will immediately become the team’s No. 2 option behind CeeDee Lamb and a much-needed deep ball target for Dak Prescott.
The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jeff McLane reports TE Dallas Goedert will remain with the Eagles in 2025.
Goedert agreed to a $4 million salary cut for the upcoming season, per NFL insider Jordan Schultz. He will make $10 million in 2025 and be a free agent next offseason. It’s quite the turnabout after Eagles coaches and front office officials strongly implied for months that Goedert had played his last snap with the team. Goedert, 30, has missed 15 games over the past three seasons and was widely expected to be dealt during the NFL Draft. Goedert will be a solid top-12 fantasy option, well behind AJ Brown and DeVonta Smith in the team’s target pecking order. He averaged 4.2 catches and 49.6 receiving yards per game in 2024 and had the ninth highest EPA per target among tight ends.
Titans re-signed DT James Lynch.
Lynch, 26, a former fourth round selection by the Vikings, will return for a second season with the Titans after starting all 17 games in 2024. He had 20 tackles, two tackles for loss, and one sack for the Titans last season. Pro Football Focus graded the Titans as last year’s fourth worst pass rush and ninth best run-defending unit.
Jaguars released WR Gabe Davis.
Davis, who secured $24 million in guarantees when he signed with Jacksonville last year, managed 20 catches for 239 yards and two touchdowns over ten games in his only year with the Jags. The Davis signing is yet another in a string of disastrous decisions by the former Jacksonville front office. With Brian Thomas and Travis Hunter in the fold, the Jaguars ended their experiment with Davis, 26. He should see interest from wideout-needy teams in the coming weeks, including perhaps the Lions. Davis will be locked into a strictly downfield role wherever he lands this spring or summer.
Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio reports WR Allen Lazard is “in play” to sign with the Steelers.
Lazard has followed Aaron Rodgers from the Packers to the Jets, and now possibly to Pittsburgh if Rodgers decides to sign there and play again in 2025. Lazard had 29 catches over seven games with Rodgers under center for the Jets in 2024. He had been a healthy scratch for much of the 2023 season, which Rodgers missed with an Achilles injury. “The possibility hinges largely if not entirely on Rodgers signing with the Steelers,” Florio said. “While nothing with Rodgers is ever done until it’s done, the persistent thinking continues to be that it will happen.” Lazard would likely operate as the No. 2 wideout in Pittsburgh behind DK Metcalf. The team’s run heaviness and resulting dearth of targets would make it difficult for Lazard to be fantasy relevant in 2025.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports the Cowboys are finalizing a trade for Steelers WR George Pickens.
The move, which includes a 2026 third round pick and a 2027 fifth round pick sent to the Steelers, comes after another ESPN report saying Pickens, 24, wanted to remain in Pittsburgh. Acquiring Pickens — who has 2,841 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns over three NFL seasons — addresses an area of acute need for the Cowboys, who have one of the league’s weakest wideout room behind CeeDee Lamb. Pickens and Lamb will make for one of the NFL’s best receiver duos, with Pickens functioning as a viable downfield threat for Dak Prescott, who last season ranked 15th out of 40 qualifying quarterbacks in deep ball accuracy. Pickens in 2024 was third in deep targets and second only to Alec Pierce in receiving yards on downfield receptions. Pickens will have far more upside in the Dallas offense than he did in Pittsburgh. DK Metcalf, meanwhile, will enter the 2025 season as the unquestioned No. 1 wideout for the run-heavy Steelers. His fantasy prospects look much brighter with Pickens in Dallas.