In this weekly article, Ryan Ramsarran 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.
Week 7 is in the books, and like always, the NFL delivered a crazy slate of games. Most notably, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost to the Carolina Panthers 21-3. Tom Brady has lost to the Steelers and Panthers in back-to-back weeks and is in for a real course correction. Meanwhile, the New York Giants are 6-1! Next week, the Giants-Seahawks game is the only game between two teams with winning records. Not something we would have thought to see this year, but that’s just the kind of year it has been.
The most notable wide receiver-related event, DeAndre Hopkins, returned from his six-week absence (due to suspension) for the Thursday night prime-time game and finished with ten receptions for 103 yards. Hopkins is back and hasn’t skipped a beat.
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 RB 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).
*Routes for Monday’s game are not included
