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 15 is in the books, and for most fantasy leagues, it was the first round of the playoffs. Hopefully, you’re reading this article after getting a first-round win! Like always, the NFL had its usual amount of craziness in Week 15, with many upsets and some unfortunate injuries:
- The Vikings completed the biggest comeback victory in NFL history (33 – 0 halftime deficit)/
- The Jaguars stunned the Cowboys, winning 40 – 34 in OT/
- The Texans kept up with Kansas City, taking them to OT (lost 24 – 30)/
- Jalen Hurts suffered a shoulder injury – with the risk of missing Week 16 and more/
- Tyler Lockett suffered a broken index finger/
Before we get into it, let’s take a look at one of the best routes of Week 15:
Checking to see if this is allowed. @JJettas2
📺: #INDvsMIN on @NFLNetwork
📱: Stream on NFL+ https://t.co/NLM9jA4M2R pic.twitter.com/ncjwkXEkwm— NFL (@NFL) December 17, 2022
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
