As we continue to get more data from the 2024 season, we begin to see a clearer picture of how the rest of the year could play out. Malik Nabers’ performance against the Browns is enough to make us think that his Week 1 score — not Week 2 — may have been the outlier. Andy Dalton starting at quarterback for the Panthers brought some life to the team’s passing game (at least for one week). And injuries to Deebo Samuel and George Kittle paved the way for 2024’s biggest individual performance through three weeks.

With a lot of exciting performances in Week 3, and in 2024 overall, what does past data say about their sustainability?

Before we get into the latest information available in the Advanced Stats Explorer, just a few quick reminders about the article.

• Leading up to the season, I looked at the five years of data available in the Advanced Stats Explorer and broke it down into four separate articles: Routes and Targets, Intended Air Yards, Yards After the Catch and Evasion, and Catchable Targets, Drops, First Downs, and Touchdowns.
• When working through the five-year sample, we found that the 90th percentile and above generally included most of the top-24 wide receivers for each metric in any given season. The 75th percentile and above included the top 55 to 60 WRs in any given metric per season. Given that these two cohorts easily apply to a normal 12-team fantasy league, they will be referenced often throughout the article.

In Week 3, the total number of players who earned at least one target during the 2024 season grew to 154 after our Week 2 sample included 142 players.