Kevin Szafraniec uses RotoViz’s Advanced Stats Explorer to uncover under-the-radar trends at the wide receiver position from the first 11 weeks of the 2025 NFL season.
It feels pretty safe to say that Michael Wilson’s overall WR1 finish in Week 11 was one of the most unexpected performances of the season up to this point. Sure, Marvin Harrison Jr. was out for the week, but there wasn’t much in Wilson’s profile that would have led us to believe that he was about to be sandwiched between three Ja’Marr Chase outings for the third-most targets in a game this season. With Harrison already ruled out for Week 12, is there a chance we see a repeat performance from the Cardinals’ interim WR1?
Before we get into the latest information available in the Advanced Stats Explorer, just a few quick reminders about the article.
- Early in the offseason, I updated my deep dive into the past six years of wide receiver 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 six-year sample, I 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 fit into a typical 12-team fantasy league, they will be referenced throughout the article.
Our current sample of wide receivers to earn a target in 2025 rose to 205 in Week 11, up from 198 in Week 10.
