A statistic I like to use when assessing wide receivers is targets. If your players don’t have the opportunity the odds of them succeeding, are, well, not as good or to put it in terms nobody will understand, zeep zop zulu cranium. We are only one week into the season, but these numbers can be helpful. I’ll give you the top 5 and then a few of the other ones that caught my eye farther down the line.
Wes Welker — 16 targets — Yeah, it’s Brady and Welker, this is no surprise.
Randy Moss — 16 targets — A little surprising that he tied Welker in targets. See Galloway near the bottom of this page.
Earl Bennett — 15 targets — Welker, Moss, Bennett? All that talk of Cutler and Bennett being bff’s is looking to be correct. If they weren’t playing one of the best secondaries in the league his numbers would have been much higher.
Reggie Wayne — 14 targets — AGonz going down accounts for some of this. Look for Garcon to get a few more looks than the 5 he got on Sunday after a full week of practice at the #2 position. Could this be a Tonya Harding type thing? Did anyone see Wayne around Gonzo’s pants with a bucket of scorpions?
Steve Smith — 14 targets — This might be why Jake threw 5 interceptions. He’s always locked onto Smith which is nice for our fake football teams sometimes, but not last Sunday. I wasn’t big on Smith going into the season, but as long as he keeps getting targeted his numbers will rise.
Nate Burleson — 11 targets — Housh had 9. I would have expected this to be the other way around. I didn’t have him as an add yesterday, but I think that was probably an oversight. So here is an undersight: pick him up.
Justin Gage — 11 targets — He looks like he’ll continue to be Collins’ favorite target and a good #3 receiver.
Laurent Robinson — 10 targets — Do you think Laurent’s parents were really wanting a baby girl and just thought, ah, just add a t and let’s get on with it?
Antwaan Randle El — 10 targets — Campbell likes him, but he’s never going to be a big time receiver. He’s a good fill in while Campbell is focused on him. ARE is scrappy and could easily be an asset in ppr leagues.
Marques Colston — 6 targets — Ugh, this isn’t good. Brees’ ability to distribute across the board is hurting Colston and Colston didn’t look quite right either. It’s too early to get nutty, but keep an eye on him.
Braylon Edwards — 6 targets — He needs to see the ball more to be of much value, but I wouldn’t throw the towel in yet.
Josh Cribbs — 6 targets — Look above him. Which one is supposed to be the #1 receiver?
Dwayne Bowe — 5 targets — Not sure what to think of this. When Cassel gets back in there this number might go up, but Croyle was looking toward Bradley a little more with 7 targets.
Lance Moore — 3 targets — It doesn’t look good for Lance. I want to see a little more data on who Brees is looking to throw to though.
Troy Williamson — 2 targets — The preseason was kind to Troy, but the regular season won’t be.
Joey Galloway — 2 targets — That’s out of 53 pass attempts by Brady. He is low in the pecking order.
Chris Chambers — 1 target — I guess there was a reason I was so down on Chambers this year.
