RADIO
Fantasy football can be a seesaw game of boxscore chasing, as throughout the season even the best players on our fantasy teams will likely take their lumps.
In a feast or famine league, most players see a wide variance in their fantasy scoring from week-to-week, yet we ceaselessly hope to decipher whatever patterns we can exploit as we set our lineups for matchup after matchup.
In this week’s edition of target acquired, we'll take a closer look at some players with the biggest or most surprising target totals from Week 3. We highlight some players that were given a sizable share of what every fantasy commodity needs most - opportunity - and we look ahead to the players who might just see a bigger opportunity In Week 4.
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Rising Target Grabbers
WIDE RECEIVERS
Larry Fitzgerald (WR, ARZ) - 15 Targets
Per usual, the first name on this week’s list doesn’t present us with any actionable information, but let us simply sit back and marvel at the perpetually doubted, ageless wonder that is Larry Fitzgerald. After a slow start to the year in which he only caught nine of his nineteen targets for 95 yards through two games, and was outshined by JJ Nelson, Fitz treated fantasy owners to 13 catches for 149 yards and a score, doubtlessly turning defeat into victory for hundreds of thousands of his fantasy owners in Week 3. If there was any doubt whether Larry still belonged in the WR1 discussion in PPR formats, last night should have effectively erased that concern. His 34 targets through the season’s first three weeks are good for third overall among WRs, behind only DeAndre Hopkins and Antonio Brown.
Brandon Marshall (WR, NYG) - 11 Targets
In an abysmal start to the season, Marshall has made more than his fair share of mistakes, perhaps most notably an egregious drop in the fourth quarter, with his team trailing by a touchdown in a Monday night contest against the Detroit Lions. Marshall had caught just two of nine targets through the season’s first two weeks, but apparently, he hasn’t quite lost the confidence of quarterback Eli Manning. In Week 3’s near comeback against the Eagles, Marshall caught eight of his eleven targets for 66 yards. While it’s still nothing to write home about, Marshall owners can hope that this is the start of a turn-around for the 33-year-old. At the very least, he’s a hold if you haven’t cut him yet.
Kenny Britt (WR, CLE) - 10 Targets
Through the season’s first two weeks, Kenny Britt had done very little to justify being drafted in fantasy leagues, even as he recorded his first ever 1,000 yard season for the Los Angeles Rams in 2016. With Corey Coleman placed on injured reserve with a broken hand for the second straight season, head coach Hue Jackson reportedly had a conversation with Britt about “stepping up.” The results weren’t especially pretty in Week 3, but with a team-high 10 targets and a renewed lead role in the offense, suddenly Kenny Britt looks like a player worthy of WR3 consideration, having logged three catches for 54 yards and a touchdown in a road contest against the Colts. Coleman is still at least six weeks away from a return so Britt’s target share should continue to be a big one in this Browns offense.
Devin Funchess (WR, CAR) - 10 Targets
All things considered, Funchess’s final line of four catches for 58 yards against the league worst pass defense of the New Orleans Saints was a moderately disappointing output. Funchess may not be an elite talent at the wide receiver position, but with Greg Olsen on injured reserve and Kelvin Benjamin looking extremely unlikely for Week 4’s road contest against the Patriots, Funchess seems like a solid bet to lead the Panthers in targets. If you picked him up with the thought of streaming him against the hapless Saints secondary, he needs to be held for at least one more week.
Geronimo Allison (WR, GB) - 8 Targets
Through his last three starts dating back to last season, all games in which Randall Cobb was unable to play, Geronimo Allison has recorded 14 catches on 21 targets for 279 yards and a touchdown. This week’s stat line could have been even bigger if he had managed to take his 72-yard overtime catch to the house. Geronimo is an elite W3 streamer until Cobb returns. *Update*: With Cobb looking ready to go for Week 4, Allison will have to take a backseat for Thursday's game, but he's a name fantasy players need to know regardless.
Travis Benjamin (WR, LAC) - 8 Targets
The fantasy community as a whole was all over third-year wide receiver Tyrell Williams as the underrated complement to stalwart Keenan Allen in the Los Angeles Chargers starting lineup. Through the season’s first three games however, it has been Travis Benjamin making waves. Arguably fully healthy for the first time in his Chargers tenure, Benjamin finally looks like the elite deep threat that the Chargers signed to a four year 24 million dollar contract before the 2016 season. Remember that Travis Benjamin recorded 68 catches for 966 yards and four all-purpose touchdowns for the lowly Cleveland Browns in the 2015 season. The production we’ve seen so far in 2017 is no fluke.
RUNNING BACKS
Ty Montgomery (RB, GB) - 12 Targets
There’s nothing particularly actionable here except that this comes as a piece of affirmation that Montgomery’s floor is arguably higher than any other PPR RB. Despite eight catches, TyMont only managed 50 scoreless yards from scrimmage, but he’s an automatic start even in standard going forward.
Christian McCaffrey (RB, CAR) - 11 Targets
McCaffrey was the lone Panther to really take significant advantage of what looked like an absolute cupcake matchup on paper at home against the Saints defense. McCaffrey caught nine balls for 101 yards in a breakout game.
Theo Riddick (RB, DET) - 9 Targets
For the second straight week, Riddick disappointed with just four catches for 38 yards, but he’s an emphatic hold even in standard formats if he’s going to continue to be targeted in the passing game as often as he has been. Abdullah is making his best case to become the feature back in this offense, but Riddick is not going away anytime soon.
TIGHT ENDS
Jimmy Graham (TE, SEA) - 11 targets
Graham finally saw the usage that we were hoping for when we were drafting him as a top 75 player. In heavy comeback mode for much of the game, Russell Wilson connected with Graham seven times for 72 yards. Luke Willson poached the tight end touchdown in this contest, but it was certainly an encouraging afternoon for Graham.
Week 4 Potential Breakouts
Robert Woods (WR, LAR)
After garnering a lot of preseason hype as the presumptive WR1 in Sean McVay’s offense, Robert Woods’s stock plummeted with the eleventh hour trade that brought Sammy Watkins to Los Angeles. With Watkins potentially on the shelf with a concussion in Week 4, Woods would figure to be the primary beneficiary on the outside. Even if Watkins does play, Woods outshined Week 1 darling Cooper Kupp on Thursday night catching six of seven targets for 108 yards and may have earned a greater degree of Goff’s trust.
Paul Richardson (WR, SEA)
With a favorable matchup on tap against Indianapolis on Sunday night and Doug Baldwin’s 25% seasonal target share potentially on the shelf, Paul Richardson suddenly looks like a high-upside WR3 play with a secure role in a passing game that suddenly found its rhythm against the Titans in Week 3. As a bonus sleeper, Tyler Lockett can also be turned to in a pinch, although the latter is riskier unless Baldwin is ruled out early.
Wendell Smallwood (RB, PHI)
With Darren Sproles’s season ending injury, this week’s waiver wire headliner, Wendell Smallwood can be deployed immediately against a Los Angeles Chargers defense that has given up 397 yards from scrimmage to lead backs CJ Anderson, Jay Ajayi, and Kareem Hunt in three games to start the year. Granted, Smallwood will be splitting more than the aforementioned backs and will take a back seat to LeGarrette Blount at the goal line, but Smallwood dominated the snaps in Week 3 (43 for Smallwood -22 for Blount) and the matchup appears tasty enough to exploit.
