Welcome to the Target Trends article for Week 15!
Hopefully, you are reading this while preparing for a fantasy playoff run. If not, I encourage you to stay locked into the fantasy football landscape in the coming weeks to be better prepared for a bounce-back season next year.
As we continue to examine targets, it’s worth noting that now that bye weeks are behind us, every team has played 13 games. Other than players who have missed time due to injuries or suspensions, everyone has had an equal amount of gametime available. This will help us compare when, as usual, we start by looking at the season-long target leaders to this point.
Ja’Marr Chase is a player who missed a game due to suspension, and he still easily leads the league with 139 targets so far, good for 11.6 targets/game. Even with the game missed, he’s on pace for 186 targets, which would be the most by any player since Cooper Kupp’s 191 in 2021. Trey McBride remains in second with 127 targets through 13 games. Jaxon Smith-Njigba (121) and Chris Olave (120) round out the top four.
Back to McBride. He easily leads all TEs in targets, and if you’ve been following along, you probably know that he is still on pace to set the record for most targets at the position in a single season. He is now 29 targets away with four games left to play. Jake Ferguson is currently second among TEs with 90 targets, while Kyle Pitts Sr. and rookie Harold Fannin Jr. are next with 85 targets apiece. Dalton Schultz and Tyler Warren are each one target behind them with 84.
Even with the week off, Christian McCaffrey is the only RB over 100 targets this season, 107 to be exact. De’Von Achane is in the midst of a target drought, as you will see below, but he still sits in second at the position with 73 targets. Bijan Robinson is the only other RB with at least 70 targets, while Chase Brown (68) and Jahmyr Gibbs (66) round out the top five.
I’ll continue to lead off this article with season-long target leaders throughout the fantasy playoffs, but for now, let’s check out this week’s target trends heading into Week 15.
Michael Wilson – 16 targets, 11 rec
Wilson once again turned into some combination of Jerry Rice and Calvin Johnson in the absence of Marvin Harrison Jr. He’s averaging a ridiculous 16.3 targets/game without Harrison in the lineup, compared to 4.5 with him. Wilson could be the definition of a league winner if MHJ remains sidelined, but it’s tougher to trust him if MHJ returns to play out the last few games for Arizona as they limp to the finish line.
Ryan Flournoy – 13 targets, 9 rec
Flournoy’s 13 targets on Thursday night nearly matched the 14 that he saw during his entire rookie campaign last season. It’s easy to point to CeeDee Lamb’s early exit as the reason for Fournoy’s increased usage, but it’s worth noting that nine of his 13 targets came before Lamb suffered his concussion. Flournoy becomes an intriguing fantasy option if Lamb sits, but he will be more difficult to trust if Lamb returns for Week 15.
A.J. Brown – 13 targets, 6 rec
Brown set a new season high with 13 targets on Monday night and turned them into the WR 12 performance for the week. His night could have been even bigger if it weren’t for three drops, including what would have been a long TD catch.
PERFECT THROW, MASSIVE DROP pic.twitter.com/3qBFWflRCj
— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) December 9, 2025
He’s now averaged 11.5 targets/game over the last four weeks. That equates to a 35% target share over that span, compared to the 26% share he saw over his first eight games of the season. Unfortunately for the Eagles, it’s resulted in losses in three of those four games
Michael Pittman – 12 targets, 9 rec
Pittman tied his season high with 12 targets in Week 15. Ten of them came from Riley Leonard after Daniel Jones, unfortunately, tore his Achilles tendon late in the first quarter. A target that didn’t make it into the box score turned into a TD that was nullified by one of the most questionable offensive pass interference penalties you will ever see.
Riley Leonard's first touchdown is taken off the board due to one of the weakest OPI calls I've ever seen.#Colts#ForTheShoe#Jaguars#INDvsJAX pic.twitter.com/KCkc9eSFgS
— Chris Shepherd (@NFLscheme) December 7, 2025
Now, Leonard is dealing with a knee injury, and the Colts’ QB situation is very much up in the air for Week 15, making it difficult to trust Pittman or any Indy pass catcher in the first round of the fantasy playoffs.
DK Metcalf – 12 targets, 7 rec
Week 14 was the kind of outing most expected more frequently this season after the Steelers traded for and extended Metcalf in the offseason. His 12 targets and 38% target share were both season highs. He turned them into a season high 148 yards, which was enough to finish as the WR7 on the week, despite not scoring a TD.
Harold Fannin – 11 targets, 8 rec
Cleveland’s rookie TE set a new season high with his 11 targets in Week 14, which he turned into his first 100-yard game and the TE1 performance of the week. He’s now up to TE6 on the season and has seen his usage climb to a 28% target share in the three games started by fellow rookie Shedeur Sanders.
Zay Flowers – 11 targets, 8 rec
In Week 15, Flowers had his most fantasy points since Week 1 and his most targets since Week 2. His 95 targets are easily the most on the Ravens, 38 more than his closest teammate, Mark Andrews. They also put him on pace for 124 targets, which would be a new career high for the third-year WR.
Steve Roberts-Imagn Images
Puka Nacua – 11 targets, 7 rec
Davante Adams – 6 targets, 4 rec
It’s never a surprise to see Nacua log double-digit targets in a game, and Adams’s six targets are only slightly below his average of 8.1 targets/game this season. Unfortunately for Adams, it was the first time since Week 6 that he didn’t find the end zone. He has scored at least one TD in nine of his 13 games played this season, but has finished outside of the top 40 fantasy WRs in three of the four that he didn’t.
Tee Higgins – 11 targets, 6 rec
Ja’Marr Chase – 8 targets, 5 rec
Chase may be the leading target earner in the league, but it was Higgins leading the way for the Bengals in Week 14. His 11 targets were a season-high, though his status for Week 15 is in question after taking multiple hard hits to the head and entering the concussion protocol after the game for the second time. If he is out in Week 15, Andrei Iosivas, Mitchell Tinsley, and Mike Gesicki are all candidates to see increased targets. Of course, you start Chase regardless.
Jakobi Meyers – 10 targets, 4 rec
Brian Thomas Jr. – 6 targets, 3 rec
Meyers’ ten targets were his most since Week 2, when he was still on the Raiders, and accounted for a strong 32% target share. Thomas doubled the three targets that he saw in his first game back from injury and posted his second-highest yardage total of the season. It’s worth noting that Tim Patrick and Brenton Strange also saw six targets in this game. It’s encouraging to see BTJ ramp up, but it appears that Meyers is currently the WR1 for the Jags.
Kyle Pitts – 10 targets, 6 rec
Pitts matched his season high with ten targets in Week 15, just one shy of his career high. They accounted for a 34% target share, the highest he’s seen in a while.
it's been 1,141 days since kyle pitts saw a target share (34%) like this.
dude wasn't even a "sr." back then.
— Kyle Borgognoni (@kyle_borg) December 8, 2025
Pitts has seen 23 targets, equal to a 29% target share, over the last three games with Drake London sidelined. He’s on pace for 111 targets on the season, which would be one more than the career high of 110 he set as a rookie in 2021.
Courtland Sutton – 10 targets, 6 rec
Troy Franklin – 4 targets, 3 rec
Week 15 marked the third time this season that Sutton has seen double-digit targets; exactly ten each time. He has a relatively disappointing 20.3% target share on the season, only slightly ahead of Troy Franklin’s 19.8% for the team lead. Franklin, however, has combined for just seven targets over the last two games following Denver’s bye, after averaging 9.0 targets/game over the previous five.
Jameson Williams – 9 targets, 7 rec
Amon-Ra St. Brown – 9 targets, 6 rec
It seemed like a long shot for St. Brown to play Thursday night after his Thanksgiving Day ankle injury, but he got on the field and tied for the team lead with nine targets. His presence did not negatively affect Williams, who followed up his season high of ten targets on Thanksgiving Day with another nine. ARSB is back in must-start territory, while Jame-o still carries a slight risk of disappearing in a given week, though his recent usage has been encouraging.
Emeka Egbuka – 9 targets, 2 rec
Chris Godwin – 8 targets, 5 rec
Egbuka has now seen at least eight targets in seven consecutive games. The problem is that he has caught just half or fewer of those targets in six of them. He had a 65.8% catch rate over the first five games of the season, but that has fallen to an abysmal 40.3% over the last eight games. Still, the targets are encouraging, and he is bound to eventually see some positive regression. Meanwhile, Chris Godwin has seen his targets increase in three consecutive games since returning from injury. The target distribution in Tampa could be shaken up soon, as both Mike Evans and Jalen McMillan are set to rejoin the lineup as soon as Week 15.
Chimere Dike – 8 targets, 5 rec
Dike’s eight targets in Week 14 were twice as many as any other Titan pass catcher. After failing to see more than five targets in any game over the first seven weeks of the season, Tennessee’s rookie WR has now seen at least seven in three of the last six games. That isn’t steady enough usage to feel confident starting him in the playoffs, but you could do worse if you’re in desperate need of a fill-in. More importantly, he should remain on the fantasy radar heading into 2026.
Geoff Burke-Imagn Images
Terry McLaurin – 6 targets, 3 rec
The six targets in Week 14 were a letdown for McLaurin after his 14-target return the week prior. It didn’t help that Washington only attempted 24 passes between a rusty Jayden Daniels and backup Marcus Mariota while getting stomped by the Vikings. There should be better days ahead for Scary Terry, but he will be difficult to trust in playoff lineups for Week 15.
Rashid Shaheed – 5 targets, 4 rec
Five targets isn’t usually cause for notice, but Shaheed’s five in Week 14 tied his highest total since joining the Seahawks. More importantly, he caught four of them for 67 yards, his highest total since his days in New Orleans. You probably don’t get points for return yards in your fantasy league, but his 100-yard kick return TD may encourage Seattle to involve him more on offense. You can’t comfortably start him in the fantasy playoffs, but he makes an intriguing option for the DFS folks out there.
Justin Jefferson – 4 targets, 2 rec
It seemed like it couldn’t get worse for Jefferson, but here we are. He hasn’t missed a game all season, but he’s averaging just 8.4 targets/game, the lowest rate since his rookie season when he started as a part-time player. It’s been even worse the last three weeks, averaging just 5.3 targets/game. It will be a struggle to start him in the fantasy playoffs, though, given his disappointing season relative to draft cost. Most Jefferson managers probably don’t have to make that call.
DJ Moore – 3 targets, 1 rec
Despite the absence of Chicago’s leading target earner, Rome Odunze, Moore’s three targets were a season low. He’s on pace for just 86 targets this season, which would mark the first time that he failed to reach 100 for the first time since his rookie season in 2018. At just 28 years old, Moore should have plenty left in the tank, but it seems his role is diminishing in Chicago as the younger pass catchers get more involved.
De’Von Achane – 1 target, 1 rec
I thought Week 13’s one-target performance from Achane was just a blip on the radar, but he saw just a single target again in Week 14. This time, it was more due to his early exit with a rib injury and the fact that Miami dominated the Jets for all four quarters. Thankfully, he did enough on eight total touches to finish as the RB8 on the week. As long as he’s active in Week 15, he will likely be more involved in the passing game as Miami needs to win out to keep their slim playoff chances alive.
from Fantasy Footballers Podcast https://ift.tt/E41sbjL
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