High-end fantasy football performances and weekly finishes are fueled by high numbers of routes run and high-value targets and touches. The majority of top scorers from last week and in the 2021 season saw healthy doses of end-zone targets, air yards, deep targets and goal-line carries.
Darnell Mooney commanded a 30% target share and three deep targets in Week 17, so the big game was imminent last week. Mooney seized 12 of 16 targets for 126 receiving yards against the Minnesota Vikings in the season finale.
Justin Jefferson led all players in air yards, air yard share and deep targets in 2021, so it wasn’t surprising to see him finish the season as the WR4 in fantasy football. The air yards king was one of just two players to surpass 2,000 air yards on the season (Stefon Diggs).
To find the wild-card weekend version of Mooney for DFS or the next Jefferson in the 2022 fantasy football rankings, fantasy players can leverage PFF’s fantasy stats tool to identify players who saw the most high-value opportunities but failed to cash in.
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These are the players to target in player props, large-field DFS contests and 2022 best-ball leagues.
END-ZONE TARGETS
Most end-zone targets | Week 18
| Player | End-zone targets | End-zone touchdowns |
| Marvin Jones Jr. | 3 | 1 |
| Stefon Diggs | 3 | 1 |
| Mike Williams | 3 | 1 |
| Tre'Quan Smith | 3 | 1 |
| Gabriel Davis | 3 | 0 |
| Danny Amendola | 2 | 2 |
| Zach Ertz | 2 | 0 |
| Mike Evans | 2 | 2 |
| Darren Waller | 2 | 0 |
| Tyler Higbee | 2 | 2 |
| Tajae Sharpe | 2 | 1 |
| Zay Jones | 2 | 0 |
| Josh Reynolds | 2 | 0 |
| Harrison Bryant | 2 | 0 |
| Russell Gage | 2 | 1 |
| Hunter Renfrow | 2 | 1 |
Without Emmanuel Sanders in Week 18, Gabriel Davis ran a route on 96% of Josh Allen‘s dropbacks, commanded 13 targets and ran more routes than Stefon Diggs for the second-straight week. The high-value target machine also earned three end-zone targets, five deep targets and 227 air yards. That’s a helluva lot of fantasy-friendly looks.
Unfortunately, Davis finished with just three catches for 39 yards, as only eight of his 13 targets were deemed catchable. He also was credited with three drops. Woof.
Mistakes aside, the second-year wide receiver is a serious breakout candidate in 2022 with Sanders an impending free agent. It will be interesting to see if Buffalo opts to use Davis over Sanders in the playoffs even if the longtime veteran is healthy.
Priced at $4,600, Davis is worth every penny based on his massive recent usage.
Most end-zone targets | Weeks 1-18
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