Target and touch totals are important, but not as important as the market share. “Targets” is mostly a receiver stat (although there are some notable early exceptions). Touches are the currency of the running back.

What we’re doing is really simple. For pass-catchers, market share is targets divided by team pass attempts. For running backs, it is touches divided by team plays from scrimmage (not team touches, to be clear).

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Snap counts and depth of target and type of touch (running back receptions are way more valuable than RB carries) are also important but generally will not be discussed here. This is pure market share. Consider this a primary tool for assessing waivers and trades.

Here’s the list. Be sure to select the current week but all the weeks of the season will be archived so you can get a multi-week sample on a player if you so desire. Also note as the season progresses that I gave great thought in doing these stats weekly and not for the season. The objective here is to respond quickly to present trends. Yearly stats just smoothes everything out to a more meaningless middle. Remember, as our Gene McCaffrey so wisely says, “To be very right, you have to be willing to be very wrong.”

Receiving Targets

Zay Jones, the apple of my eye since the summer here and everywhere, finished No. 2. He’s ranked so low, he can’t be found on many sites. The industry is just terrible with Jones. His consensus rest of the season rank in PPR is 51st. Just disgraceful. Christian Kirk is ranked 17th. Now consider that for the year, Jones’ targets per route run is 23.2% vs. 23.3% for Kirk. And don’t talk about TD probability when Jones just caught a two-pointer for the biggest play of the Jaguars’ season, after getting them to the doorstep with a long gain.

Similarly, the most underrated WR who is widely rostered right now is Garrett Wilson. He’s consensus ranked in PPR by the experts as WR27 even though he’s WR18 in targets per route. If you think the Jets passing offense is a wasteland, fine. But in three of his four starts, Mike White is averaging about 90 passing yards per quarter. Wilson is uber-talented and has two multi-TD games so he should be ranked at least in the Top 20 ROS.

Gabe Davis had 11.9% market share. He’s targeted this year on 16.1% of routes run, 68th of 79 WR qualifiers in 2022 — Awful. The man simply can’t earn targets. He’s not good.

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Jelani Woods, all 6-foot-8 of him, is the No. 1 TE this week. Yes, add him.

Olamide Zaccheaus got above 30%, which, I’m sad to say, makes him an automatic pickup.

Austin Ekeler had 15 targets, just a nutty number. He averaged a pathetic four yards per target. I have no idea what the Chargers are doing giving a 31.2% share to a running back.

Chris Godwin is healthy now. That only took 12 weeks. Remember this the next time a wide receiver comes up well within the reasonable ACL recovery window. But people are adding Odell Beckham on spec, so I’m shouting into the wilderness here, I know.

You can’t dance with the Rams so ignore Van Jefferson being near 30%. Yes, this is an argument against adding Zaccheaus, too.

Why did Kendall Hinton get over 25% market share (24th)? The Broncos are a mystery.

While Christian Watson had 24% market share, he was targeted by Jordan Love far more frequently than Aaron Rodgers. I like Watson more with Love. Much more.

I’ll trust Isaiah McKenzie this week with his 32nd ranking and going up against the Patriots, who he torched last year (11-125-1). Remember, the Patriots will do all they can to take out Stefon Diggs.

Dameon Pierce charted in targets. But he averaged 1.3 yards on them. He’s 4.0 for the year on 36 targets. That’s 1,101st out of 1,152 in yards per target among RBs with at least 35 targets in the target era (since 1992), according to Pro-Football-Reference.

Can we trust Hunter Henry with his elite Week 12 efficiency vs. his 12.8% market share (12th among TEs, with all teams playing)? Sure. It’s a wasteland at TE. We’re looking for any signs of life.

Running Back Touches

Josh Jacobs is the RB2 (not a RB2) and posted the seventh game of +50% in 2022. He’s a beast.

Zonovan Knight (18th) is the No. 1 FAAB add this week. He’s basically James Robinson as a tough runner but with a lot more juice. He also was used proactively in the passing game even before Michael Carter suffered his minor ankle sprain. I like Knight as a goal-line runner and 14-touch RB even if Carter is active.

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Brian Robinson was ninth and Antonio Gibson 33rd. But if the Commanders are trailing, that would maybe flip. If you think the Commanders are going to win, Robinson is the clear choice. If they’re underdogs, go Gibson.

Ken Walker missed a lot of time and should not be hitting a wall but it sure looks that way (28th in Week 12).

Isiah Pacheco had a Top 10 week in the chart but why did the Chiefs sign the ghost of Melvin Gordon? They are so restless with RBs, who they don’t even need.

Another big FAAB question is who replaces Elijah Mitchell with Christian McCaffrey likely load managed (if he’s even active)? The model provides no actionable info, unfortunately. You’ll have to follow the practice reports.

(Top photo: Douglas DeFelice-USA TODAY Sports)