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Fantasy Football: Week 9 Touches & Targets Leaders

By Chris Meaney
James Conner Fantasy RB

Taking a look at the Week 9 touches and targets leaders can go a long way in projecting where fantasy points may come from in the near future. Each week I’ll break down which running backs led the way in touches, including red zone opportunities. Most of the top performers in touches and targets from a week-to-week basis are not only owned in most leagues, but started as well. This will give us a clearer view of where touchdowns may come from. A plus for the DFS players out there. As you’ll see below, Jordan Howard has value in standard leagues and a juicy schedule over these next couple weeks. James Conner is the most interesting topic in the NFL and fantasy football right now, and maybe all season long. Owners can only hope Le’Veon Bell stays away from the Pittsburgh Steelers at this point, and just for comparison…

Week 9 Touches Leaders

  1. James Conner – 31
  2. Nick Chubb – 23
  3. Alvin Kamara – 23
  4. Dion Lewis – 23
  5. Mike Davis – 22
  6. Christian McCaffrey – 22
  7. Ezekiel Elliott – 21
  8. Frank Gore – 21
  9. Todd Gurley – 19
  10. Phillip Lindsay – 19

James Conner, RB – Pittsburgh Steelers

James Conner continues to impress and my outlook hasn’t changed since Day 1. You just continue to ride this out and hey, maybe the Steelers will just play him regardless of when/if Le’Veon Bell returns.

Conner has five games with at least 25 fantasy points and that’s what he had last week in a very tough matchup against the Baltimore Ravens. Conner had 107 rushing yards on 24 carries, which was his fourth straight game with 100 rushing yards. He was the first RB to hit 100 yards on the ground against Baltimore, who are still allowing the second-fewest fantasy points per game to backs, despite Conner’s big showing. The sophomore back also had seven grabs on nine targets for 56 yards. He picked up his first receiving touchdown of the season and now has 10 total TDs through eight games. What a beauty he is. It’s amazing how this is turning out exactly how it did when DeAngelo Williams filled in for Bell.

Nick Chubb – RB – Cleveland Browns

Fantrax Football CommissionerI took in this game live and I was very impressed with how hard Nick Chubb runs. I was also impressed with Muni Lot, but that’s a story for another day. Chubb had a career-high 22 attempts and pounded one in from the three-yard line. It was his second rushing touchdown in the last three games and he’s had at least 65 yards on the ground in each of those games. Duke Johnson Jr. was strong as predicted, but nine of his 10 touches were catches. Duke will be involved moving forward, but Chubb has a solid path to 18-20 carries each week and all the goal line work.

Mike Davis, RB – Seattle Seahawks

Mike Davis checked in the top 10 in touches in Week 4 when Chris Carson was sidelined and that’s exactly what we saw in Week 9. It’s also what you should expect if Carson can’t suit up in Week 10. Carson left last week’s game early with a hip injury and Davis took over the backfield with 22 touches and 107 yards. He had 62 rushing yards on 15 carries and caught seven of his eight targets for another 45 yards. Davis totaled 124 yards on 25 touches with two touchdowns in Week 4.

Frank Gore, RB – Miami Dolphins

Frank Gore had a season-high 20 carries in Week 9, but ended up with the same amount of rushing yards as Week 8…53. How Frank Gore of him! He’s been held under 64 rushing yards in eight of his nine games despite having double-digit carries in six straight games. Kenyan Drake played 49 percent of the snaps compared to Gore’s 51 last week, but Drake only had three carries. His four catches and six targets were second on the team, but overall this was disappointing to see if you’re a Drake owner. In Week 8, Drake had 12 carries and scored a rushing touchdown for the second straight game, only to follow it up with three rushing attempts on Sunday. It was the fifth time this season Drake received six or fewer carries in a game. Gore wouldn’t touch my roster unless I played in a 14 or 16-team standard format and even then, I’m looking for other options with a higher ceiling.

Fantrax Football Commissioner

Overall Touches Leaders

  1. Todd Gurley – 219
  2. James Conner – 189
  3. Ezekiel Elliott – 178
  4. Kareem Hunt – 172
  5. Saquon Barkley – 169
  6. Alvin Kamara – 162
  7. Christian McCaffrey – 158
  8. Adrian Peterson – 148
  9. David Johnson – 146
  10. Melvin Gordon – 138

Week 9 Targets Leaders

  1. Michael Thomas – 15
  2. DeAndre Hopkins – 12
  3. Maurice Harris – 12
  4. Jeff Heuerman – 11
  5. Antonio Brown – 11
  6. Keenan Allen – 10
  7. Julio Jones – 10
  8. Corey Davis – 10
  9. Josh Gordon – 10
  10. Mike Evans – 10

Maurice Harris, WR – Washington Redskins 

A one hit wonder? Maybe not. The Washington Redskins don’t have a lot of options in the passing game and Maurice Harris stepped up in Week 9. He had a season-high 12 targets, 10 catches and 124 yards last week. It was a great matchup against the Atlanta Falcons, but it’s a plus one in Week 10 as well against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Paul Richardson (knee) is done for the season and Jamison Crowder hasn’t played in weeks. At least Harris received that kind of workload which can’t be said for the rest of the crew in Washington. The most catches/yards Josh Doctson has had in a game in 2018 is 5/49 and no other active WR has topped three targets or two catches in a game this season. Harris is one of the more intriguing Week 10 waiver wire pickups should Crowder miss time again.

Jeff Heuerman, TE – Denver Broncos 

Jeff Heuerman received all those Demaryius Thomas targets and more in Week 9. Heuerman led the Denver Broncos with 12 targets, 10 catches and 105 yards in Sunday’s loss to the Houston Texans. He’s scored a touchdown in two straight games and has 16 targets over that span. His 10 grabs were more than Emmanuel Sanders and Courtland Sutton combined in Week 9. It’s likely Case Keenum will lean on his easiest completion going forward. The TE position is awful and Heuerman checking in as a top 10 TE over the last four weeks, despite missing a game backs that up.

Josh Gordon, WR – New England Patriots 

Josh Gordon continues to trend up in this New England Patriots offense and he’s coming off his best game yet: 10 targets, five catches, 130 yards, and 1 touchdown. His 10 targets were tied with Julian Edelman for the most on the team, and you should expect the same moving forward should Rob Gronkowski continue to miss time.

Overall Targets Leaders

  1. Adam Thielen – 103
  2. Jarvis Landry – 101
  3. Odell Beckham Jr. – 91
  4. Antonio Brown – 91
  5. Julio Jones – 91
  6. DeAndre Hopkins – 90
  7. Davante Adams – 87
  8. Stefon Diggs – 85
  9. Zach Ertz – 84
  10. James White – 81

Overall Red Zone Rushing Attempts

  1. Todd Gurley – 50
  2. Alvin Kamara – 31
  3. James Conner – 24
  4. Kareem Hunt – 23
  5. Adrian Peterson – 22
  6. Sony Michel – 21
  7. Lamar Miller – 21
  8. Jordan Howard – 20
  9. Alfred Morris – 19
  10. Alex Collins – 18

Jordan Howard, RB – Chicago Bears 

Jordan Howard’s five red zone rushing touchdowns are tied for the seventh-most. In fact, all of his touchdowns have come in the red zone and four of them have come inside the five-yard line. He has four touchdowns in his last three games, but as you’ve seen over the past couple weeks with games against the New York Jets and Buffalo Bills, game script is huge for Howard. He still has at least 14 carries in six of his eight games, but Tarik Cohen out snapped him last week and continues to trend up. Howard plays Detroit in Week 10 and Week 12, which is great for his outlook. The Lions have allowed 5.1 yards per carry (second-most) and 142 rushing yards per game (third-most).

Alfred Morris, RB – San Francisco 49ers

Alfred Morris makes a return inside the fantasy circle with the loss of Raheem Mostert. Let’s not get carried away here and pick up Morris then start him, hoping he can churn out a solid game. Morris hasn’t hit the 70-yard mark yet this season and has four or fewer fantasy points in five games this season. Having said that, if Matt Breida finds himself on the sidelines again, Morris will have some value. At least he’s getting the touches with the 49ers get inside the red zone.

Overall Red Zone Targets

  1. Alvin Kamara – 20
  2. JuJu Smith-Schuster – 19
  3. Davante Adams – 17
  4. Eric Ebron – 15
  5. Jarvis Landry – 15
  6. DeAndre Hopkins – 15
  7. Michael Thomas – 15
  8. Adam Thielen – 15
  9. Zach Ertz – 14
  10. James White – 14

James White, RB – New England Patriots 

James White continues to ball out this season and will go down as probably the best steal in fantasy football this season. He’s top 10 in overall targets and now he ranks inside the top 10 in red zone targets. White leads all running backs in targets (81), catches (61), receiving yards (531) and receiving touchdowns (6). He’s RB7 in standard leagues and RB6 in PPR leagues. Even with Cordarrelle Patterson getting 11 carries and red zone rushing attempts, White still led with 12 carries and scored two rushing touchdowns in Week 9.

Chris Meaney PodcastGet more Chris Meaney on his new podcast, By Any Means. Each week he’ll bring in guests from around the industry to break down all the fantasy news you need to know for your march to the championship.

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