Fantasy Football Red Zone Report: CeeDee Lamb, Tony Pollard, Bijan Robinson

Cam analyzes trends in red zone usage across the NFL in Week 16.

Sixteen weeks and it all comes down to this. There are two weeks left in the regular season and for most of your fantasy leagues, this week is your Championship. For those of you playing for a title, congratulations. For the rest of you, wait til next year.

But after sixteen weeks, instead of simply posting the players who played well and were targeted most this past week, it’s time to recognize the players who have been doing it week in and week out, the players with the most red zone targets and touches for the season. Logic would say that if a player has been doing it for sixteen weeks, that they are likely to continue to do it this week too.

And, as the saying goes, you take home the girl you brought to the dance. With that in mind, these are the players you should pay close attention to this week.

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Fantasy Football Red Zone Report Week 16

Top Fantasy Football Red Zone Receivers

In 16 weeks, there have only been 21 receivers who have a minimum of 16 red zone targets. This means that out of 128 players (23 teams with three WRs and a TE each) only 21 have averaged one red zone target per game.

1. CeeDee Lamb, Dallas Cowboys, 25
2. Jake Ferguson, Dallas Cowboys, 24
3. Amon-Ra St. Brown, Detroit Lions, 22
4. Rashee Rice, Kansas City Chiefs, 22
5. Davante Adams, Las Vegas Raiders, 21
6. Calvin Ridley, Jacksonville Jaguars, 21
7. Travis Kelce, Kansas City Chiefs, 21
8. D.K. Metcalf, Seattle Seahawks, 21
9. Tyreek Hill, Miami Dolphins, 20
10. Ja’Marr Chase, Cincinnati Bengals, 19
11. Garrett Wilson, New York Jets, 18
12. Michael Pittman, Indianapolis Colts, 18
13. Cooper Kupp, Los Angeles Rams, 18
14. A.J. Brown, Philadelphia Eagles, 17
15. Mike Evans, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 17
16. David Njoku, Cleveland Browns, 17
17. Jordan Addison, Minnesota Vikings, 17
18. Courtland Sutton, Denver Broncos, 17
19. Jayden Reed, Green Bay Packers, 17
20. DeAndre Hopkins, Tennessee Titans, 16
21. Romeo Doubs, Green Bay Packers, 16

There are only three TEs in this list of pass-catchers: Jake Ferguson, Travis Kelce, and David Njoku. Of these 21 receivers, Garrett Wilson has the fewest TDs with only three. Pittman and Kupp only have four, and the other 18 all have five or more TDs. Three of them have 10 or more TDs, led by Mike Evans with 13. Chiefs rookie Rashee Rice is fourth in red zone targets and actually leads all receivers with 16 red zone catches. And seven of these 21 receivers have gained at least 1,000 passing yards. But being targeted often in the red zone is no gurantee of high yardage numbers. Overall, 18 receivers have over 1,000 yards this season, meaning more than half of the top receivers by yardage aren't on this list.

Top Fantasy Football Red Zone Running Backs

The dynamic of the red zone is far greater in the running game … while there were only 21 receivers to have been targeted a minimum of 16 times all season,  there are 22 RBs who have had twice as many red zone touches.

Here are the 22 running backs with at least 32 red zone touches this year:

1. Christian McCaffrey*, San Fransisco 49ers, 59
2. Tony Pollard-Dallas Cowboys, 55
3. Kyren Williams*, Los Angeles Rams, 53
4. Joe Mixon-Cincinnati Bengals, 48
5. Raheem Mostert*, Miami Dolphins, 47
6. David Montgomery*, Detroit Lions, 47
7. Zack Moss, Indianapolis Colts, 40
8. Josh Jacobs, Las Vegas Raiders, 38
9. Saquon Barkley, New York Giants, 38
10. Javonte Williams, Denver Broncos, 38
11. Isiah Pacheco, Kansas City Chiefs, 38
12. Rachaad White-Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 37
13. Travis Etienne*, Jacksonville Jaguars, 36
14. D’Andre Swift, Philadelphia Eagles, 36
15. Chuba Hubbard, Carolina Panthers, 36
16. Kenneth Walker, Seattle Seahawks, 36
17. Gus Edwards*, Baltimore Ravens, 36
18. Alvin Kamara, New Orleans Saints, 35
19. Tyler Allgeier, Atlanta Falcons, 35
20. A.J. Dillon, Green Bay Packers, 34
21. Derrick Henry*, Tennessee Titans, 32
22. Jahmyr Gibbs*, Detroit Lions, 32

Unlike the receivers, RBs with heavy red zone activity also have an abundance of overall productivity. In other words, the most-used backs in the red zone are usually also the most productive backs in general. Of the 22 RBs on this list, 16 of them have over 1,000 total yards; there are only 21 RBs in the league who have eclipsed 1,000 total yards. Having a RB who gets a lot of red zone touches is almost a guarantee they’ll gain a lot of yards. Eight of the 22 RBs have at least 10 total TDs, led by McCaffrey and Mostert, who each have an astounding 21 TDs. Only Javonte Williams (four), Tyler Allgeier (four), and AJ Dillon (two), have less than five. In fact, the only eight RBs who do have double-digit total TDs are on this list, highlighted with a *.

The only 1,000-yard rusher who is not on this list is Buffalo Bills RB James Cook. He has nearly 1,500 combined yards and six total TDs, but hasn't been used frequently in the red zone. There are also three other RBs who have over 1,000 combined yards but haven’t gotten at least 32 red zone touches:

1. Bijan Robinson, Atlanta Falcons: 1,246 total yards, 22 red zone touches, seven total TDs
2. Breece Hall, New York Jets: 1,269 total yards, 21 red zone touches, seven total TDs
3. Jaylen Warren, Pittsburgh Steelers: 1,006 total yards, 13 red zone touches, three total TDs

Although none of these three are in the upper echelon of red zone activity they all should be highly considered in your drafts next season. If this is the production they’ve generated without getting the ball inside the 20-yard line, they will have monster 2024 seasons if used more frequently in the most important area of the field.

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