In Week 9, we saw clear evidence that if you're willing to depth-chart lurk, you can find value that can be useable in fantasy football.
Tim Patrick and Christian Kirk, for example, are number-three wideouts on their teams, and they both delivered solid outings last week. And we could go on and on.
But the point is to continue to monitor touch and target counts because when there's an injury, you have to be ready to pounce.
Rushing Market Shares
Rhamondre Stevenson, Patriots
In Week 9, Rhamondre Stevenson rushed 10 times for 62 yards and had 2 receptions for 44 yards on 2 targets for the New England Patriots in a game in which New England attempted a massive 39 rushes.
This is who the Pats are -- they want to dominate on the ground, limit what Mac Jones has to do, and leave the rest to their stout defense.
Stevenson finished with 30.3% share of the running-back carries, while Damien Harris had a 45.4% share. But here's where it gets messy -- both Stevenson and Harris left the game with head injuries, which throws this backfield into disarray.
If both are out in Week 10, Brandon Bolden, who racked up eight carries and two targets last week, would likely carry the mail. But if just one of Stevenson or Harris sits, the other would be in line for a heavy workload on the ground.
This backfield is a situation to monitor heading into the Pats' Week 10 date with the Cleveland Browns.
Jordan Howard, Eagles
Jordan Howard is going to be a thing for as long as Miles Sanders is out, and he cemented that in Week 9.
Howard scored twice in his debut in Week 8, and he followed it up with 17 carries for 71 yards and a touchdown against the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 10. Boston Scott and Kenneth Gainwell teamed up for 12 total carries.
Howard amassed a 58.6% share of the running-back carries.
While Howard has zero targets through two games, he's clearly the preferred ground-game back sans Sanders, and there's a ton of value in that.
Receiving Market Shares
Tim Patrick, Broncos
With Jerry Jeudy out for most of the year until recently, Tim Patrick has had a clear path to targets. With Jeudy back, the path is less clear, but Patrick is still producing.
He had 4 grabs for 85 yards and a score in the Denver Broncos' upset win at the Dallas Cowboys.
Between Courtland Sutton and Patrick for the season, the usage isn't that different in terms of routes run. Sutton has run 323 routes and seen 64 targets, while Patrick has been targeted 47 times on 313 routes. Patrick is running a lot of routes, and with Jeudy back over the last two games, Patrick and Sutton have each accounted for a 14% target share. Patrick has a 33% air yards share in that time, while Sutton owns a 20% clip.
Will this last? Probably not. Sutton is likely going to end up with more volume over a larger sample, but Patrick looks like he'll remain involved in Denver's passing game even with Jeudy back in the fold.
Jarvis Landry, Browns
In the first game without Odell Beckham, Jarvis Landry was king.
On 21 Baker Mayfield passes, Landry saw a team-high 5 targets, catching 3 for 11 yards. While the stat line is underwhelming, the target share is legit, as Landry accounted for 23% of the looks.
Donovan Peoples-Jones caught a 60-yard score and made the splash play of the day for this passing attack, but he saw only two other targets.
With Kareem Hunt out this coming week and Nick Chubb possibly sidelined, too, Cleveland could have to go to the air more at the Patriots. Landry is the receiver to start from this offense.
Red Zone Market Shares
Joe Mixon, Bengals
Joe Mixon has 13 red-zone rushing attempts on the season for the Cincinnati Bengals. He's turned them into 6 red-zone rushing touchdowns while gobbling up 65.0% of Cincy's red-zone carries.
It's even better as we get closer to the end zone. When the Bengals get inside the 10-yard-line, Mixon is who they feed as he's handled 81.8% of the team's carries inside the 10.
There's a lot to like about Mixon's role in this offense, and the red-zone volume is one such thing.
Robert Woods, Rams
Robert Woods has taken a significant backseat to Cooper Kupp since the Los Angeles Rams traded for Matthew Stafford. But in terms of the red-zone work, it’s much closer than you might think.
Woods has 16 red-zone receiving targets for the campaign, while Kupp has 21. The greater disparity is what they've done with the red-zone volume. Kupp has nine red-zone touchdowns, and Woods has only four.
But Woods' 23.9% red-zone market share is a really good number in an offense that typically makes a lot of trips inside the 20. Woods should continue to be a solid WR2, and we project him as the rest-of-season WR19.