Moving Targets: Week 13: Stedman Bailey, Charles Sims & More

by Ivar Anderson

No more byes! Say it with me, NO MORE BYES! Felt good, did it not? Byes are an essential, if repellant, part of fantasy football, so once we get past that point in the season it is time to celebrate.  And we shall do so this week by making our chart larger, containing the top 100 targeted players on the season. Give thanks for the chance to reflect upon those whom you want to focus on in PPR leagues. Give your further thanks for the inclusion of both Receptions and Yards in this week’s chart. On to this week’s target chart:

As I have noted this season, as we expand the target chart we see more involvement with both tight ends and running backs although the ratio skews heavily toward the tight end portion (by my count, 21:6). If we toss out Bradshaw, with his season ending injury, it ends up about four to one. You already know who is at the top of the RB list, Forte (CHI) and Bell (PIT). Ellington is a sneaky one to use in PPR leagues, with his production on the ground having declined of late. Vereen is always a PPR back that you can use, despite the fact that he plays for that frustrating Head Coach Bill Belichick. Fred Jackson is also an interesting RB, coming off injury and potentially available if a disgruntled owner dropped him.

Target changes to wonder about:

As occurs on a weekly basis, there are players whose targets increase. Below are those that stood out for increases in their target totals based on their Week 12 production with the percent of their total targets that occurred in last week’s games:

• Josh Gordon WR CLE 100%
• Tony Moeaki TE SEA 80%
• De’Anthony Thomas RB KC 40%
• Charles Sims RB TB 40%
• Stedman Bailey WR StL 39.1%
• Charles Johnson WR MIN 36.7%
• Rashad Jennings RB NYG 33.3%
• Garrett Graham TE HOU 25%
• A.J. Green WR CIN 24.6%

Nothing tremendously dramatic with regard to the RB numbers this week, except for the aberration with Thomas in Kansas City. He is the third RB on the depth chart and his production in Week 12 is probably due to Junior Hemingway (WR KC) going out early on in the game.

Sims has seen four targets in each of the past two weeks and that figures to continue, as the Bucs are in a RBBC mode presently. Jennings numbers are inflated just because of his time out with injury.

Our tight end entries, Moeaki and Graham, are best left on the waiver wire, especially given the limited passing production coming out of Seattle and the confusion currently going on in Houston, where we are back to relying on Ryan Fitzpatrick at QB with the other Ryan on the roster, Mr. Mallett, going to the DL with a torn pectoral muscle (sidenote: OUCH!).

Of the wide receivers, I would be interested in Charles Johnson first, as Ted Bridgewater seems to have a connection with him. Obviously, you need to pick up Gordon if he is available, but I would suspect that is unlikely. Bailey is an interesting free agent, and facing the Raiders in Week 13 makes him a tempting addition for a “what-the-heck” flex option, to borrow from the lexicon of FootballGuys.com. Nice to see Green getting back to what he does best, catch passes and run for after the catch yardage. Of course, he is not available except via trade, and that deadline in many leagues is expiring soon, if it has not already.

I am going to keep working on developing this series of articles to best determine how you can use target information to succeed at your fantasy football efforts. I am open to suggestions as to how best to present this information for your use, so feel free to comment or send me a message at [email protected]