Wide Receiver Fantasy Football Stats 2023

WR Fantasy Stats Guide

From the left you are going to get some basic player information like our Lineups Rating, alongside the team, depth, bye, and game played. This is good information to have when breaking down where they rank on a team’s depth chart, and also when that player is off for their bye week. The fantasy points column will break down how many fantasy points a wide receiver has scored overall and also by game. It will also show how many fantasy points he is averaging per snap and per touch. This is helpful when looking at receivers that might see limited touches and snaps but are still producing. The snaps and touches breakdown will point you to this information, for how often they are getting a touch, which in this case would be a reception or rushing attempt. It also shows how often they are on the field.

Under receiving and rushing, this is where you will find the stats that produce fantasy points. This falls into stats like receptions, receiving yards, and touchdowns. It also shows how many yards per reception, as well as how many targets they are getting. targets are big for wide receivers because volume correlates highly with fantasy points. The red zone numbers are also there to showcase who is getting the most looks inside the red zone and that is where an opportunity to score. We look to break it down by how close they are to the end zone as well. The more targets a player is getting in the red zone, the better chances of him producing fantasy points. Target percentage will show his overall target share in comparison to the rest of the offensive players on that team.

Why Snaps & Targets Matter

For wide receivers, there are often two, three, or sometimes four on a field for a single play. These numbers will change as most players are going to be run with two or three wide receivers out there. A lot of this depends on the offensive style but also the game script within an individual game. Snaps are going to dictate how often a player is out there on the field, giving you a look at where that player stands within an offense. A WR1 is going to see the most snaps, and then after that things might dwindle a bit. A WR2 will still see a lot, but WR3 and WR4s will have more up and down snap counts.

Snaps don’t always tell the whole story after that. targets are the key volume stat that shows how often a player is getting thrown the ball. If a player is seeing only 60% of the snaps, but are getting a good amount of targets when on the field, then they will have some decent fantasy value. Now if they are playing 60% of the snaps and not seeing a lot of targets, then it is a different story. There are those types of gadget players who are going to be looked at more when on the field. On run plays, they may come off because they are not great blockers. Snaps and targets combined tell how receivers are used in the offense.

The Importance Of Fantasy Scoring Formats For WRs

Scoring formats have a major effect on how good wide receivers can be in fantasy production. Most default scoring systems are now PPR and Half-PPR scoring, which are the two that will reward points per reception. The standard scoring was a popular format for a long time, which didn’t record any points for receptions, and they were essentially useless. There are a few reasons why the change occurred. It opens up the player pool to include more players with a chance for fantasy points. When it comes time to draft or take players off the waiver wire, you wouldn’t have much to choose from, but these new formats changed that. It also just simply opens up scoring. Yards and touchdowns were so heavily weighted in standard format scoring, that now things change a bit where a player can score no touchdowns and still have a very good day.

Across all the scoring formats, wide receivers can score very differently in each. A wide receiver who has eight catches for 80 yards will have 16 points in PPR leagues, 12 in Half-PPR, and eight in standard formats. When you factor in those wide receivers who rack up a lot of receptions but are limited in touchdowns, they are going to be less valuable in standard leagues. This also means you need to be looking solely at yards and touchdown production, and touchdown production can be fluky some times. A player like Julio Jones has had some down touchdown seasons, but in PPR leagues he is usually a top-five scoring wideout. In standard leagues that number will go down.

It is important to understand how your league scoring works because it is going to determine your draft strategy and the value of specific players. The tabs above will showcase how valuable a fantasy player is based on their stats in the selected scoring format. Julian Edelman is going to have more value in PPR leagues compared to standard because he makes a fantasy living off receptions.

Red Zone Wide Receiver Stats

When you sort by who is seeing the top amount of targets inside the opposing team’s 20-yard line, you often find some of the higher producing fantasy players in the game. For one, top wide receivers are going to get more looks in the red zone because you want to be getting the ball to your best player in crucial spots. Some wide receivers are also just built better for the red zone. They are larger and offer up more of an advantage over smaller cornerbacks. When looking at red zone stats, you are going to see fantasy points generated inside the red zone, which can also break down where their fantasy production is coming from.

The red zone is still 20 yards, which means things can be broken down more. Looking at receiving numbers inside the 20, 10, and 5 can give you a better picture of where they are getting used the most. The target percentage inside the red zone is an easy way to look at who is getting the most targets inside their red zone on the team. This won’t solely be tied with other wide receivers, as running backs and tight ends will also get targets. If a wide receiver gets used with rushing attempts in the red zone, we will look at that as well. The catch percentage shows how efficient receivers are with the targets they are getting in the red zone. targets won’t mean much if they are catching only 40% of them.

Different Styles Of Fantasy Wide Receivers

Wide receivers come in all different shapes and sizes, and every one of them has a different story to tell when it comes to fantasy football. League scoring is going to dictate how valuable different styles of wide receivers will be, which is highlighted above. Starting with wide receivers that are on the smaller side, we have seen names like Wes Welker and Julian Edelman have a lot of fantasy value because they generate a ton of receptions per game. When they are involved in strong passing offenses, they can average 7-8 catches a game, which is already starting you off with 7-8 points in PPR leagues. In other scoring formats, that may not be as valuable. The yards they compile with it will give you a great floor each week. However, the only downside is that touchdown production usually is not going to be as high, although we have seen some outlier seasons.

Some wide receivers are on the larger size, and may not have that same speed and quickness to be an all-around type threat. They find themselves used more in contested throws as well as the red zone. This can give them some strong upside on certain weeks, but the floor can be much lower when it comes to a weekly basis. These receivers are better off paired with some safer floor guys that can make up if they have a bad week. The same goes for the vertical threats that rely on the home run ball to have big fantasy production. There are a few names around the league right now that can score ten fantasy points within one play by hitting the big play. However, on those games where that big play doesn’t come, you are looking with a dud in the scoring column.

Some wide receivers are just all-around elite athletes, and those are the ones going very early in the draft. They are a great mix of speed and strength, but they are also going to have a lot of volume go their way because they are usually the team’s WR1. These guys bring a great floor to the table and offer upside in every fantasy category. Even if they have a down year, it is not as bad as other wideouts. Also if they struggle in a season with finding the end zone, they usually have enough yards and receptions to still put them high among fantasy scorers.

Wide Receiver fantasy football stats FAQ

• What Are The Different Scoring fantasy football Scoring Formats?

• What Stats Score The Most Fantasy Points For Wide Receivers?

• What Are The Most Important Fantasy Stats For Wide Receivers?

• How Are Wide Receiver Fantasy Points Calculated?

• What Is Target Percentage In Football?

• What Is Catch Percentage In Football?