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Which Wide Receivers Were Better/Worse Than Expected in 2020? (Fantasy Football)

Which Wide Receivers Were Better/Worse Than Expected in 2020? (Fantasy Football)

Throughout this offseason, you’ve likely heard some fantasy football analyst tell you to follow the targets and/or opportunity when it comes to the wide receiver position. I don’t disagree with that assessment. In fact, I’ve said it on our podcast quite a bit. However, there are some targets that are worth more than others. And no, I’m not just talking about which quarterback those targets are coming from.

During the 2020 NFL season, each target to a wide receiver was worth roughly 1.49 fantasy points in a half PPR format. Breaking it down a bit further, a target between the 20-11-yard line was worth 1.91 fantasy points. But it doesn’t end there, as all red zone targets aren’t the same. Wherever a wide receiver is targeted, they have an expected fantasy output. Today, we’ll find out who was better than expected with their targets, as well as who underperformed.

In case you missed it, there was an article that went up earlier this week highlighting just how good running backs were with the touches they were given during the 2020 season. Not just carries, but targets as well. You can find that article right here.

Outside the Red Zone

There isn’t one statistic or metric that someone will point to that tells the whole story, so stop trying to find it. There is, however, statistics that will separate the men from the boys over a large sample size. It’s not to say one football season is a big sample size, but we must work with the hand we’re dealt.

Just like the elite players near the top of every list, most bad players end up towards the bottom of lists. If you’re an elite or semi-decent player, you shouldn’t be popping up at the bottom of any list, including this one. On the chart below, you’ll see the difference in how many non-red zone points they scored versus how many they were expected to score, knowing where their targets took place. I’ve narrowed it down to those who saw at least 40 or more targets, which was a total of 99 wide receivers in 2020.

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