Fantasy Football Week 8 value watch: Travis Etienne among risers, plus fallers to know based on key usage metrics
Get updated on everything you need to know about Week 8 from one of the nation's top Fantasy experts
Each week, we learn new information as the ever-changing Fantasy landscape reshapes itself. There are many specific usage stats that affect a player's Fantasy projection, and outside of a few players, we see those underlying usage metrics fluctuate throughout the course of a season. And the first few weeks of the season present us with a flood of new data to make sense of.
Each week, SportsLine's Fantasy expert Jacob Gibbs will examine all of this new information and provide a data-driven deep dive into Sunday's games to offer a better understanding of what we learned and how it will impact the Fantasy outlook of specific teams and players.
Here, we'll look at the leaderboards in several key metrics around player usage, then share our look at whose stock is rising or falling after this weekend's action. That includes Jaguars breakout running back Travis Etienne.
"The underlying rushing efficiency metrics have been really strong for Etienne all season," Gibbs said. "If we can expect anything close to this type of workload on the ground going forward, he has top-20 Fantasy RB appeal. If his receiving role is expanded as well, Etienne has the makings of a weekly top-12 option."
If you have questions about any stats, players, or situations covered or not covered in this article, feel free to reach out to Gibbs on Twitter.
Week 8 Leaders -- Running Back
Snap rate
Week 8 RB snap rate leaders:
— Jacob Gibbs (@jagibbs_23) November 1, 2022
81% - CMC
80% - Saquon
77% - Travis Etienne, Dalvin Cook, Dameon Pierce
76% - Leonard Fournette, Kenneth Walker
74% - Derrick Henry
73% - Alvin Kamara
72% - Devin Singletary, Joe Mixon
71% - Eno Benjamin, Jonathan Taylor
68% - David Montgomery
No stat correlates more closely with Fantasy scoring at the RB position than snap rate.
Route involvement rate
A player's route involvement rate simply represents the percentage of the team's total dropbacks on which that player ran a route. So, the running backs listed above ran a route on at least half of their team's dropbacks. Running routes is the first step towards drawing targets, which is key to unlocking Fantasy upside at the RB position.
RB route involvement rate leaders Week 8
— Jacob Gibbs (@jagibbs_23) November 1, 2022
77% - Leonard Fournette
73% - Alvin Kamara
71% - CMC, Eno Benjamin
70% - David Montgomery
69% - Saquon Barkley
67% - Devin Singletary
63% - Joe Mixon
61% - Jonathan Taylor
59% - Dameon Pierce
58% - Najee Harris, Aaron Jones, Travis Etienne
Red zone usage
Week 8 RB red zone snap rates
— Jacob Gibbs (@jagibbs_23) November 1, 2022
100% - Miles Sanders, Saquon Barkley, Joe Mixon, Travis Etienne YLTSI
90% - Raheem Mostert, Kenneth Walker
86% - Derrick Henry, D'Onta Foreman
83% - Leonard Fournette
80% - CMC, Alvin Kamara
75% - David Montgomery
71% - Antonio Gibson
Season-long red zone snap rate leaders at RB:
— Jacob Gibbs (@jagibbs_23) October 24, 2022
90% - Joe Mixon
81% - Devin Singletary
76% - Saquon Barkley
75% - Leonard Fournette, Derrick Henry
73% - Najee Harris
71% - Josh Jacobs
70% - Rhamondre Stevenson, Austin Ekeler
67% - Dalvin Cook
66% - Dameon Pierce
Week 8 red zone touch (rush+rec) count:
— Jacob Gibbs (@jagibbs_23) November 1, 2022
9 - D'Onta Foreman
6 - Travis Etienne
5 - CMC, Derrick Henry
4 - Nick Chubb, Raheem Mostert, David Montgomery, Dalvin Cook
These RBs have the highest percentage of their team's total red zone touches (rush+rec) on the season
— Jacob Gibbs (@jagibbs_23) October 24, 2022
65% - Dameon Pierce
56% - Josh Jacobs
53% - Derrick Henry
52% - Jamaal Williams
48% - Joe Mixon
47% - Najee Harris
44% - Kenneth Walker, who has only started two games
Another fun RB stat that I look at on a weekly basis is tackles avoided. Some backs are able to mitigate the damage while playing behind porous offensive lines by consistently making would-be tacklers miss and creating extra yards after contact. Here's who stands out:
Avoided tackle rate leaders:
— Jacob Gibbs (@jagibbs_23) November 1, 2022
(Percentage of rushes on which a tackle was avoided)
44% - Dameon Pierce, Aaron Jones
40% - Nick Chubb, Josh Jacobs
39% - Austin Ekeler
38% - Eno Benjamin
35% - Kenneth Walker, David Montgomery
32% - CMC
31% - Jonathan Taylor
30% - Travis Etienne
And here's who stands out in terms of creating explosive plays:
RB Explosive rush (10+ yards) rate leaders:
— Jacob Gibbs (@jagibbs_23) October 24, 2022
19% - Nick Chubb, Khalil Herbert, Breece Hall 😭
18% - Kenneth Walker
17% - Josh Jacobs, Aaron Jones
15% - Travis Etienne
14% - Rhamondre Stevenson, Kareem Hunt
13% - Tony Pollard, Jonathan Taylor, Austin Ekeler, Raheem Mostert
Lowest RB explosive rush (10+ yards) rates:
— Jacob Gibbs (@jagibbs_23) October 24, 2022
3% - Melvin Gordon
4% - Tyler Allgeier
5% - Michael Carter
6% - James Conner, Joe Mixon
7% - Ezekiel Elliott
8% - CEH, AJ Dillon, Cam Akers, Najee Harris
9% - Damien Harris, Eno Benjamin
10% - Leonard Fournette, James Robinson
Week 8 Leaders -- Wide Receiver
Week 8 air yardage leaders at WR:
— Jacob Gibbs (@jagibbs_23) November 1, 2022
251 - DJ Moore
222 - Tyreek Hill
190 - Damiere Byrd
184 - Mike Evans
181 - AJ Brown
162 - DeAndre Hopkins
149 - DK Metcalf
128 - Romeo Doubs
127 - Stefon Diggs
126 - Amari Cooper
105 - Brandin Cooks
103 - Terry McLaurin
100 - Alec Pierce
WR leaders in air yards per game:
— Jacob Gibbs (@jagibbs_23) November 1, 2022
147 - DeAndre Hopkins
137 - Chris Olave
132 - Tyreek Hill
116 - Mike Evans
112 - Marquise Brown
110 - Stefon Diggs, Davante Adams
109 - DJ Chark
100 - Mike Williams, AJ Brown, Amari Cooper
In addition to knowing which players drew massive air yardage totals, it is important to be familiar with air yardage shares. The rate version of this stat can help identify players who might break out if their offensive environment improves and produces more air yards in the future.
Week 8 air yardage share leaders at WR:
— Jacob Gibbs (@jagibbs_23) November 1, 2022
67% - Cooper Kupp
62% - Mike Evans, Damiere Byrd
61% - Terry McLaurin
58% - Amari Cooper
57% - DK Metcalf, Tyreek Hill, AJ Brown
56% - DeAndre Hopkins, Romeo Doubs
55% - DJ Moore
52% - Alec Pierce
46% - CeeDee Lamb
44% - Tee Higgins
Air yardage shares over the past month
— Jacob Gibbs (@jagibbs_23) November 1, 2022
51% - DJ Moore
48% - AJ Brown
45% - Mike Evans
44% - Tyreek Hill
42% - Justin Jefferson, Darnell Mooney
41% - Davante Adams, Mike Williams
40% - Amari Cooper
39% - Adam Thielen
37% - Darius Slayton, CeeDee Lamb
36% - DK Metcalf
Speaking of rate stats, it's about time that we got to the oh-so-important target share leaderboard.
Week 8 target share leaders:
— Jacob Gibbs (@jagibbs_23) November 1, 2022
41% - Tyreek Hill
39% - Michael Pittman
38% - Cooper Kupp, Jakobi Meyers
37% - AJ Brown
35% - Amari Cooper, CMC
33% - Alvin Kamara
32% - Kyle Pitts, Stefon Diggs
31% - DJ Moore, DK Metcalf
30% - DeAndre Hopkins
29% - Tyler Conklin
28% - Gabe Davis
Those who produce well in both metrics get to be part of the highly exclusive 30-30 club.
Week 8's 30-30 club
— Jacob Gibbs (@jagibbs_23) November 1, 2022
(Left - Target share)
(Right - Air yardage share)
41% - Tyreek Hill - 57%
38% - Cooper Kupp - 67%
38% - Jakobi Meyers - 40%
37% - AJ Brown - 57%
35% - Amari Cooper - 58%
32% - Stefon Diggs - 40%
31% - DJ Moore - 55%
30% - DeAndre Hopkins - 56%
Understanding which players are demanding the most volume is important, but it's also worth remembering that player volume starts at a team level. Darnell Mooney has hardly had an opportunity to accumulate receiving stats as a member of Chicago's anemic passing offense, for example.
So, which teams were intentional about pushing the ball down the field? And which teams were the least aggressive?
This brings us to our next stat: air yardage leaders. Tracking air yards, average route depths, and average depth of target is vital to understanding how each NFL offense operates and will interact with opposing defensive schemes on a week-to-week basis.
The following teams stand out as having provided the most or fewest air yards.
These offenses have provided the most air yards per game:
— Jacob Gibbs (@jagibbs_23) October 24, 2022
347 - New Orleans
311 - Miami
307 - Buffalo
304 - Denver
298 - Tampa Bay
295 - Pittsburgh
294 - Detroit
And the fewest:
168 - NY Giants
171 - Chicago
182 - Tennessee
183 - Carolina
200 - Philadelphia
204 - Atlanta
'Off-target' rates
These quarterbacks have been the NFL's least accurate.
Highest off-target rate:
— Jacob Gibbs (@jagibbs_23) November 1, 2022
(min 150 attempts)
19% - Justin Fields
16% - Marcus Mariota, Jameis Winston
15% - Cooper Rush
14% - Baker Mayfield, Zach Wilson, Carson Wentz
13% - Trevor Lawrence, Russ Wilson, Davis Mills, Lamar Jackson, Mitch Trubisky
Lowest off-target rate:
— Jacob Gibbs (@jagibbs_23) November 1, 2022
(min 150 attempts)
6% - Andy Dalton
7% - Jalen Hurts, Matt Ryan, Geno Smith, Kenny Pickett
8% - Joe Burrow, Kirk Cousins, Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, Tua Tagovailoa, Daniel Jones
9% - Aaron Rodgers, Ryan Tannehill
10% - Justin Herbert, Tom Brady, Jimmy G
And these quarterbacks have been the least accurate on downfield throws.
Lowest off-target rate on deep attempts (+15 air yards)
— Jacob Gibbs (@jagibbs_23) October 31, 2022
12% - Tua Tagovailoa
15% - Andy Dalton
16% - Josh Allen
18% - Kirk Cousins, Geno Smith, Tom Brady
Week 8 Leaders -- Tight End
TE target share leaders through eight weeks:
— Jacob Gibbs (@jagibbs_23) November 1, 2022
29% - Mark Andrews
24% - Travis Kelce, Kyle Pitts
22% - Tyler Higbee
20% - Dallas Goedert
19% - Zach Ertz, George Kittle, David Njoku, Pat Freiermuth
18% - TJ Hockenson
17% - Tyler Conklin, Evan Engram
Week 8 TE target share leaders
— Jacob Gibbs (@jagibbs_23) November 1, 2022
32% - Kyle Pitts
29% - Tyler Conklin
27% - Dalton Schultz
23% - Foster Moreau
21% - Evan Engram, Robert Tonyan, Isaiah Likely
20% - Dallas Goedert
19% - Tyler Higbee, George Kittle, Greg Dulcich
18% - Pat Freiermuth
Week 8 TE air yardage leaders:
— Jacob Gibbs (@jagibbs_23) November 1, 2022
149 - Tyler Conklin
114 - Greg Dulcich
67 - Pat Freiermuth
64 - Isaiah Likely
62 - Evan Engram
57 - Kyle Pitts
56 - Dalton Schultz
Target per route run rate
Target share isn't the only stat that captures a tight end's ability to demand targets -- target per route run rate is another important metric. With more route-running opportunities, these players could be highly productive in Fantasy.
Target per route run leaders at TE
— Jacob Gibbs (@jagibbs_23) November 1, 2022
29% - Mark Andrews
28% - Kyle Pitts
26% - Tyler Higbee
24% - Travis Kelce, Pat Freiermuth
23% - Robert Tonyan
22% - David Njoku, Dalton Schultz
21% - Foster Moreau, Gerald Everett, George Kittle, Isaiah Likely, TJ Hockenson
Route involvement rate -- the percentage of a team's routes on which a player runs a route.
Week 8 TE route involvement leaders
— Jacob Gibbs (@jagibbs_23) November 1, 2022
95% - Foster Moreau
94% - Evan Engram
92% - Zach Ertz
91% - Cade Otton, Greg Dulcich
87% - Kyle Pitts
86% - George Kittle
82% - Tanner Hudson, NYG
81% - Dallas Goedert, Isaiah Likely (88% following Andrews injury)
73% - Pat Freiermuth
To draw a target, a tight end must first be running a route. The players above ran a route on the highest percentage of their team's dropbacks. The players below have the highest route run per game averages in 2022.
Routes run per game at the TE position in 2022:
— Jacob Gibbs (@jagibbs_23) October 25, 2022
39 - Zach Ertz
36 - Travis Kelce
34 - Tyler Higbee
33 - Hayden Hurst, George Kittle
32 - Dawson Knox, Dallas Goedert
31 - Mark Andrews, Gerald Everett, TJ Hockenson, Logan Thomas
19 - Kyle Pitts, ranking 28th, behind Kylen Granson
Let's dig into the full data on Week 8 usage rates.
Which RB saw promising usage rates despite disappointing Fantasy production? And which wide receiver is going to have a difficult time replicating their big Week 8? ... Join SportsLine here to see Jacob Gibbs' Usage Report, all from one of the nation's most accurate experts as graded by FantasyPros!
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