Volume is king in fantasy football, and this report will help you understand which players are due more or less according to their roles. It is a great way to know who is overperforming (sell high) and underperforming (buy low) based on historical data tied to metrics we know drive volume.

  • Overall offense: Which teams are enabling winning volume and efficiency across game scripts
  • Quarterbacks: How involved is each QB in the running game, and who is unlocking upside for their weapons
  • Running backs: Which backs are handling early downs, short-yardage and passing downs
  • Tight ends: Who is running enough routes and meeting critical targets per route thresholds
  • Receivers: Which receivers are in the most routes and operating broadly within the offense

For this season, Fantasy Life has partnered with PFF to collaborate on the Utilization Report.

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Week 16 Takeaways

Waiver Wire

To make the waiver wire section of this column, a player must be rostered less than 50% of the time in typical leagues like Yahoo! or ESPN. If players are trending upwards in utilization or performance and are over that threshold, they will be found under the upgrade or buy-low section.

RB – Tyler Allgeier

Allgeier leads the Falcons’ backfield in snaps (54%) and rushing attempts (49%) over the last two games. In Week 16, he registered a season-high 23 opportunities with 18 rushing attempts and five targets.

Cordarrelle Patterson remains involved, but with the Falcons eliminated from the playoffs, there isn’t much incentive to put him at risk with a year remaining on his two-year deal.

Allgeier is a low-end RB2 with RB1 upside in a Week 17 matchup against the Cardinals.

Tyler Allgeier

RB – Khalil Herbert

Herbert has averaged 26% of the Bears’ rushing attempts in games with David Montgomery this season, which was in line with his performance in Week 16 (23%). The second-year back finished the game with a 41% snap share vs. 68% for Montgomery.

The Bears are a run-first team, preferring to pound the rock in all game-script scenarios, which makes Herbert an 8 to 12 opportunity back in a nice matchup against Detroit in Week 17.

Herbert is a boom-bust RB3 option for fantasy championship weekend.

TE – Cade Otton

Otton had to share the TE duties with Cameron Brate over the last several games, but the rookie posted an 83% route participation in Week 16 against the Cardinals. He finished the game with only two receptions for 12 yards, but saw seven targets (15%) – the third-most on the team.

In a pass-first offense, the rookie doesn’t require a huge target share to provide value at the TE position. He averages 10.0 points per game when he eclipses the 70% route participation barrier.

Otton is a high-end TE2 moving forward.

QB – Carson Wentz

After Taylor Heinicke threw back-to-back INTs on one-play drives, Wentz took over for the final two possessions of the game. Wentz nearly matched Heinicke’s output, registering 12 completions for 123 yards and a TD on 16 passing attempts.

Ron Rivera and the coaching staff were non-committal when asked about the starting QB moving forward after the game. Over the first six games, he was the quintessential boom-bust performer with finishes of QB3, QB6, QB28, QB30, QB5, and QB29.

The veteran will be a mid-range QB2 option against the Browns in Week 17.

Upgrades

RB – Cam Akers

Over the last four games, Akers has taken over as the primary early-down back for the Rams, with 65% of the rushing attempts. That has led to RB8, RB21, RB21, and RB1 finishes.

The third-year RB rarely plays on passing downs and the trend continued in Week 16, with him handling only 14% of the long-down and distance opportunities. However, his route participation eclipsed 60% in consecutive weeks. His utilization looks great over the last two games.

With the Rams hurting for passing targets, they are getting their RBs into routes on early downs. Akers continues to dominate the short-yardage situations (88%), and his overall route participation eclipsed 60% for the second consecutive game.

Akers is a low-end RB2 with upside and has a juicy matchup against the Chargers in Week 17.

Cam Akers

WR – Garrett Wilson

Zach Wilson was benched in Week 16 and the team declared Mike White their starter for Week 17.

Garrett Wilson averaged 8.9 points in eight contests with Wilson under center – a far cry from his 19.3 points per game during the six weeks with White or Joe Flacco. The 2022 first-rounder averaged 9.7 targets, six receptions, 91.5 yards, and 0.7 TDs receiving without his namesake under center. He has been the Jets' clear target share (23%) and YPRR (2.28) leader in those games.

Wilson is a low-end WR1 heading into championship weekend against the Seahawks.

WR – Courtland Sutton

Sutton returned from a two-game absence following a hamstring injury and finished second on the team in route participation (88%) and target share (22%), delivering 11.4 fantasy points.

In eight games with a healthy Jerry Jeudy, Sutton averaged 10.0 fantasy points per contest with a season-high of 17.7 points. Jeudy averages 13.6 over that span.

Sutton is a mid-range WR4 in a struggling Broncos offense that fired Nathaniel Hackett on Monday.

TE – George Kittle

In the last two games without Deebo Samuel, Kittle has dominated with TE1 and TE3 finishes. He and Brandon Aiyuk are tied for the team lead with a 26% target share, and the explosive TE has 10 receptions on 11 targets for 213 yards and four TDs.

Kittle is a top-two TE as long as Samuel is out.

George Kittle

TE – Dallas Goedert

Goedert rejoined the Eagles after missing the previous five contests. He returned to his normal route participation (88%) but registered a season-low 9% target share.

The fifth-year TE has a talent profile that mirrors the top talents in the league, but he plays with two high-end WRs in an offense that is willing to stay balanced with their rushing attack.

Goedert is a mid-range TE1 with upside.

TE – Evan Engram

Engram leads all Jaguars pass catchers with a mouth-watering 28% target share and 2.70 YPRR over the last four games. He has finishes of TE4, TE1, TE6, and TE5 during that stretch, averaging 21.4 points per game.

The emergence of Trevor Lawrence means multiple Jacksonville weapons can come through on a weekly basis. The passing tree has condensed down to three primary options: Engram, Christian Kirk, and Zay Jones.

Engram is a mid-range TE1 with upside.

TE – Tyler Higbee

Higbee posted a 79% route participation and an eye-popping 38% target share in Week 16 against the Broncos. His 24% TPRR is the clear leader in the clubhouse with Cooper Kupp (28%) on the sidelines.

Unfortunately, his route participation has been unpredictable. In Week 15, we saw him limited to 56%, and he has cleared 65% in only four of his last 10 games. This inconsistency has led to significant volatility in fantasy production with finishes of TE50, TE33, TE50, TE5, TE9, TE57, TE33, TE25, TE9, and TE2 over that span.

Higbee moves into high-end TE2 territory thanks to the TE1 upside demonstrated over the last two games – he is a boom-bust option.

Downgrades

RB – Aaron Jones

We witnessed an eight-game stretch from Week 6 to Week 12 where Jones hovered around 60% of the rushing attempts. However, that has come to an end, with the veteran accounting for 29%, 49%, and 29% over the last three games. Injuries reduced his role in Week 13, but he benefited from a late A.J. Dillon concussion in Week 15.

Additionally, we saw Jones deliver a season-low 26% route participation in Week 16 against the Dolphins. Dillon led the way in LDD situations (58%) and handled all three of the two-minute offense opportunities.

The Packers are in must-win mode to keep their playoff hopes alive, but it is hard to predict how they will split up their backfield moving forward.

Jones is a boom-bust RB2 heading into Week 17.

RB – Latavius Murray

The trailing game script against the Rams didn’t do Murray any favors, holding him to a 46% snap share and 42% rush share. The return of Chase Edmonds also didn’t help, with the Broncos returning to a three-person RB rotation. Edmonds took over the two-minute offense and handled 32% of the attempts, while Marlon Mack also chipped in, sniping 21%.

Nathaniel Hackett is out as head coach, with Jerry Rosburg taking over, which could create an unforeseen shakeup in the Denver backfield. However, the most likely outcome this late in the season is a similar approach, and three mouths are far too many to feed in an anemic offense.

Murray is a mid-range RB3, and a matchup against the Chiefs in Week 17 doesn’t help.

RB – Raheem Mostert

Mostert took a backseat to Jeff Wilson Jr., who handled 60% of the snaps and 50% of the rushing attempts in Week 16. Mostert saw 49% of the snaps and 44% of the rushing attempts, but also gave way to Wilson on passing downs. Wilson stole 100% of the two-minute offense and 71% of the LDD work.

The Dolphins' backfield utilization is unpredictable, with either back having a chance to end up as the hot-hand in any game.

Mostert is a low-end RB3.

WR – Terry McLaurin

We only saw Carson Wentz for two drives at the end of the game, but an old trend immediately reared its ugly head – McLaurin was only targeted one time on 16 passing attempts.

Terry McLaurin

Since Week 7, when Taylor Heinicke took over, McLaurin was among the league leaders in target share (29%) and YPRR (2.63). However, with Wentz, the fourth-year WR plummets to a 16% target share and a 1.44 YPRR.

McLaurin downgrades from a mid-range WR2 to a boom-bust WR3 option.

WR – Treylon Burks

Burks returned to action after missing the last two games with a concussion. The rookie has shown signs of promise, with a 22% TPRR and 2.19 YPRR before Week 16. Unfortunately, Ryan Tannehill is out for the season, and Malik Willis is running the offense.

In three starts, Willis has passing yards of 55, 80, and 99 with zero TDs and three INTs. Even a complete target monster will struggle to put up any points in this iteration of the Titans’ offense.

Burks is a WR5 option heading into Week 17 against Dallas.

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Data notes and acronyms:

  • 1st/2nd = First and second downs
  • LDD = long down and distance (third and fourth down with three or more yards to go)
  • SDD = short down and distance (second, third and fourth down with two or fewer yards to go)
  • i5 = inside the five-yard line
  • 2MIN = two-minute offense (hurry-up offense)
  • Close = score within three points
  • Lead = leading by four points or more
  • Trail = trailing by four points or more
  • Plays = penalties included for utilization splits and rates
  • Pass Play = all dropbacks (i.e., attempts, sacks and scrambles)
  • ADOT = average depth of target
  • Air Yards = ADOT multiplied by targets
  • TTT = average time to throw
  • PA = play action
  • PA Targets = percentage of player's targets that came using play action
  • Fantasy finishes = through Sunday night game
  • YPRR = yards per route run
  • TPRR = targets per route run
  • EZ = end zone
  • TOP = Time of possession
  • Pass vs. Run Splits = based on the percentage of time a team throws or passes
  • FAB = Free agent budget (based on home leagues; adjust percentages in more competitive formats)