Fantasy Football Player Notes

DK Metcalf has started the season slowly as the WR47 in fantasy points per game. Metcalf has a 20.9% target share with only 0.82 YPRR, seven deep targets, one red zone target, and a 31.4% first-read share. He has seen solid volume weekly and done very little with it. Last week, he scored a touchdown as DJ Turner ran into a teammate, thus leaving Metcalf wide open in the end zone. This week, he faces a Cleveland pass defense that has the highest single-high rate (75.7%) in the NFL. Against single high, Metcalf has struggled this season with only a 19% target per route run rate and 0.61 YPRR. I expect another disappointing stat line from Metcalf this week. After their Week 1 debacle, the Browns' secondary has tightened up, allowing the seventh-fewest yards per target and the fifth-fewest fantasy points per opportunity to perimeter wide receivers over the last two weeks.

Despite posting a struggle bus stat line last week, Michael Pittman Jr. had a 70.3% route share, so he was close to a full-time player for the Steelers on passing plays. Pittman has had a sleepy start to his Steelers career with a 10.7% target share, 1.19 YPRR, zero deep or red zone targets, and a 9.1% first-read share. This week, he faces a Cleveland pass defense that has the highest single-high rate (75.7%) in the NFL. Against single-high, Pittman has had only a 9% target-per-route-run rate and 1.14 YPRR. Sit Pittman again this week. After their Week 1 debacle, the Browns' secondary has tightened up, allowing the seventh-fewest yards per target and the fifth-fewest fantasy points per opportunity to perimeter wide receivers over the last two weeks.

After starting this season with a 72.1% route share in Week 1, Pat Freiermuth has seen route shares of 56.5% and 56.8% over the last two games. This isn't ideal. Freiermuth was a popular streaming option at tight end that I also liked last week, but he faceplanted. Since Week 2, he has had only a 12.2% target share with 1.32 YPRR, zero red zone targets, two deep targets, and a 12.8% first-read share. He's a sit this week against a defense that ranks 16th in yards per target allowed to tight ends while giving up the 13th-fewest fantasy points per opportunity to the position.