Numbers you need to know as you prep for draft day

1 week ago 8
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  • Tristan H. Cockcroft

Jul 21, 2025, 12:15 PM ET

Numbers tin archer america compelling stories.

They can, however, mislead, usually erstwhile framed successful a mode to conception a communicative oregon enactment a circumstantial claim.

Appreciating that some facts tin simultaneously beryllium existent is captious to your fantasy football decision-making process. After all, phantasy shot is, successful itself, a numbers game. The numbers find our teams' fates, and they person a monolithic accidental successful our draught day, waiver ligament and play lineup processes.

As you hole for the 2025 phantasy shot season, garner arsenic overmuch cognition -- and sorb arsenic galore of these statistical facts -- arsenic you can, to assistance usher your decision-making passim the year. Simultaneously, scrutinize each number, knowing that each often tells you lone 1 space of the story.

What follows beneath are my favourite numbers heading into 2025, collected during my preseason probe period. Appreciate them nevertheless you privation to justice them: immoderate to assistance marque pugnacious calls betwixt intimately valued players; immoderate to springiness you a caput commencement connected your ain probe and draught preparation; immoderate simply arsenic bar-bet benignant material, oregon "huh, however astir that?" trivia nuggets.


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40 Ja'Marr Chase scored astatine slightest 40 PPR phantasy points connected 3 abstracted occasions past play (Weeks 5, 10 and 14). He joined Isaac Bruce (1995) and Davante Adams (2020) arsenic the lone wide receivers since the merger to person had astatine slightest that galore specified games successful a azygous season.

12 Courtland Sutton has seen astatine slightest 12 extremity portion targets successful each of the past 3 seasons, the lone subordinate successful the NFL who tin marque that claim.

10 In the past 3 seasons combined, DJ Moore had a league-leading 10 catches connected throws that Next Gen Stats calculated had a 25% accidental of completion oregon worse.

7 Only 7 receivers saw astatine slightest 15 red-zone targets, had astatine slightest 10 yards mean extent of people and averaged astatine slightest 30 routes tally per crippled past season. The evident 5 were Justin Jefferson, Drake London, Sutton, Tee Higgins and Tyreek Hill, each of whom finished among the apical 18 wide receivers successful PPR phantasy points. You mightiness reasonably person guessed a sixth, Jordan Addison, who finished 21st.

The seventh was a overmuch tougher 1 to guess: Rome Odunze, who finished 49th.

20.7 Following the Carolina Panthers' Week 11 bye past season, Bryce Young scored 145.12 phantasy points crossed 7 games, sixth-most among quarterbacks. To further enactment that into perspective, Young averaged 20.7 points successful those contests, much than treble the 9.7 that helium averaged successful his erstwhile 21 vocation NFL starts.

89 Across the past 3 seasons, Travis Kelce has tally 89 much routes, seen 28 much targets and caught 17 much passes wrong the reddish portion than immoderate different choky end. That wasn't wholly the effect of his career-best 2022 run either, arsenic successful 2024 alone, helium ran 16 much routes, saw 4 much targets and caught 2 much passes than anyone other astatine his presumption successful those aforesaid situations.

5 To reiterate the payment of rostering a mobile quarterback, 30% of each quarterbacks' starts past play resulted successful a 20-point phantasy output oregon better. That was close successful enactment with the league-wide complaint 5 years earlier (31%, 2019).

However, starting quarterbacks who had astatine slightest 5 rushing attempts past play scored 20 oregon much phantasy points 43% of the time. To enactment that into perspective, successful 2019, lone 31% of quarterbacks with astatine slightest 5 carries scored 20-plus points.

Five rushing attempts is nary randomly selected number, arsenic it appears to beryllium the modern "sweet spot" for phantasy success. In some 2022 and 2024, determination were much 20-point quarterbacks with astatine slightest 5 rushing attempts arsenic those who had fewer, the archetypal 2 seasons successful NFL past successful which that has been true.

Five quarterbacks averaged astatine slightest 5 rushing attempts per crippled past season: Jalen Hurts, Jayden Daniels, Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen and Bo Nix. They finished eighth, fifth, first, 2nd and seventh, respectively, successful full PPR phantasy points scored.

100 Speaking of Jackson, helium scored 107.5 of his backmost play grounds 430.38 phantasy points with his legs, the 4th clip successful his 7 seasons that helium has scored astatine slightest 100 rushing phantasy points and the seventh consecutive twelvemonth with 80-plus rushing points to statesman his career. He, Allen and Cam Newton are the lone 3 quarterbacks successful past who tin assertion the latter.

That's not to instrumentality thing distant from Jackson's skills arsenic a passer. He completed 30 touchdown passes from wrong the pocket, and his 116.9 passer standing connected those throws was the seventh-best complaint by immoderate backmost this century.

59 From Week 11 guardant past season, Jonnu Smith scored a choky end-leading 148.7 PPR phantasy points (14.2 much than the adjacent best) successful 8 games. Part of the crushed was however often the Miami Dolphins divided him retired wide, arsenic Next Gen Stats tracked him moving a position-leading 59 routes successful that alignment during that clip span, resulting successful 29% of his phantasy production.

The absorption for Smith present shifts to however he'll beryllium utilized by Pittsburgh Steelers violative coordinator Arthur Smith, who has had Jonnu connected his roster, whether arsenic caput manager oregon coordinator, for each of the choky end's 3 erstwhile champion phantasy seasons (2019, 2020 and 2023). And portion Arthur didn't usage Jonnu successful rather the mode that the Dolphins did successful 2024, helium did statesman to divided Jonnu wide successful 2023 successful Atlanta with respectable results, giving him 52 specified routes (13th among choky ends) and resulting successful 31.1 of 124.2 PPR phantasy points for the choky end. Keep your fingers crossed that Arthur Smith continues that originative Dolphins usage of Jonnu Smith successful Pittsburgh.

55 Of Caleb Williams' 254.54 phantasy points past play (16th-most among quarterbacks), a league-leading 55% came with his Chicago Bears trailing by astatine slightest a touchdown. In fact, helium amassed 35% of his seasonal phantasy constituent full successful what's commonly considered "garbage time," aft halftime of games and with his squad needing astatine slightest 2 scores successful bid to tie.

33 Conversely, Derrick Henry's 109.9 PPR phantasy points with his Baltimore Ravens up by astatine slightest 2 scores aft halftime of games was the second-most by immoderate idiosyncratic subordinate this century. That accounted for 33% of his full seasonal total.

That said, lone 2 moving backs averaged astatine slightest 5 yards per carry, 4 yards aft interaction per transportation and had astatine slightest 20 "explosive plays" (rushes of astatine slightest 10 yards) past season: Henry, who finished 4th successful PPR phantasy points astatine the position, and Bucky Irving, who finished 13th.

34.9 Brock Bowers acceptable a play grounds for PPR phantasy points by a choky extremity past play (262.7). For those acrophobic astir regression for the second-year Las Vegas Raiders star, carnivore successful caput that it hasn't struck top-scoring rookie choky ends arsenic dramatically arsenic you might've feared. Taking the 10 champion single-season rookie choky extremity seasons since the merger, the radical declined by lone 34.9 PPR phantasy points, and 0.51 points per game, arsenic sophomores.

Yes, Sam LaPorta, whose 2023 grounds Bowers broke, experienced 1 of the astir melodramatic declines among the radical (down 64.7 points, oregon 3.2 per game), but adjacent helium finished eighth champion among choky ends successful scoring past season.

200 Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery scored astatine slightest 200 PPR phantasy points apiece successful each of the past 2 seasons. They're the archetypal backfield teammates successful past to bash that, though, for a humanities note, it's worthy pointing retired that Dallas Cowboys' Tony Dorsett and Ron Springs some reached the 200-point plateau successful 1981 and 1983, with a strike-abbreviated 1982 successful between.

75 Gibbs' 75% complaint (12 of 16) of converting his carries from wrong 3 yards of the extremity enactment for scores successful his 2 NFL seasons led the league.

Gus Edwards was the NFL's person successful that section implicit the past 3 seasons (76%, oregon 16 of 21).

46 A afloat 46% (13 of 28) of De'Von Achane's games implicit the past 2 seasons person resulted successful him scoring astatine slightest 20 PPR phantasy points. Christian McCaffrey is the lone moving backmost with a greater specified percent successful that clip (60%, 12 of 20 games).

6 Pete Carroll, the Raiders' caller caput coach, had Seattle Seahawks offenses that finished apical 4 successful the NFL successful rushing yards six times betwixt 2012-23. Not each of those were Marshawn Lynch teams, either, arsenic Chris Carson was the team's starring rusher successful some 2018 (Seahawks led the league) and 2019 (Seahawks finished fourth).

11 Patrick Mahomes endured a streak of 11 consecutive games, spanning from Week 13 of 2023 done Week 7 of 2024, scoring less than 17.5 phantasy points. Among quarterbacks who person had a 350 fantasy-point play astatine immoderate constituent successful their careers, helium and Matt Ryan (12 games, successful 2021-22) are the lone ones with a streak astatine slightest that long, and retrieve that Mahomes has four 350-point seasons connected his résumé (Ryan has one).

6 After Zack Moss was mislaid for the play owed to a cervix wounded successful Week 8, Chase Brown scored 165.0 PPR phantasy points successful 8 games implicit the season's last 10 weeks. That was the sixth-most among moving backs during that span.

3 Jonathan Taylor has a past of beardown finishes. Across his 5 NFL seasons, helium has scored 332.6 PPR phantasy points from Week 14 forward, third-best among moving backs, and his 20.8 per-game mean trails lone Gibbs' 22.6.

15 Brian Thomas Jr. scored astatine slightest 15 PPR phantasy points successful each of the Jacksonville Jaguars' last six games of 2024. He joined Randy Moss (1998), Odell Beckham Jr. (2014) and Amon-Ra St. Brown (2021) arsenic the lone rookie wide receivers since the merger with arsenic agelong a streak.

12 Across the past 5 seasons, lone 3 wide receivers person had astatine slightest 12 games scoring 25 oregon much PPR phantasy points and astatine slightest 12 scoring less than five: A.J. Brown, Mike Evans and Cooper Kupp.

17.4 Jauan Jennings scored 173.6 PPR phantasy points successful 10 games past play successful which 1 oregon some of his chap San Francisco 49ers (at the time) wide receivers Brandon Aiyuk oregon Deebo Samuel Sr. were absent. Jennings' 17.4-point mean was amended than the seasonal averages for each but 9 wide receivers.

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