An annual fruitful exercise, finding where teams have lost targets from the year prior can be the skeleton key to finding fantasy value in the upcoming season.
Outside of major coaching changes in offensive philosophy, most of these targets stay intact with the team. They’re just simply redistributed to new additions or to the incumbents.
Below is a list of all available targets that are up for grabs from each team. We can use these numbers to more accurately project exactly how much volume a receiver may be in for during the 2019 season.
2018 Vacated Targets
| Team | Targets | Target% |
| Oakland Raiders | 359 | 67.8% |
| Baltimore Ravens | 296 | 54.9% |
| Jacksonville Jaguars | 257 | 49.0% |
| Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 229 | 37.0% |
| Pittsburgh Steelers | 226 | 33.4% |
| Detroit Lions | 192 | 34.3% |
| Buffalo Bills | 190 | 39.6% |
| New York Jets | 170 | 33.7% |
| New England Patriots | 165 | 29.7% |
| Dallas Cowboys | 155 | 29.9% |
| Kansas City Chiefs | 148 | 26.2% |
| Seattle Seahawks | 142 | 35.5% |
| Washington Redskins | 138 | 28.2% |
| New York Giants | 132 | 22.9% |
| Houston Texans | 120 | 24.4% |
| Philadelphia Eagles | 114 | 19.2% |
| Los Angeles Chargers | 110 | 21.7% |
| Green Bay Packers | 109 | 17.7% |
| Miami Dolphins | 108 | 24.8% |
| Indianapolis Colts | 105 | 16.5% |
| Denver Broncos | 104 | 18.4% |
| Carolina Panthers | 86 | 15.8% |
| New Orleans Saints | 78 | 15.2% |
| Chicago Bears | 68 | 13.5% |
| San Francisco 49ers | 64 | 12.4% |
| Atlanta Falcons | 63 | 10.4% |
| Minnesota Vikings | 61 | 10.3% |
| Cleveland Browns | 49 | 8.7% |
| Arizona Cardinals | 43 | 9.0% |
| Tennessee Titans | 28 | 6.6% |
| Cincinnati Bengals | 22 | 4.1% |
| Los Angeles Rams | 11 | 2.0% |
Oakland Raiders (359 Vacated Targets)
Oakland’s 359 available targets lead the league. The offense did nearly a complete overhaul departing from Jared Cook (101 targets), Jordy Nelson (88), Seth Roberts (64), Amari Cooper (partial season, 31 targets), and more. The Raiders were one of the most pass-happy teams in the league last year (mostly out of necessity while trailing games) with a 61.1% pass percentage (top-12 rate). Revamping their offense with newcomers Antonio Brown, Tyrell Williams, and Josh Jacobs, we should be in for a lot more usable fantasy weeks from this squad.
Baltimore Ravens (296 Vacated Targets)
After transitioning midseason from the Joe Flacco era to the Lamar Jackson era, the Ravens decided to try to spend this offseason changing the types of targets for their signal caller. Gone are Michael Crabtree (100), John Brown (97), and Javorius Allen (43). The team elected to add speedster Marquise Brown in the first round and athletic specimen Miles Boykin in the third. Baltimore also gave tight end Nick Boyle a three-year extension and brought in slot receiver Seth Roberts. The Ravens youth rebuild continues for Year 2 under the Jackson era and should be an exciting one to watch for a full 16-game season.
Jacksonville Jaguars (257 Vacated Targets)
Despite not being many big names, the Jaguars’ most vacated targets come from Donte Moncrief (89), T.J. Yeldon (78), and Austin Seferian-Jenkins (19). Jacksonville also swapped out signal callers signing Nick Foles to a four-year, $88M deal ($50.125M guaranteed). I’m expecting big things for Dede Westbrook as the de-facto No. 1 wideout in this offense that now has a competent quarterback under center. Westbrooks’ 101 targets from last year should see a sizable bump as he contends for fantasy WR2 status. It will also be interesting to see who elevates to TE1 on the depth chart. In the 12 complete games Foles played over the past two years in Philadelphia (including playoffs), he targeted his tight ends at a 31.7% clip. The Jaguars TE1 position could be a potential fantasy sleeper.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers (229 Vacated Targets)
The departures of Adam Humphries (105) and DeSean Jackson (74) open up some quality targets for the passing game in Tampa Bay. Chris Godwin is entering his third year in the league and looks poised for a breakout season. Without a set-in-stone WR3 — currently Breshad Perriman is third on the depth chart — we could reasonably expect an uptick in O.J. Howard’s usage in this offense. Howard has averaged just 3.6 targets per game over the course of his career and could also be in a sizable leap in production entering his third year in the league. Bruce Arians should have no difficulty reassigning last year’s 229 vacated targets and perhaps increasing that total due to his aggressive style of play.
Pittsburgh Steelers (226 Vacated Targets)
The Antonio Brown departure (168) makes up the large majority of these vacated targets, opening a path for James Washington, Donte Moncrief, and Dionte Johnson to contend for valuable looks. This is one training camp battle to keep a close eye on. Tight end Jesse James (39) leaves behind some looks that Vance McDonald could inherit. McDonald had 72 targets last season with a 50-610-4 receiving stat line. He’s a nice buy behind the Tier 2 of tight ends in the eighth/ninth round.
