Touches and Targets: The lifeblood of the Fantasy Owner’s Manual.  At this point, the first thing we all do on Monday is check the waiver wire and see what we can dump and what we can get.  What’s gold?  And I mean Kenny Bania-gold?  It’s all about touches and targets.  We’ll talk running back touches later on this week, but for today, here’s the wideouts who saw the most targets in Week 3 heading into Monday Night Football.

1. Wes Welker – 20.
2. Roddy White – 17.
3. Anquan Boldin – 14.
4. Reggie Wayne – 13.
5. Andre Caldwell/Eric Decker/Andre Johnson – 11.

I know, your eyes are drawn to Andre Caldwell.  Someone has to catch the ball besides A.J. Green in Cincinnati.  We were waiting for a number two wideout, and Caldwell looks like the guy.  He flashed a bit with Carson Palmer, who went to him inside 2:00 a few times for game-winning scores back when Palmer was playing football and not cornhole in his backyard.  The Bengals aren’t scoring at quite a Patriots clip, but I think he’s a viable option out there if you need a wideout.

(Also, don’t give up on Anquan Boldin in spite of Torrid, um, Torrey Smith’s first quarter against the Rams.  Conversely, don’t think Reggie Wayne’s targets mean production.  He only caught 3 passes Sunday.  Now if Bert Jones starts Sunday, look out.)

Other thoughts: Eric Decker is legit, even with the reanimation of Brandon Lloyd.  You can be comfortable with him in a flex position. If you want to widen out and look at the entire season?  Snug in your Top 10 list for targets the first three weeks is Jaguars WR Mike Thomas sliding in at  number 8.  Despite the lack of ‘O in Los Angeles, um, Jacksonville, Thomas is a weekly WR2 despite catching passes from Sunshine from ‘Remember The Titans.’  I mean, come on, he has more targets than Megatron so far.

Want some unheralded red zone guys?  Miami’s Davone Bess, Carolina’s Legedu Naanee and the Bears’ Dane Sanzenbacher, who have each seen six red zone looks so far this season, good for seventh overall.  Of those guys, I like Bess the most, as Chad Henne’s improvement means throwing the football will be priority number one, and there’s more than enough balls for someone not named Brandon Marshall.

– Jason Smith

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