Fantasy Football: 3 Players to Target in PPR Leagues

The three common fantasy football scoring systems are standard or non-PPR, which does not award points for receptions, half-PPR, and PPR.

Standard scoring versus PPR (point per reception) can have a huge impact on which players' value. Of course, this mostly concerns receiving targets, such as wide receivers, tight ends, and running backs.

While utilizing FantasyPros' average draft position (ADP) and FanDuel Research's season-long fantasy football projections, let's focus on PPR leagues in this piece and circle three players who hold more value with this point system. Considering the point per reception, we should look for players who are racking up targets and catches.

Jahmyr Gibbs, Detroit Lions

Starting with the highest player on draft boards for this list, Jahmyr Gibbs of the Detroit Lions is gearing up to be one of the first running backs selected. He's carrying an RB6 ADP in PPR leagues.

Gibbs enjoyed a successful rookie season, finishing as RB10. Despite totaling fewer rushing yards and touchdowns than his running mate David Montgomery, he still finished seven spots above the veteran tailback.

The receiving game played a huge part as Gibbs totaled 52 receptions, 71 targets, and 316 receiving yards to Montgomery's 16 catches, 24 targets, and 117 receiving yards. Gibbs has established himself as the go-to target out of the backfield.

Projections are expecting Gibbs to increase his fantasy production, finishing as RB5 with forecasted stats of 244 rushing attempts, 1,078 rushing yards, 12 total touchdowns, 60 catches, 84 targets, and 435 receiving yards.

He's already expected to increase his carries by over 50 after totaling 0.36 rushing yards over expectation per carry (RYOE/C) compared to Montgomery's 0.27. Plus, he totaled 5.2 yards per rushing attempt versus Mont's 4.6.

Even with more work on the ground, projections still have Gibbs at 3.5 catches per game while increasing his targets per game by 0.2 and receiving yards per contest by 4.5.

According to PlayerProfiler, Gibbs touted the 9th-highest target share and 10th-highest routes run at his position last season. This could only increase with more work likely coming his way. Gibbs is projecting as one of the top PPR backs with a healthy amount of receiving work.

Alvin Kamara, New Orleans Saints

Another running back known for his receiving is Alvin Kamara. From 2017 to 2020, he was a beast through the air, totaling over 500 receiving yards every year while reaching at least 100 targets in three of the four seasons. Kamara even led the league in receiving yards for running backs in 2017 and 2020.

He's been under 500 receiving yards over his last three seasons, but Kamara had a healthy 86 targets in 2023. This was good for 6.6 targets per game over a 13-game span. That's nearly on par with his career-high of 7.1 targets per game in 2020 -- the same season in which he led backs in receiving yards.

Adding Derek Carr was a huge help to Kamara's receiving load as he finished with the third-highest running back target rate among quarterbacks. Carr playing with probably the best receiving back of his career plays a major part in this, but seeing the signal-caller immediately targeting Kamara over and over again is encouraging.

After finishing with the second-highest target share and fourth-highest yards per route run in 2023, Kamara should be quite valuable in PPR leagues. Keep in mind he missed three games due to suspension and one contest due to injury last season.

In standards leagues, Kamara is RB16; this jumps to RB15 in PPR leagues. That's not a massive difference, but FanDuel Research's projections are suggesting this should be much higher.

He's currently RB7 in projections with an expected 5.9 targets, 4.4 catches, and 28.8 receiving yards per game. This is even behind last season's marks of 6.6 targets, 5.8 catches, and 35.8 receiving yards per game.

There's a good chance that Kamara does even better in the receiving category than projections suggest. The Saints running back is shaping up to be a very valuable piece in PPR leagues.

Michael Pittman Jr., Indianapolis Colts

Michael Pittman Jr. has been the clear top target for the Indianapolis Colts for several seasons, leading the team in receiving for three consecutive seasons. While he's been a go-to target for Indy, he hasn't quite become a fantasy superstar with only 14 total touchdowns since 2021.

Due to sheer volume, Pittman has still managed to become a valuable asset in fantasy leagues. He had career-highs with 156 targets, 109 receptions, and 1,152 receiving yards last season. This led to finishing as WR13 in PPR leagues. Pittman didn't have the same value in standard leagues as WR25. The receptions carried a ton of weight for his fantasy value.

The Colts' leading wideout had the fourth-most receptions in the NFL last season. Of course, this led to terrific value in PPR leagues as he finished 19 spots above his WR32 ADP prior to the 2023 season.

Advanced stats continue to show the same usage. Pittman had the ninth-most targets, fourth-highest target share, eighth-highest target rate, fourth-highest snap share, and an eye-popping 94.4% route participation in 2023.

We should consider that Anthony Richardson -- Indianapolis' starting QB going forward -- had only two full-game starts last season. It was two very different results for Pittman, for he totaled 11 targets and 8 receptions in Week 1 versus 5 targets and 1 catch in Week 4.

A mobile signal-caller could mean fewer passing attempts, but the Colts already had 15th-fewest passing attempts per game last season. Richardson averaged 31.0 attempts per contest last season in full starts -- only 2.8 behind Indy's season average of 33.8. Although it was a small sample size, there shouldn't be that big of a drop off in passing attempts with Richardson at the helm.

Pittman's ADP is even showing his value in PPR leagues, for he has a WR20 ADP in standard leagues compared to WR17 in PPR.

He could come up short of producing last season's numbers, for his projections suggest a drop off in usage with 9.1 targets and 5.9 receptions per game compared to a per-game average of 9.8 targets and 6.8 catches last season. We can't overlook the additions of Adonai Mitchell while Josh Downs comes off a promising rookie season.

The receiving group could be improved, but Pittman should still be the alpha dog while carrying promising PPR upside.

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The above author is a FanDuel employee and is not eligible to compete in public daily fantasy contests or place sports betting wagers on FanDuel. The advice provided by the author does not necessarily represent the views of FanDuel. Taking the author's advice will not guarantee a successful outcome. You should use your own judgment when participating in daily fantasy contests or placing sports wagers.