Strength in Numbers: Actionable Week 17 Stats

We’re going to get a lot of stuff wrong, but sifting through usage metrics can help us work through what matters and what doesn’t. That’s the goal of this article: to break down the most actionable takeaways from each week in a concise, numbers-filled format and work through what’s important. Let’s get right to it:

1. Marquise Brown finished second among K.C. WRs in targets with seven but still ran only 19 routes on 39 Patrick Mahomes dropbacks. It will be interesting to see what K.C. does in the playoffs, as neither Brown nor DeAndre Hopkins have stepped into a full-time role as of yet. Xavier Worthy has ascended into the WR1 role and ran 35 routes on 39 dropbacks last Wednesday, finishing with eight targets and going 8/79/1. Noah Gray‘s route rate was down again (15 routes), his second straight week of a depressed route rate.

2. Kareem Hunt out-carried Isiah Pacheco 9-6, meaning the total over the last four games is 42-38 Pacheco. It’s a true nearly even split.

3. George Pickens ran 41 routes on 48 dropbacks in his return from a hamstring injury. Calvin Austin remained the WR2, running 38 routes, while Van Jefferson seems like he has lost his job, as he ran 21 routes, one fewer than Mike Williams.