Coaching Time: Best And Worst Play-Callers For Each Skill-Position

Best Coaches for Wide Receivers

Most WR Room Targets

#NFL Coaches/Coordinators whose WR rooms average the most targets (career)

1. #Bengals OC Brian Callahan (24.25)
2. #Bengals HC Zac Taylor (23.86)
3. #Cardinals HC Kliff Kingsbury (23.69)
4. #Steelers OC Randy Fichtner (23.25)
5. #Cowboys OC Kellen Moore (22.31)

— Eli G (@3li_handles) September 3, 2020

Most WR Room Receiving Yards

NFL Coaches/Coordinators whose WR rooms average the most receiving yards per game (career)

1. #Cowboys OC Kellen Moore (217.19)
2. #Buccaneers OC Byron Leftwich (186.64)
3. #Rams HC Sean McVay (181.07)
4. #Cowboys HC Mike McCarthy (178.67)
5. #Buccaneers HC Bruce Arians (178.39)

— Eli G (@3li_handles) September 2, 2020

Most WR Room Receiving TDs

NFL Coaches/Offensive coordinators whose WR rooms average the most receiving TDs per game (career)

1. #Chiefs OC Eric Bieniemy (1.44)
2. #Buccaneers OC Byron Leftwich (1.36)
3. #Cowboys HC Mike McCarthy (1.31)
4. #Giants OC Jason Garrett (1.26)
5. #Cowboys OC Kellen Moore (1.25)

— Eli G (@3li_handles) September 2, 2020

Highest % of Pass Attempts to WR

Coaches/Offensive Coordinators who give the highest % of their targets to WRs

1. Kliff Kingsbury (71.64%)
2. Joe Brady* (71.16%)
3. Chan Gailey (67.05%)
4. Matt Rhule* (66.43%)
5. Zac Taylor (66.27%)

*Used college stats, since they haven't been an OC/HC at the NFL level

— Eli G (@3li_handles) August 30, 2020

Takeaways

• Bengals head coach Zac Taylor and offensive coordinator Brian Callahan are at the top for WR room targets per game…if one of AJ Green, Tyler Boyd, John Ross, Auden Tate, or Tee Higgins can separate themselves from the pack there could be some value there.
• I usually downgrade wide receivers after they switch teams for the year after because it takes a while to develop chemistry and it’s tougher to gauge how the player will fit in the offensive system…but in the case of DeAndre Hopkins, he may actually turn out to be a good value this year on the Cardinals, as head coach Kliff Kingsbury targeted his receivers 379 times last year.
• Steelers offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner has also given his WR room a ton of targets in his first two seasons in the league…expect a bounce-back year for JuJu Smith-Schuster and monitor Diontae Johnson, Chase Claypool, and James Washington late in drafts.
• Cowboys offensive coordinator Kellen Moore appears in the top 5 of WR room targets, WR room receiving yards, and WR room receiving touchdowns. In addition, head coach Mike McCarthy made an appearance in the WR room receiving yards and WR room receiving touchdowns lists. All three of their star wide-receivers – Amari Cooper, Michael Gallup, and CeeDee Lamb – could outproduce their ADPs in this offense.
• Tampa Bay’s offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich and head coach Bruce Arians show up near the top of WR room receiving yards and WR room receiving touchdowns…Chris Godwin and Mike Evans should be put into positions to succeed if old habits die hard.
• Rams head coach Sean McVay ranked in the top 3 of WR room receiving yards…considering WR Brandin Cooks is also gone now, Robert Woods and Cooper Kupp look like great candidates to outproduce their ADPs.
• It also wouldn’t be a bad idea to monitor 2020 second-round pick Van Jefferson throughout the season
• New York Giants offensive coordinator Jason Garrett surprisingly ranked in the top 5 of WR receiving touchdowns per game…this bodes well for Sterling Shepard and Darius Slayton.
• Panthers head coach Matt Rhule and offensive coordinator Joe Brady didn’t get to qualify for a lot of these stats because comparing college stats to NFL stats is like comparing apples to oranges. But they were included in the “% of Pass Attempts to WR” data and both ranked in the top 5. This should make fantasy players rostering D.J. Moore or Curtis Samuel very excited.

Worst Coaches for Wide Receivers

Least WR Room Targets

#NFL Coaches/Coordinators whose WR rooms average the fewest targets (career)

1. #Browns HC Kevin Stefanski (13.47)
2. #Chargers OC Shane Steichen (15.88)
3. #Ravens OC Greg Roman (15.90)
4. #Titans OC Arthur Smith (15.94)
5. #Browns OC Alex Van Pelt (16.25)

— Eli G (@3li_handles) September 3, 2020

Least WR Room Receiving Yards

#NFL Coaches/Coordinators whose WR rooms average the fewest receiving yards per game (career)

1. #Browns OC Alex Van Pelt (111.56)
2. #Eagles HC Doug Pederson (123.48)
3. #Bills OC Brian Daboll (123.60)
4. #Ravens OC Greg Roman (126.49)
5. #Browns HC Kevin Stefanski (128.21)

— Eli G (@3li_handles) September 2, 2020

Least WR Room Receiving TDs

#NFL Coaches/Offensive coordinators whose WR rooms average the least receiving TDs per game (career)

1. #Washington OC Scott Turner (0.25)
2. #Bills OC Brian Daboll (0.54)
3. #Bengals OC Brian Callahan (0.56)
4. #Bengals HC Zac Taylor (0.57)
5. #Chargers OC Shane Steichen (0.63)

— Eli G (@3li_handles) September 2, 2020

Lowest % of Pass Attempts to WR

#NFL Coaches/Offensive Coordinators who give the lowest % of targets to WRs

1. #Chargers OC Shane Steichen (47.04%)
2. #Browns HC Kevin Stefanski (49.14%)
3. #Saints OC Pete Carmichael (50.60%)
4. #Eagles HC Doug Pederson (51.07%)
5. #Saints HC Sean Payton (51.72%)

— Eli G (@3li_handles) September 2, 2020

Takeaways

• Seeing Browns coaches Kevin Stefanski and Alex Van Pelt in the bottom 5 of WR room targets and WR room receiving yards should be worrying to players rostering Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry. Their upside is going to be more limited in this offensive system.
• Chargers offensive coordinator Shane Steichen didn’t utilize his wide receiver room frequently in his eight games calling plays last year…while it’s a small sample size, it’s risky to be drafting any wide receiver outside of Keenan Allen.
• Greg Roman (Baltimore Ravens) hasn’t provided a lot of targets to his wide receivers, and it’s led to some poor receiving yardage totals from the position. Marquise ‘Hollywood’ Brown should be the only wide receiver you take a shot on drafting from the team.
• Titans offensive coordinator, Arthur Smith didn’t target his wide receivers very much in his first season as a play-caller. I would only feel comfortable investing in A.J. Brown as a receiver on this team.
• Eagles head coach Doug Pederson hasn’t gotten production out of his WR room in his 112 games as an offensive coordinator or head coach, ranking as the second-lowest WR receiving yards. Pederson’s pretty big on utilizing his running backs and tight ends in the passing game, so that may explain part of it.
• Buffalo’s offensive coordinator Brian Daboll has traditionally struggled at getting good production out of his wide receivers, with his offense’s receiving yards and touchdowns ranking in the bottom three among his peers.
• Don’t worry too much about Scott Turner’s wide receivers only averaging 0.5 receiving touchdowns per game. He only has had 4 games as a play-caller, so it’s a little early to draw hard conclusions from that (and the rest of his data)
• Sean Payton and Pete Carmichael surprisingly only throw to their wide receivers a little more than 50% of the time. As Drew Brees’ passing volume has gone down in recent years, it’s becoming riskier to invest in wide receivers that aren’t named Michael Thomas.
• Bengals coaches Brian Callahan and Zac Taylor both have a low number of receiving touchdowns per game…this is largely due to their 16 and 21 game sample sizes and coaching for the worst team in the league last year.