Once a week during the NFL season, I dig into the pass-game data and try to figure out what trends matter at wide receiver, tight end and running back. Let’s open up the spreadsheets and see what we find.

Arizona Passing Game

We’re seven years into the Kyle Murray experience and it’s fair to wonder how good he is. The Cardinals have made the playoffs just once on his watch (a loss) and he’s never directed a top-10 offense. And while it’s fair to blame lots of things for this mediocre run, it sure is funny to watch Arizona’s offense move the ball while backup QB Jacoby Brissett is playing.

Before we look at teammates, the raw stats will tell you Brissett has been better than Murray in 2025. He’s averaging 7.7 yards per pass for the year, while Murray is at 6.0. That’s generally seen as the most important passing stat. Brissett also has the cleaner touchdown/interception ratio, and is much better in the efficiency stats like EPA/dropback.

But maybe you don’t care about Arizona quarterbacks. Maybe you just want to see Trey McBride and Marvin Harrison Jr. produce. Let’s see what they’re up to.

McBride couldn’t buy a touchdown catch for most of last year, finally cracking the code late in the season. Maybe that’s a Murray problem. Murray has targeted McBride 259 times through the years, with just five touchdowns. But Brissett and McBride have already connected for four touchdowns this year, on 33 targets. McBride has been TE2, TE3 and TE6 the last three weeks, the Brissett games.

Harrison hasn't had as much fun with the Brissett starts, though he did check in at WR6 last week. The two prior games, Harrison was WR60 and WR40. His Hall of Fame father has openly questioned the Arizona play-calling, and it’s a fair callout.

Arizona has scored 27 points in each of Brissett’s starts. Maybe it’s not so impressive when you do it against Dallas, as we saw Monday night. But the two prior games were against the Colts and Packers, playoff-tracking teams. Brissett at the moment gives Arizona its best chance to win.

Murray still has a foot injury and the Cardinals aren’t rushing him back. Maybe they want to see Brissett regress some before shifting back to their heavily-paid franchise quarterback. That regression might happen in Week 10, when Arizona travels to Seattle and takes on a very dangerous Seahawks defense.

But if I’m a McBride manager, I want Brissett on the field as much as possible. He’s more experienced than Murray and obviously about six inches taller. It’s possible Brissett can see or anticipate a lot of those red-zone throws that the smaller Murray cannot. And hopefully, Brissett’s sharp game with Harrison last week is a sign of things to come.

One thing we can all agree on — no one has missed Kyler Murray the last month.

Go get Zay Flowers

The NFL trade deadline has come and gone. In most fantasy leagues, you can still make deals. And so many key stat indicators are pointing to Zay Flowers as a screaming bye.

Obviously, the Ravens had to play multiple games without Lamar Jackson, which pushed the team into a hole. Jackson is back now, and looked good in the win at Miami last week. He threw four touchdowns in that game, none of them to Flowers. But some positive touchdown regression for Flowers is probably coming soon.

You can’t complain about the Flowers role. He’s eighth in target share this year, and the only wideout in the top 18 of target share with just one touchdown. His success rate, catch rate and yards per target are all at personal bests — despite multiple games tied to backup quarterbacks. Somehow, despite all the messiness here, Flowers has topped 60 yards in six of his eight starts.

If you need Flowers for later in the season, there are juicy matchups coming. Baltimore still has two Cincinnati games left, an obvious win. The Jets are a get-well defense. Pittsburgh hasn’t stopped the pass well.

We’ve been spoiled the last decade or so by precocious receivers who smash right away. In a different era, we used to point to the third-year breakout receiver. Flowers is in his third season. I still think the spike is coming, and it’s hiding in plain sight.

Theo Johnson, red-zone ace

The Tucker Kraft injury stung for fantasy managers. He was paying off his middle-round ADP nicely, sitting as the TE2 after nine weeks. We wrote a love letter to Kraft all summer (and last week) and we meant every word. But sometimes it’s a wicked game, this professional football.

Fantasy managers need to move on in 2025. And tight end is often a hard place to find waiver-wire help. But maybe Johnson can be a right answer.

We often look for touchdown equity when hunting for a new tight end, and Johnson offers that. He’s been targeted 10 times inside the red zone this year, fifth at the position. Four of those targets have gone for touchdowns. He’s spiked five times in his last six games, showing chemistry with Jaxson Dart. And it’s not like the Giants have anything special in their receiver room, now that Malik Nabers is out for the year.

Johnson probably needs that touchdown to pay off most weeks, but the game logs are encouraging: TE11, TE26, TE9, TE34, TE3, TE13. It’s hard to miss a 6-foot-6 target, even when the field condenses. Johnson is still free to add in about 60% of Yahoo leagues.

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Top-5 target earners at each position from Week 9

Wide receiver

Running back

Tight ends