We’ve found over the years that the vast majority of people who play fantasy have made the switch to PPR formats. Our site default rankings and our articles are mostly written with PPR formats in mind. The purpose of this article is to simply recognize those fantasy players whose values are noticeably higher in PPR formats compared to non-PPR leagues and vice versa.
Recognizing which players are better for PPR formats and which players are better for non-PPR formats is especially important when drafting the running back position. Many teams have moved away from using bell-cow backs to using multiple specialty players in their backfields. If you read nothing else in this article, the running backs should be on your required reading list.
I used our Projections as of Aug. 25 to highlight the players who have more value in PPR formats and to highlight the players who excel more in non-PPR formats.
Running Backs Projected Higher in PPR Formats
Alvin Kamara (PPR rank 4, non-PPR rank 6) — Somehow, Kamara has managed to catch exactly 81 passes in each of his first three seasons. He’s finished in the top five of RB receptions in each of his first three seasons.
Austin Ekeler (PPR 13, non 21) — Switching from Philip Rivers to Tyrod Taylor is going to hurt his receiving production, but Ekeler averaged a position-high 2.74 yards per route run in 2019 (per PFF).
Le’Veon Bell (PPR 17, non 22) — Bell averaged a miserable 3.2 YPC in his first season with the Jets, but he at least cleared 65+ catches for the third straight season he’s been active. Bell has averaged 4.0 catches per game in each of his last five active seasons.
Tarik Cohen (PPR 29, non 35) — Cohen averaged a miserable 5.8 YPR last season, but he’s averaging 67.7 catches per season and 4.2 catches per game through three seasons.
James White (PPR 31, non 37) — White averaged 1.91 yards per route run last season, and he’s averaged 4.5 catches per game over the last four seasons. His numbers could tail off a bit with Tom Brady gone, but at least Christian McCaffrey saw 124 targets playing with Cam Newton in 2018.
Duke Johnson (PPR 41, non 49) — Duke has been one of the most dynamic receiving backs through five seasons. He’s averaged 9.2 YPR for his career while topping 40+ receptions, 60+ targets, and 400+ receiving yards in each of his five seasons.
Nyheim Hines (PPR 45, non 62) — Hines has seen more targets (139) than carries (137) through his first two seasons. Hines will look to keep his passing-back role with Jonathan Taylor added to the mix with Hines and Marlon Mack.
Boston Scott (PPR 52, non 60) — Scott came from relative obscurity last season to record 23 catches in Philly’s final four games last season. He’s in line to work as the change-of-pace back next to Miles Sanders this season.
Running Backs Projected Higher in non-PPR Formats
Ezekiel Elliott (non-PPR rank 2, PPR rank 3) — Zeke is the only back to reach 300+ carries and 70+ targets the last two seasons, and he’s done it twice. He could be hard-pressed to reach 70+ targets again this season with RB Tony Pollard expected to take on a bigger role in his second season.
Derrick Henry (non 4, PPR 6) — Henry has yet to reach 25+ targets or 20+ receptions in four seasons. King Henry has been putting in extra work as a receiver in camp, but touchdowns will continue to drive his production as he’s scored 30 times the last two seasons.
Joe Mixon (non 7, PPR 9) — Mixon has yet to reach 300+ receiving yards in his first three seasons after averaging 2.70 yards per route run in his final season at Oklahoma. Gio Bernard is still a threat to steal passing-down snaps this season.
Nick Chubb (non 9, PPR 14) — Chubb is going to need a Kareem Hunt injury to find more targets this season. Chubb averaged just 1.4 receptions per game in his final eight games with Hunt in the lineup last season compared to 3.1 receptions per game in his first eight games without Hunt.
Jonathan Taylor (non 13, PPR 18) — Taylor did see a promising spike in catches in his final season at Wisconsin last year, going from 16 combined catches in his first 27 games (2017-18) to 26 catches in his final 14 games (2019). Taylor has some untapped receiving potential, but he’ll be battling Nyheim Hines and Marlon Mack for targets.
Raheem Mostert (non 27, PPR 32) — Mostert has just 42 catches across nine seasons in college and professional football, which includes just 3/8 receiving during his incredible run in the playoffs.
Joshua Kelley (non 39, PPR 53) — The Chargers replaced Melvin Gordon’s size and speed with Kelley this off-season. Austin Ekeler is going to dominate passing-game work in this backfield. Kelley had just 38 catches compared to 454 carries in two seasons at UCLA.
Damien Harris (non 41, PPR 49) — Harris is in a battle for the lead runner role in the Patriots offense, but he’s unlikely to be featured as a receiver with James White and Rex Burkhead handling those duties.
Wide Receivers Projected Higher in PPR Formats
Davante Adams (PPR 2, non 4) — Adams figures to challenge Michael Thomas to be the top ball hog in the league after averaging 10.6 targets per game last season. Adams is still the clear top option in an otherwise limited receiving corps after the organization did nothing to upgrade their WR depth.
Julio Jones (PPR 3, non 5) — The only thing holding Jones back from being the top WR option every year is his 4.5% career TD rate (57 scores on 1252 targets), which dips down to 3.8% (37 on 1029) over the last seven seasons.
Allen Robinson (PPR 6, non 8) — A-Rob finished as the WR11 last year thanks to an influx of targets late in the season. He set career-highs in catches (98) and targets (154) while also reaching 1000+ receiving yards for the first time since 2015.
Robert Woods (PPR 13, non 17) — Woods has never topped 6 touchdowns in a season after reaching the end zone twice on 139 targets last season. Woods was the only WR to score two or fewer TDs out of 30 players at the position who saw 100+ targets last season.
Cooper Kupp (PPR 17, non 23) — Kupp used touchdown deodorant to cover up a shaky end to last season. Kupp should see a negative touchdown regression after scoring 10 TDs on 134 targets. He’s averaged 5.0 catches per game and 7.3 targets per game in his first three seasons.
D.J. Moore (PPR 22, non 28) — Moore has scored just six touchdowns and he’s seen only 10 end-zone targets through two seasons, but he did finish inside the top 10 in receiving yards (1174), catches (83), and targets (138) at the position last season.
Keenan Allen (PPR 29, non 35) — Allen has quietly stacked together three consecutive seasons with 16 games played, 136+ targets, 97+ catches, and 1100+ yards. The only thing holding him back from higher finishes at the position has been his solid but unspectacular six touchdowns in each of those seasons.
Jamison Crowder (PPR 36, non 52) — Crowder ran 76.4% of his routes from the slot last season, which means he’ll mostly avoid the AFC East’s gauntlet of CBs in Stephon Gilmore, Tre’Davious White, Byron Jones, and Xavien Howard this season. It also means that he’s a PPR target only after his average depth of target sat at just 8.0 yards last season.
Julian Edelman (PPR 37, non 51) — Edelman has averaged 5.3 touchdowns per season since earning a prominent role in 2013. In that same time, the primary slot WR has averaged 88.3 receptions per game and 132.2 targets per game. We’ll see if he can remain active in the underneath areas for new QB Cam Newton.
Michael Pittman (PPR 43, non 48) — Pittman is coming off a 101-catch season playing in USC’s Air Raid system. Pittman isn’t going to blow away defenders with his explosiveness, but he’s a big receiver who runs routes like a smaller receiver, which should quickly make him a favorite for Philip Rivers.
((Golden Tate|WR|NYG}} (PPR 53, non 59) — Tate is still one of the best receivers after the catch entering his age-32 season, and he’s still one of the safest fantasy options for PPR formats after catching five or more passes in six of his 11 games last season.
Wide Receivers Projected Higher in non-PPR Formats
Chris Godwin (non 2, PPR 4) — Godwin finished behind only Michael Thomas as the WR2 in FPG (19.7) as he ranked in the top-10 at the position in touchdowns (9), receiving yards (1333), and YAC (577) despite missing the final two games of the season with a hamstring injury.
Tyreek Hill (non 3, PPR 5) — Hill is still among the league's elite downfield weapons with his 4.29 speed, and it doesn’t hurt that Patrick Mahomes has an absolute howitzer. Hill gets a small boost in non-PPR formats with his career 14.6 YPR average and his career 7.7% TD rate (32 TDs on 414 targets).
Kenny Golladay (non 7, PPR 11) — Golladay has emerged as one of the league’s best downfield and red-zone weapons, which he showed by averaging 2.03 yards per route run and by leading the league in targets from inside the 10-yard line with 13 last season. He also averaged an aDOT of 15.1 yards.
A.J. Green (non 24, PPR 28) — Green has missed 29 of a possible 64 games (45.3%) over the last four seasons, but he ranked seventh in yards per route run in 2018 (2.39) among 100 WRs with 40+ targets. AJG has scored on a healthy 6.2% of his career targets (63 TDs on 1024 targets).
Will Fuller (non 26, PPR 31) — Fuller has averaged more than 13.5 YPR with an aDOT of more than 13.5 yards in each of his first four seasons. He’s worked on his lower-body strength to try to stay healthy for 16 games this season.
DeVante Parker (non 27, PPR 32) — Parker’s average depth of target sat at a healthy 14.0 yards last season, and he scored a career-high nine touchdowns last season. It’s looking the more aggressive Ryan Fitzpatrick will be the starter early in the season.
Darius Slayton (non 33, PPR 39) — Slayton averaged a promising 85.5 air yards per game last season with an average depth of target of 14.2 yards. He also scored on 9.5% of his targets last season, scoring eight times on 84 targets.
DeSean Jackson (non 40, PPR 47) — D-Jax is a big play waiting to happen. He’s averaged more than 17 YPR in four of his last five seasons when he’s played at least nine games, and he’s averaged more than 15.5 YPR in nine of his last 10 seasons with at least nine games.
Mike Williams (non 37, PPR 49) — Williams scored on an absurd 15.2% of his targets (10 of 66) in 2018 before regression hit hard last season as he found paydirt on just 2.2% of his targets (2 of 89). He should see some positive regression this season after finishing eighth in air yards (1626) and sixth in end-zone targets last season.
CeeDee Lamb (non 41, PPR 45) — Lamb averaged an absolutely silly 6.11 yards per route run out of the slot last season while at Oklahoma. He also led this year’s draft class in yards per target (15.1), and he finished behind only Brandon Aiyuk in yards after the catch with 10.7.
Deebo Samuel (non 42, PPR 48) — Samuel led all WRs in rushing yards with 159 last season, and he added 102 rushing yards in three postseason games. Deebo also ranked second in yards after the catch per reception (8.5)
Mecole Hardman (non 49, PPR 59) — Hardman played just 45% of the snaps and he saw only 2.6 targets per game last season, but his 20.7 YPR and his 13.1 yards per target averages helped him to top 500+ receiving yards.
Tight Ends Projected Higher in PPR Formats
Darren Waller (PPR 5, non 7) — Waller finished third in TE targets (117) and second in TE receptions (90) during his break-out 2019 campaign. Waller averaged 2.42 yards per route run but he scored on just 2.6% of his targets last season (3-of-117).
Evan Engram (PPR 7, non 9) — Engram was the focal point of the Giants passing attack when he was on the field last year, seeing at least six targets and a team-high 22% target share in his eight contests. Engram has scored six times over the last two seasons on 132 targets (4.9% rate).
Hunter Henry (PPR 8, non 10) — Henry has scored nine times on 138 targets (6.5% rate) over his last two healthy seasons (2017 and 2019) after scoring eight times on 53 targets as a rookie in 2016 (15.1%).
Austin Hooper (PPR 16, non 20) — Hooper scored a career-high six touchdowns last season on 97 targets (6.2% rate) last season after scoring just 10 times on 180 targets in his first three seasons (5.6%). Hooper has the fourth-most receptions (146) at the position over the last two seasons.
Tight Ends Projected Higher in non-PPR Formats
Jared Cook (non 5, PPR 9) — Cook led all TEs in yards per target (11.4), which included a 14.0 average in his 10 completed games with Drew Brees last season. Cook had an absurd 13.8% TD rate, scoring on nine of his 65 targets in 14 games last season. He also easily paced the Saints with 11 end-zone targets, besting Michael Thomas by five end-zone looks despite seeing 120 fewer targets.
Rob Gronkowski (non 8, PPR 11) — Gronk scored just three times the last time we saw him back in 2018, but he’s been one of the biggest red-zone menaces during his career. Gronk owns a career TD rate of 9.9% (79 TDs on 795 targets) playing with Tom Brady for most of his career.
Jace Sternberger (non 17, PPR 22) — The last time Sternberger had a prominent role, the second-year pro scored 10 touchdowns and he averaged 17.1 YPR for Texas A&M against SEC competition.
Eric Ebron (non 18, PPR 21) — Ebron has shown the ability to absolutely dominate in the red zone as he did in 2018 when he scored a position-best 10 TDs on 18 red-zone targets. The Steelers are hoping he can recreate that magic with Ben Roethlisberger.
