5 NFL Red Zone Trends to Monitor for Week 5

Not Your Usual Red Zone Wide Receivers

It's not long ago that Dez Bryant was one of the NFL's most dangerous red zone weapons, and he appeared to be the archetype for a red zone wide receiver. Big, strong and physical. Teams appear to be shifting away from that model this year though.

The two wideouts with the highest red zone target shares in the league are JuJu Smith-Schuster and Jarvis Landry. Smith-Schuster has accounted for 13 of the Pittsburgh Steelers' 24 red zone targets (54.2%) while Landry has accounted for 6 of the Cleveland Browns' 12 (50%).

Neither are diminutive, but both are primarily slot receivers, breaking the mold for what a dangerous red zone receiver can be. In line with this, the only other player with a target share north of 50% through Week 4 is David Johnson -- a running back.

Four Weeks is not a big enough sample to say that this is going to be a lasting trend and represent a shift as we move forward, but it's certainly worth keeping an eye on. Getting out ahead of the trend can allow you to find under-priced touchdown upside in players like Landry, who typically get written off as low-ceiling players.