This was supposed to be Alshon Jeffery's time. His opportunity to be "the guy" in Chicago.
With Brandon Marshall finally out of the picture, it seemed Jeffery had nothing standing in the way of a monstrous season in new offensive coordinator Adam Gase's offense.
As is often the case in the NFL, things didn't play out quite as expected.
After gutting through a productive Week 1 loss, Jeffery succumbed to a nagging hamstring injury. Stuck on the sidelines recovering for four weeks, he has now returned in a big way.
A Target Monster
With Marshall's departure and the hiring of Gase -- known for emphasizing his team's number-one receiver, Gase's offense targeted Demaryius Thomas a league leading 184 times last year -- it was expected that Jeffery would see an increase in usage. The extent of this increase may have been underestimated though.
| Player | Targets per Game | Target Share |
|---|---|---|
| DeAndre Hopkins | 14.00 | 34.25% |
| Alshon Jeffery | 12.33 | 33.60% |
| Julio Jones | 12.75 | 32.69% |
In the three games that Jeffery has played this season, he compares very favorably with known target hogs DeAndre Hopkins and Julio Jones.
With Marshall competing for Jay Cutler's attention last year, Jeffery received 25.66% of the team's targets (9.06 per game). This increase of roughly three targets per game is particularly noteworthy, as it's also been accompanied by extremely efficient play.
Efficiency on the Field
While opportunity is certainly an important factor in the success of a wide receiver, being efficient and productive with those opportunities is what separates the elite from the average.
At numberFire we have metrics that help to measure that efficiency. Our Matt Forte expected to miss the next couple of games, it's possible we'll see Cutler focus in on Jeffery even more than usual in those matchups.
Our projections foresee Jeffery posting 59.12 receptions, 754.40 yards and 6.20 touchdowns over the remainder of the season. With one of the heaviest workloads in the league, and playing the most efficient football of his career, there's no reason to believe he won't reach those totals.
While he may have taken a bit of a detour in getting here, Jeffery has definitely arrived as "the guy" in the Windy City.