What Are Left-Aligned Targets?
Left-aligned targets count how many passes were thrown to a receiver on plays where he lined up on the offense's left -- the side determined by where the quarterback is looking downfield, not by which sideline is physically closer to either broadcast camera. Side of field is a real, checkable tendency: roughly a third of NFL outside corners are true left/right players who travel to a side rather than following one receiver, so a heavy left-side target share can point straight at a favorable or unfavorable weekly matchup. This is a volume number, so read it beside Left-Aligned Target Rate, which controls for how many left-side routes he actually ran. Left and right are derived from the charted formation order rather than read from a labeled field, and resolve on about 98% of WR/slot routes; they are an independent split from Slot & Perimeter+ next door and do not sum with it, or on their own, to a receiver's full route total.