What is up Karma Nation! Welcome back to another edition of my WR/CB Matchups Article. In this article, I will be breaking down three of the best and three of the worst matchups across this weekend’s games. I can’t believe we are already through a quarter of the season; it seems like this season is flying by already. Although, the good news is that we have plenty of data to dissect going into this week to find the best edge to win you the week. On top of the free articles, we have a FREE discord where we are always bouncing ideas off each other. Outside of all the FREE content, we offer paid subscriptions. Whether you are low on time or just want to know exactly what we are playing, the premium side of discord is always active, as we have subs continuously asking questions about how to build their lineups.
Last Week’s Results:
Best Matchups:
Cooper Kupp: 13 Targets, 10 receptions, 156 Yards, and 2 TDs
Calvin Ridley: 10 Targets, 4 Receptions, 26 Yards, 1TD
Marquise Brown: 14 Targets, 5 Receptions, 80 Yards, 1 TD
Worst Matchups:
DK Metcalf: 5 Targets, 2 Receptions, 96 Yards, 1 TD
Jakobi Meyers: 7 Targets, 5 Receptions, 44 Yards
DeVonta Smith: 9 Targets, 5 Reception, 61 Yards
Wide Receiver and Cornerback matchups are one of the staples of fantasy football. A lot of people will take a look at the overall matchup on defense. While that is important, it is also critical to take your research a step further and dive into the micro matchup between the WR and who he is lining up against the majority of the game.
This Week’s Matchups:
Best Matchups:
DeVonta Smith vs Jerry Jacobs
DeVonta Smith was featured in my article last week when he had a tough matchup against Casey Hayward and the Raiders. Like I mentioned in my article, even in bad matchups players tend to move around the field. So even though Casey Hayward shut him down for 0 receptions, when he was lined up on the other side of the field that was a different story. This led to Smith having four receptions for 41 yards against Brandon Facyson. The remaining 20 yards came when he was lined up on a linebacker. Smith on the season has been extremely boom or bust. He has four games of 5+ targets and 60+ yards while having three weeks of 3 or fewer receptions and 31 or fewer yards. This has led to two games of top 20 WR performances including one top 12 WR performance, the week he scored his lone touchdown of the season. In turn, this has also led to three finishes of 69 (nice) or worse.
The Lions continue to have one of the worst defenses in the league even with the coaching changes they have had. They have allowed a 100-yard pass catcher in 6 of their 7 games played this season. The lone game they did not was when Chase went for 97 yards. Weekly PPR finishes for top WRs on the team include; Deebo Samuel (3), Davante Adams (14), Marquise Brown (57), Darnell Mooney (15), Justin Jefferson (17), Ja’Marr Chase (25), Cooper Kupp (1). They have allowed a WR1 finish in three times this season, a WR2 finish in two games, Chase finishes barely outside a WR2 finish due to no touchdowns. The one outlier is Marquise Brown, the reason, he had 3 dropped touchdowns that game. He could have finished as the WR1 that week if he have hauled those in.
Marvin Jones Jr vs Sidney Jones
Marvin Jones Jr saw a bounce-back game after a season-low 25 yards and one reception on six targets. Those six targets were what gave you hope for the following week where he delivered on a season-high 100 yards and seven receptions on 10 targets. Over the last two games, after DJ Chark got hurt, Jones is leading the team with a 40.5% air yards share and 19.5% target share. This 40.5% air yards share ranks 8th best in the league over this time. Out of those air yards, he has only converted 54% of those into yards. Although, that number is low mainly because the week he had 25 yards on one reception he only converted 25% of those to yards, and the following week he converted 78% of those into yards.
Jones gets a great matchup against the Seahawks who are coming off two fantastic games. Although, this comes against two bad offenses. Even though the Jags offense is not fantastic they have the tools to get it done. Previously to this downtrend, the Seahawks had allowed a 300-yard passing game in four straight weeks and a 100-yard receiver in all of those games as well, which makes sense. If you throw for 300 yards someone needs to prosper from that. Sidney Jones is currently allowing a league-high 2.39 yards per route covered this coming on 122 routes covered. Expect the Jags to target him early and often in this one.
Courtland Sutton vs Kyle Fuller
Courtland Sutton will have his usage cut into this week as Jerry Jeudy is expected to return to the lineup this week against the Washington Football Team. Jeudy has been out since week one leading to Sutton being 7th in the league in air yards share and 10th in the league in target share. In only 50% of the snaps, Jeudy went for 72 yards and six receptions on seven targets during his week one perforance. Even though I am expecting some big games from Jeudy in the future to cut into Sutton’s role. I still believe Sutton will be the guy as Jeudy gets back into the groove of things. Jeudy missed six games, I don’t expect him to jump right back into the WR1 role on the team right off the bat.
The Washington Football team was known for their defense last season but this season has been completely different. Washington has allowed 300 yards or 3 touchdowns to every QB but Daniel Jones this season, who still finished as QB4 that week because of his work on the ground where he had 95 rushing yards and a touchdown. The Football team has allowed a top 6 fantasy QB in all but one week this season. That lone QB25 finish came due to two redzone turnovers from Justin Herbert, which potentially could have been a 10-point swing allowing Herbert to finish with 26 fantasy points and finish as QB7 on the week. Although, he did finish with 337 yards and the win. This has mainly been due to the bad cornerback play. Kendall Fuller was once a top cornerback in the league. He is now allowing the second-most targets, second-most receptions, and 7th most yards in the league. Usually, these corners are on teams that are winning, the Football season has a losing record and still allows a ton of passing yards. Expect a huge game from the Denver pass catchers this week. He would be the lock of locks if Jeudy was not going to be active this week.
Worst Matchups:
Mike Evans vs Marshon Lattimore
Mike Evans has played great this season on the back of the excellence of Tom Brady. Brady is currently second in the league in dropbacks, which has led to a league-leading 2279 passing yards or 325 yards per game. Oddly enough, he only has three 300-yard games. In turn, this has led to Evans having the 7th most targets in the league, 17th most yards, and 7 touchdowns on the season. These 7 touchdowns are produced by his six targets in the endzone, ranking him 7th in the league and tied with teammate Chris Godwin for that stat. This touchdown production has led him to be one of the more efficient fantasy scorers in the league. Ranking 15th in points per snap and 13th in points per touch. Although that number increases to 5th in points per touch and 7th in points per snap if you reduce it to the top 40 WRs only in terms of snaps.
These stats are amazing but he is going to go up against his divisional rival; Marshon Lattimore. Lattimore has had Evans number over the last few years. Evans only has one 100-yard game against the Saints since Lattimore was drafted. While the previous two games in New Orleans, Evans has 2 total yards on 7 targets and one reception. This is not a fluke as Lattimore has been one of the top cornerbacks in the league since entering the league in 2017. Outside of the blown coverage last week where Lattimore just barely missed the pass breakup leading to an 84-yard touchdown. Lattimore held DK to just one reception on two targets for 12 yards and Lockett to one reception on one target for seven yards. Expect another tough showing for Evans this week as Brady has plenty of options to spread the ball around with no real reason to force the ball to Evans in tight coverage.
Jakobi Meyers vs Chris Harris Jr
Meyers is someone I have loved to play all season but he is someone you really want to avoid in bad matchups. One thing Meyers flaunts is a high target volume and is someone I play more for receptions props than in DFS and season long. Although, he has back-to-back weeks of posting WR2 numbers when he was featured in this article previously due to fantastic slot matchups. One major flaw in his fantasy game is that he has yet to catch a touchdown this season or even in his career. 40 players have 40 or more targets this season and he is the only one without a touchdown among those players; he has 57 targets. He was able to get another redzone target last week. It seems like the announcers are trying to push this narrative as well. He has yet to score a touchdown in his career, he ranks 4th all time with 126 receptions without a touchdown. The record stands at 206 by Gerald Riggs. So, his touchdown week is coming we just don’t know when.
The Chargers have been getting gashed on the ground this season and the is the identity of this New England Patriots offense. Therefore, I am expecting Bill Belichick to focus on running the ball and trying to control the time of possession to keep the ball out of the electric Chargers offense. This is a team the Patriots destroyed 35-0 last year, but that was Herbert’s rookie season and you know what BB does to rookie QBs. Chris Harris has been one of the better corners in the league and has been the anchor of the Chargers’ pass defense as he leads the team from the nickel corner position. This will be Harris’ fourth game of the season as he missed weeks two to four with a shoulder injury. In turn, this has led to Harris only dropping back in coverage on 79 snaps. Although, that doesn’t decrease what he has achieved this season. He is only allowing 0.51 yards per route covered. Of those 79 snaps in coverage, 51 came from the slot where he has only allowed 24 yards and 4 receptions on 7 targets. His 12.8 snaps per reception and 7.3 snaps per target rank him 7th and 18th respectively. While his 0.45 yards per snap in the slot ranks third best out of qualifying corners.
Adam Humphries vs Bryce Callahan
Adam Humphries is not a name you see often in the fantasy community but if you are looking to take a shot on him in GPPs with Dyami Brown, Curtis Samuel, and Cam Sims still missing practices and potentially missing another week, look elsewhere. The 7th year slot corner has the second most routes run by a WR on the team for the fourth time in five weeks, correlating with all the injuries Washington has had to their receiving core. Humphries has taken 75% of his snaps in the slot, this will lead him into Bryce Callahan’s territory. If you are a returning reader, you know I will continue to harp on avoid slot WRs vs Denver.
Callahan is one of the best slot corners in the league. Although, Callahan has actually looked human for once during his week 6 matchup against the Raiders where he allowed 86 yards and 3 receptions on 4 targets. Including a 51-yard bomb to Bryan Edwards. With that being said, he held Hunter Renfrow to 0 targets out of the slot, Renfrow is their true slot WR. If you remove that one blemish from his season. The slot corner is allowing just 62 yards and 8 receptions out of the slot on the season on 16 targets. His 18.6 snaps per reception and 9.3 snaps per target and 0.42 yards per route cover all rank top 6 among 44 qualifying slot corners. Expect another shutdown game from one of the best in the league.
