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:
Mike Evans: 3 Targets, 2 reception, 62 Yards, 1 Touchdown
Cooper Kupp: 13 Targets, 11 Receptions, 122 Yards
Tyler Lockett: 8 Targets, 2 Receptions, 23 Yards
Worst Matchups:
Terry McLaurin: 8 Targets, 6 Receptions, 59 Yards
Michael Gallup: 5 Targets, 3 Receptions, 42 Yards
Elijah Moore: 6 Targets, 3 Reception, 44 Yards, 1 Touchdown
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:
Cole Beasley vs Kenny Moore
Beasley is quietly having himself a year. He is currently ranked WR34 on the season, right behind wideout and teammate Emmanuel Sanders. Although, WR34 is not good, he has made a name for himself in this offense with his 3 ceiling WR1 weeks. This has been accompanied by one WR2 week while the rest of his weeks he has been a WR4 or worse. Beasley ranks 4th in the league in targets in the slot and 6th in yards in the slot this season. Although, the volume has been his key to success mainly because he only ranks 17th in yards per route run out of the slot. He ranks second in the league with 80% of his targets coming out of the slot among WRs with at least 50 targets this season.
Kenny Moore has been one of the worst slot corners in the league this season. Moore has given up 416 yards over the course of the season in the slot ranking worst in the league, there are only 5 players that have even allowed 300 yards on the season in the slot. Out of corners who have lined up in covered 140 times or more in the slot he has a league-worst 4.7 snaps per target and second-worst 6.7 snaps per reception. Even though he is allowing the most yards on the season from the slot he is allowing the 4th most yards per coverage snap.
Jarvis Landry vs AJ Parker
Jarvis Landry and the Cleveland Browns will be moving forward from Odell Beckham Jr for the rest of the season as he was traded to the LA Rams last season. That was great for the Rams as they lost Robert Woods to an ACL tear the next day after signing him. The Browns have looked like doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde the last two games without Odell. Defeating the Cincinnati Bengals 41-16 then losing to the New England Patriots 45-7. The Browns passing attack has looked better with Odell out of the line. Baker averaged 42 more passing yards per game without Odell in the line. Although, his touchdowns per game fell from 2.14 to 1.22, while his interceptions also fell from one per game to only one across 9 games. Clearly, the offense seems to run a lot smoother but the Browns just ran into a juggernaut of defense last week without Nick Chubb. Landry has not looked amazing over the last two games. Last season we did see Landry’s targets increase by two a game and his yards increase by 7 yards per game. He also had 3 receiving touchdowns in 9 games without Odell compared to 0 in 7 games with Odell.
Landry finds himself in an elite matchup against the Lions where he gets matched up against AJ Parker in the slot. If there is any spot to get right it is against a poor Lions defense. Parker has allowed 1.45 yards per route covered in the slot this season. He ranks 4th in snaps per target and snaps per reception. He has also allowed a league-leading three touchdowns out of the slot.
Allen Robinson vs Anthony Averett
Allen Robinson is not having the season that anyone expected this year. Surprisingly, he only has three games of more than 50 yards and one game of more than 4 receptions. While last season he had 50+ yards in 13 out of 16 games and more and 4 receptions in 12 out of 16 games. This included four 100 yard games and three double-digit target games. He ranks Robinson as WR 60 on the season with a high finish of WR32 last game. He has only scored double-digit fantasy points twice this season in full PRR formats. While last season he had double-digit fantasy points in all but two games finishing as the WR9 this included 3 top 5 WR games and finishing as a WR1 5 times. Fields is giving us some hope as he surpassed the 200-yard mark for just the second time in his career passing for 291 against a stout Steelers defense.
The Bears will be going up against the Ravens, leading to Robinson being matched up against Averett. The Ravens defense even though has been great is giving up a ton of passing yards to opposing offenses. Ravens rank last in passing yards per game allowing 283 yards per game and a 100-yard passer in 5 of 9 games this season. Including three 400-yard games. Averett has allowed the third-most receiving yards to opposing WRs this season allowing 573 and 14 yards per reception. He is also allowing a league-worst 4.9 snaps per target and 8.6 snaps per reception. He is second only to Kenny Moore in targets allowed this season while playing one more game than him. Expect a big showing from these Bears’ WRs if Justin Fields can get the ball to them making for great GPP plays.
Worst Matchups:
Michael Pittman vs Tre’Davious White
The Michael Pittman breakout season is in full effect in the closing half of the season. Finishing as a WR14 or better in half of his games played this season. There have been a ton of down weeks due to the run-heavy nature of the Indianapolis Colts. He is currently WR8 on the season and looks to be no end in site for the 24-year-old second-year wideout.
Although, this is the matchup that may lead to his slow down. The star wideout is going up against a Buffalo Bills defense that continues to slow down opposing offenses. The Bills are allowing 190.2 passing yards on the season ranking second in the league. This coming a week after allowing a season-high for them 296 passing yards against the Mike White lead New York Jets. This coming mainly due to garbage time and the number of turnovers the Jets had. This led to an increase in possessions since the Bills were about to score so quickly against them after the turnover. White has only allowed 29 yards per game and 9.9 yards per reception. A majority of his yards do come in garbage time so his numbers are skewed in favor of his opponent but this week against the Colts the game should be closer leading to increased defensive pressure for the Bills CBs.
Tyler Boyd vs Nate Hobbs
Hobbs has been featured in this article before for good reason. He has been one of the best rookie cornerbacks in recent memory to help anchor this amazing Raiders defense. Although they did just get exposed by Patrick Mahomes in primetime at home, this could just be the start of Mahomes is back. Hobbs and the Raiders’ defense has looked fantastic outside of last week after surrendering over 400 passing yards to Mahomes and the Chiefs they get another young Gunslinger in Joe Burrow. Tyer Boyd has not looked great in his games with a fully healthy WR core, but I don’t expect a big week out of the slot for him against the Raiders.
Normally, we don’t see corners come in their rookie year and excel the way Hobbs has. That is something we see one or two years down the road is where they take their biggest leaps. Hobbs is different, he ranks second in slot coverage snaps per target and 6th in slot coverage snaps per reception. Hobbs also ranks 4th best in yards per route covered at 0.8. These are also all inflated numbers after he allowed 70 yards and five receptions last week on six targets.
Terry McLaurin vs Stephon Gilmore
Scary Terry is making another feature him my article after dealing with Jamel Dean last week in Tampa he now has another top-tier cornerback to deal with; Stephon Gilmore. Like I mentioned last week, McLaurin has been one of the biggest boom or bust players on the season. Last week he was featured in my bad matchup section as he finished as WR33 on the week compiling 11.9 full PPR points. Not as bad of a week I expected because Washington played much better than anyone really expected. He still finds himself as WR18 on the season due to three top 5 finishes elevating his numbers. He has either finished with 12 or fewer fantasy points or finds himself over 25 fantasy points. No in-between yet this season.
McLaurin is going to have to deal with one of the best corners over the last 5 years; 2019 defensive player of the year Stephon Gilmore. Gilmore has not played a ton of snaps since joining the Panthers but when he has, he has looked like the very much elite corner he has been since joining the Patriots in 2017. Gilmore has allowed only two receptions on five targets since joining the team. He has the same number of interceptions over this time and receptions. He is actually leading the league with two interceptions over this time.
