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 Sunday’s main slate of games. We are excited to provide you with the amazing NFL DFS content you have gotten to know to love in order to help you become the most profitable DFS player possible. 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: 12 Targets, 9 receptions, 96 Yards, 2 TDs
DeAndre Hopkins: 6 Targets, 2 Receptions, 21 Yards
Jakobi Meyers: 14 Targets, 9 Receptions, 94 Yards
Worst Matchups:
Braxton Berrios: 3 Targets, 2 Receptions, 26 Yards
Chris Godwin: 7 Targets, 6 Receptions, 74 Yards
Robert Woods: 6 Targets, 3 Receptions, 33 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.
Best Matchups:
Jakobi Meyers vs Ross Cockrell
Meyers is making another appearance in my best matchups section. He was just coming off a great game against PJ Williams. Accumulating 94 yards on 14 targets leading to 9 receptions. This ties his career-high of 14 receptions and marks just the fourth time he has gone for 10+ targets in a game and just the third time he has gone for 75 or more yards. This is just one of the examples of him flashing his possession receiver archetype. Don’t expect similar yards through the air but his high target floor makes him one of the best options when there is an exposable matchup.
This is a perfect example of one of those exposable matchups as he takes on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers slot corner, Ross Cockrell. Last week, I highlighted Cooper Kupp in this same exact matchup where he went for 96 yards on 12 targets with 9 receptions totaling 2 touchdowns on top of that. While Meyers does not flash that type of upside, you can see how the slot is the weak point for the Bucs. So far this season Cockrell has lined up in the slot 71 times, he has allowed 104 yards, on 15 targets for 12 receptions. He is third in the league on slot targets and receptions, while he is 7th in yards allowed. Among qualifying slot CBs, this has led to him allowing a target on 4.7 snaps, and 5.9 receptions per snap both ranking in the bottom four. The Pats are now 7-point underdogs, according to Betkarma’s Live Odds tool, even though we could see Brady keep the gas pedal pressed all game since this is his first game back in New England. Therefore, we can expect a heavy passing game script this weekend with potentially being down multiple scores.
Calvin Ridley vs Benjamin St. Juste
Ridley has tried his hardest to flash WR1 numbers like his preseason projections forecasted. He has yet to finish a week as a top-12 WR in PPR formats, as his highest finishing position was 16th, where he totaled 19.3 Fpts. One bright side to his season, he has yet to finish with fewer than 10 Fpts and had at least eight targets in every game with two double-digit target games. This has led to him having the 9th most targets among WR with 29. He has the same issue as Diggs where his targets and receptions are among the lead leaders but falls short of getting yardage where he ranks 39th among WRs in the NFL with 175. Ridley is currently 4th in the league in air yard%, with 46.67% of the team’s air yards. This helps show confidence in him as long as the offense can start playing well his production will follow.
Ridley gets matched up against St Juste for a high percentage of the game. Washington was known last season as one of the top defenses in the league while returning a majority of that starting lineup and on top of that adding guys back from injury and free agency. This would lead you to believe the defense would stay as good or even improve, this is not the case with the football team. Once a fearsome pass rush ranks 6th worst in pressure rate in the league. One reason is that the secondary has played beyond horrible outside of William Jackson who they do not have shadowing the team’s best WR all game. Therefore Ridley should see a pretty hefty dose of St Juste and then Fuller when he lines up in the slot. St Juste is giving up a target on 20% of his routes covered this is a target every 5 snaps ranking him 5th worst in the league. He has also given up 156 yards on 12 receptions.
Stefon Diggs vs Texans Corners
Diggs has not gotten off to the hot start that we all expected. Drafted as a first-round pick in fantasy football and as a top 3 WR. He has still flashed the upside we saw last season but has had to deal with multiple tough matchups. Even though he finds himself as the WR25 in PPR formats, I am not discouraged by him moving forward. Diggs ranks 7th in the league with 30 targets a game, 13th in receptions with 19, the main issue is his one touchdown and 191 receiving yards. Diggs has yet to finish as a WR2 or higher to start the season, we are just waiting for that breakout game and this matchup is the perfect spot for that.
I mention the matchup as Texans corners instead of an individual matchup because Texans corners do not travel while Diggs spends 50% of his snaps on the right and 50% of his snaps on the left when he plays outside. This means he should have equal time against both corners. Therefore, we need to talk about both guys he will be going up against. On the right side of the Texans’ defense, he lines up against Vernon Hargreaves. During weeks one and two, he had great games allowing 32 yards and 3 receptions on 7 targets. The next week in the Thursday Night game against the Panthers he got exposed for 107 yards and 7 receptions on 9 targets as we saw DJ Moore go for 126 yards and 8 receptions on 12 targets. Now last week came with Terrence Mitchell sidelined with a concussion. Week two was more of an outlier week going up against the Browns who tend to lean on the run the majority of the game, especially with a lead. Week one was where the Jags were able to expose Mitchell where he allowed 95 yards and 6 receptions on 12 targets. Trading away Bradley Roby has put a dent in this defense and forces the Texans to start sub-par corners to try to compete with these elite talents. So far they only had to deal with Moore as a top talent now Diggs comes to town to light them up.
Worst Matchups:
Diontae Johnson vs Jaire Alexander
We still need confirmation that Johnson is going to play this week but he gets himself into another tough matchup against Alexander. Johnson is continuing to see a high target volume. Johnson has double-digit targets each week so far to start the season, something that was common last season where he had 10 double-digit targets in the 12 games where he saw a 75% or more snap count. Even though he has seen such a high target volume, he finished as WR35 and WR15 in both of his first two games. In week one he was matched up against White, a corner we will touch on next.
Jaire Alexander has continued his success from last season where flashed upside as one of the top shutdown corners in the league. Alexander has dropped back into coverage 113 times. He has allowed 87 yards and eight receptions on 14 targets. This comes out to only 0.77 yards per route covered, this ranks 9th best among corners that have covered 100+ routes. He has allowed a target on 13% of routes run and a 57% completion rate allowed.
Brandin Cooks vs Tre’Davious White
Cooks has been a diamond in the rough among Texans. Before you even look it up you can assume that Cooks has a pretty high target share. He is currently first in the league with a 38.67% target share as well as leading the league in air yards % with 59.33%. The crazy stat is that no other WR has an air yard share over 50%. He is coming off his second straight week as a WR1. Coming into the season everyone assumed he would be the Texans’ favorite target and command a huge target share, but everyone undervalued how much he would be used. He is basically the only option that the Texans’ QBs are comfortable throwing to. Another plus of Cooks is that the Texans are always playing from behind so they are always in a passing-game game script. Cooks finished WR22 week one when the Texans destroyed the Jags which is not a situation we will see often. Once teams start doubling Cooks the Texans’ whole offense could fall apart and they get no points.
This could be a game where starters get benched and the Texans struggle to score even one touchdown. Even though the Bills’ defense hasn’t been amazing White should be able to slow down Cooks enough that their offense stalls out. White Is having another amazing season even though he isn’t showing as one of the top corners statistically. He is allowing 43.66 yards and 3.6 receptions on six targets a game. His yards are a little inflated due to one late garbage-time 37-yard reception by Scary Terry. As well as the Steelers only gaining yards on White by receptions behind the line of scrimmage for long yards after the catch. Expect White to hang with Cooks in coverage who is only allowing 6 yards before the catch per reception. Don’t expect a big game from Cooks with White on him outside some potential garbage time yards.
Mike Williams vs Casey Hayward Jr
We have an amazing Monday Night Football game to cap off week four at SoFi Stadium. The 3-0 Raiders take on the 2-1 Chargers for potentially first place in the division. Mike Williams has surprised a majority of us with this season as he is looking like the number one WR on the Chargers. He is finally playing up to his draft capital when he was taken 7th overall in the 2017 NFL draft. Someone how has been playing through injuries his entire career seems healthy enough to explode to his potential this season. Only Williams and Kupp are the two WRs to finishing in the top 15 in PPR scoring every week as he tied for first last week with Davante Adams in PPR points. The Chargers have had a concentrated target share this season as they have two WR in the top 5 in targets this season, Allen with 32 and Williams with 31. We are seeing something similar to what we saw when Hunter Henry tore his ACL a couple of years ago when Williams caught double-digit TDs. Williams is becoming one of the top big-bodied redzone targets in the league. He has 3 RedZone touchdowns this season which could be lower than it should be as Herbert has four redzone turnovers. LA is first in the league with five RedZone trips per game while only scoring on 46% of trips which is 25th in the league. Last week we saw them score on four out of five RedZone trips.
This will be Hayward’s first game playing against the Chargers after spending five seasons in LA/San Diego. The Raiders have one of the most underrated defenses in the league big names like Denzel Perryman, Solomon Thomas, Yannick Ngakoue, KJ Wright, and Casey Hayward. After adding Corey Littleton last season. This revamped defense has helped lead the Raiders to their 3-0 record. Hayward is anchoring this secondary. Hayward is currently leading the league in receptions allowed for corners who have covered at least 100 routes with only three receptions and only 26 yards. He is only allowing a reception for every 41.7 routes covered. Interestingly enough, Hayward has allowed the fourth highest aDOT in the league. So QBs are trying to force it deep on him without success.
Individual WR/CB Matchup Chart
