This article is part of our On Target series.
What a great week it was for getting actionable information from WR/CB matchups. Tyler Boyd absolutely dominated M.J. Stewart and the Buccaneers, Jermaine Kearse drew 10 targets while being covered by Bryce Callahan, Adam Thielen was able to beat up on P.J. Williams, and Josh Gordon was limited against the Bills. We won't count Martavis Bryant, since apparently the coaching staff deemed he was not worth playing in the aftermath of the Amari Cooper trade. This incredibly granular data does yield some interesting, if not always actionable, results. Let's take a look at some scenarios for Week 9.
Michael Thomas vs. Marcus Peters
Casual viewers of the NFL probably hear Peters' name and think "shutdown corner". Unfortunately for the Rams, that is generally not the player that he actually is. Of the active players this week, he is the fourth-lowest graded corner in coverage and will be tasked with facing Thomas and Tre'Quan Smith. Peters has allowed a 75 percent catch rate in coverage and 1.75 yards per route run against. If the Saints choose to exploit this matchup, it could be a long day at the office for Peters.
Robert Woods/Cooper Kupp vs. P.J. Williams
On the converse, the Saints have the worst cover corner in the NFL currently playing on their team in Williams. He is the lowest-graded corner by our partners Pro Football Focus and will be tasked with covering a combination of Woods and Kupp this week. Williams has been
What a great week it was for getting actionable information from WR/CB matchups. Tyler Boyd absolutely dominated M.J. Stewart and the Buccaneers, Jermaine Kearse drew 10 targets while being covered by Bryce Callahan, Adam Thielen was able to beat up on P.J. Williams, and Josh Gordon was limited against the Bills. We won't count Martavis Bryant, since apparently the coaching staff deemed he was not worth playing in the aftermath of the Amari Cooper trade. This incredibly granular data does yield some interesting, if not always actionable, results. Let's take a look at some scenarios for Week 9.
Michael Thomas vs. Marcus Peters
Casual viewers of the NFL probably hear Peters' name and think "shutdown corner". Unfortunately for the Rams, that is generally not the player that he actually is. Of the active players this week, he is the fourth-lowest graded corner in coverage and will be tasked with facing Thomas and Tre'Quan Smith. Peters has allowed a 75 percent catch rate in coverage and 1.75 yards per route run against. If the Saints choose to exploit this matchup, it could be a long day at the office for Peters.
Robert Woods/Cooper Kupp vs. P.J. Williams
On the converse, the Saints have the worst cover corner in the NFL currently playing on their team in Williams. He is the lowest-graded corner by our partners Pro Football Focus and will be tasked with covering a combination of Woods and Kupp this week. Williams has been roasted by almost everyone that the Saints have played this year and in particular, Kupp and Woods should be drawing attention from daily fantasy gamers as the Rams' side of the ball is likely to be less popular than the Saints. If Kupp returns to a majority of slot snaps, he is going to have one of his best games of the season.
In looking at ratio metrics, Davis has had some of the best opportunities in the NFL. He ranks top 10 in weighted opportunity ranking, share of targets, and market share of air yards, and yet his game by game logs are horrible. The Titans are a low-volume offense and outside of one explosion, CD has been barely startable in fantasy. This week, he gets to go against PFF's No. 1 corner in Jones, who has limited everyone Dallas has played against except DeAndre Hopkins (and even that wasn't an explosion for Hopkins). I am very interested to see how the volume plays out for the Titans offense if they trail and Jones is able to shut Davis down.
Davante Adams vs. Stephon Gilmore
Gilmore has become one of the NFL's true shutdown corners this year. He gets put on an island in a shadow matchup against the other team's top WR and has so far earned a top-10 cornerback grade from PFF. He is allowing only 1.01 yards per route covered and a catch percentage of 54 percent, which is quite good for a corner who is only targeted on 16 percent of routes covered. Adams has been the unquestioned top dog for the Packers, but this is his toughest matchup of the season and it will be interesting to see if the offense diverts to Marquez Valdes-Scantling or Geronimo Allison on the outside this week.
Courtland Sutton vs. Houston Texans
The Texans are dealing with several injuries in their secondary at the moment so it is unclear exactly who will be tasked with defending newly minted starting WR Sutton on the exterior. Tyrann Mathieu has mostly been a safety for the Texans in his career, but it is looking like for this game he is going to be moved back to the slot to cover Emmanuel Sanders, which should leave a much weaker matchup for Sutton without Johnathan Joseph in the lineup. Daily gamers already know Sutton is a great play but he also makes an easy start in even 10-team PPR leagues.
