Whew, last week was a doozy. You had the Rams beating someone by 37 points, you had the Patriots losing at home in their home opener, and you had the Jaguars blowing out the Texans in Houston. While it may seem like we don’t know anything at this point, there were actually a lot of things to be learned from Week 1, like what cornerbacks played on one side of the field and which ones actually shadowed in coverage.
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Just like last week, this article is going to give you 10 wide receiver/cornerback matchups that you need to know about as we head into Week 2. Instead of just letting you know which ones to avoid, we also want to give you a good idea as to which ones you should target. And just because a player is in the matchup to avoid column, it doesn’t automatically mean you sit them for just anyone. Keep it in context and understand the risks associated with them. With that being said, let’s take a look at the matchups in Week 2.
Matchups to Exploit
Julio Jones vs. Damarious Randall/Davon House
It wasn’t the ideal result from Jones against a Bears secondary that was without Prince Amukamara, but offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian vowed to get Jones more targets this week. It’d be wise to do so against a defense that allowed 26 touchdowns to wide receivers alone last year. Keep in mind that they also just cut some of their depth at cornerback after releasing LaDarius Gunther earlier this week. Jones will see a combination of Randall, who allowed a touchdown every 8.6 targets in coverage last year and Davon House, who was benched in Jacksonville last year after allowing 21/248/3 on just 26 targets. There isn’t a better matchup play on the board this week.
Stefon Diggs vs. Joe Haden
Just one week after setting the fantasy world on fire, Diggs gets one of the better matchups on the slate. After getting released by the Browns, the Steelers decided to take a chance on Haden, who used to be a shutdown cornerback. After allowing a touchdown once every 21.2 targets and just 6.3 yards per target in his coverage in 2013-2014, Haden has really fallen off over the last few years. From the start of 2015, Haden has allowed a touchdown once every 12 targets and is allowing a massive 9.7 yards per target. While Adam Thielen (below) gets William Gay this week, Diggs should post another rock-solid performance.
Jarvis Landry vs. Trevor Williams
For whatever reason, some are overlooking Landry in this matchup. While DeVante Parker and Kenny Stills will deal with Jason Verrett and Casey Hayward, Landry will see Williams in the slot. He’s a former undrafted free agent who has only seen 44 targets in coverage over his career. With the way the Chargers bring their pass-rush, it’d be a smart game-plan for the Dolphins to get some quick-hitters out to Landry and maybe even Julius Thomas. You saw slot wide receiver Bennie Fowler score two touchdowns against this very defense last Monday night.
*Editor’s note: Verrett will miss Sunday’s game with a knee injury
Larry Fitzgerald vs. Nate Hairston
It was a great matchup for Fitzgerald last week where he didn’t light the world on fire, but he posted a very respectable line of six catches for 74 yards. This week the matchup is even better as he’ll line up across from Hairston, who has been pushed into action because of an injured Vontae Davis. He was a fifth-round draft pick in this year’s draft who’ll be an easy target for Carson Palmer to target over the middle of the field. Just last week the Colts secondary struggled to contain Cooper Kupp and Sammy Watkins.
Brandin Cooks vs. Marshon Lattimore/P.J. Williams
Not only is it Cooks’ return to New Orleans, but it also happens to be one of the better matchups of the week. In Week 1, the Saints trotted out Williams and Lattimore to try and defend the Vikings wide receivers, and let’s just say that didn’t go too well. They combined to allow 128 yards on eight targets in that matchup and there isn’t one of them who the Saints will consider using to shadow Cooks this week. Expect him to burn Williams deep and beat Lattimore on the underneath routes. The Patriots are running out of options at wide receiver, which should make Cooks a target-hog in this one.
Matchups to Avoid (if possible)
Sammy Watkins vs. Josh Norman
In a shocking development, the Redskins didn’t use Norman to shadow Alshon Jeffery (though his stat sheet looked like they did). That leaves us some questions about their intentions going forward, but I’d be willing to bet they’ll lock Norman on Watkins and not waste his services on Robert Woods or Tavon Austin. On top of the worries about Jared Goff throwing him the ball, we’ve now got Norman to worry about. He’s a risky bet at WR3 this week.
DeVante Parker vs. Jason Verrett/Casey Hayward
Most fantasy owners are anxious to see how Parker will do in the regular season after he lit up the preseason, but I’m here to warn you that this is likely not the week to insert him into lineups. The Chargers had Jason Verrett as a shutdown option in 2015 and when he went down with a torn ACL in 2016, most assumed the Chargers were a matchup to target, that was until Hayward played lights out in his place. Those two monitor the perimeter for the Chargers, which is where Parker played about 80 percent of his snaps last year. There will be better days for the Cutler/Parker combination.
Adam Thielen vs. William Gay
The Vikings did say a few weeks ago that Thielen would be the primary slot receiver and they followed through on that in Week 1 when he played 73 percent of his snaps there. The Steelers traded away their best perimeter cornerback in Ross Cockrell, so that leaves arguably the best cornerback on the roster as Gay. He allowed just a 65 percent catch rate last year (good for a slot cornerback) and 5.5 yards per target in coverage. This matchup suits Stefon Diggs and Kyle Rudolph slightly better than Thielen this week. He’s not an automatic bench, but it’s also not a matchup to target. *Note* The Steelers did play undrafted Mike Hilton in the slot cornerback role last week as well, though Gay should take it back. If Hilton plays half the snaps, I’d upgrade Thielen’s matchup.
Corey Davis vs. Jalen Ramsey
It was an impressive debut for Davis, as he saw 10 targets and hauled six of them in for 69 yards despite not playing in any game with Marcus Mariota to that point. He’s going to be very good, but it’s important that you don’t judge him off this matchup with Ramsey, who is quietly one of football’s best cornerbacks. Despite seeing an astonishing 110 targets in coverage over his short 17-game career, Ramsey has allowed just three touchdowns in his coverage. Even if he doesn’t shadow Davis, the cornerback on the other side of the field (A.J. Bouye) has been among the best in football since taking over a starting job. Eric Decker has the better matchup this week, so expect Davis to cool off a little bit in this one.
T.Y. Hilton vs. Patrick Peterson
I said last week that Hilton should be considered a bench player until Andrew Luck comes back, simply because he’s the one most affected by the downgrade in arm strength. It’ll help if Jacoby Brissett is the starter, but even so, you’ll want to avoid him this week if possible. Patrick Peterson is one of the true shutdown cornerbacks in the game and he’ll be tasked with shutting down Hilton. There was a play that he was beat on last week by Marvin Jones for a touchdown, but that was on a broken play that Matthew Stafford scrambled for quite a few seconds. Don’t expect that to happen in back-to-back weeks, as Peterson allowed just three total touchdowns in his coverage all of last season.
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Mike Tagliere is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Mike, check out his archive and follow him @MikeTagliereNFL.
