There seems to be a few cornerbacks who step up every year and force us to put wide receiver into the “avoid” column when matching up against them. There are also some who are likely to get benched for poor play as the season goes on. It’s important we know which players are on each side of the fence, which is what we do in this article every week.

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There are a lot of times where we’ll have clear-cut matchups to exploit for big-name wide receivers, but this week was a bit different. There are a few, but a lot of the better matchups go to lesser played wide receivers, like Danny Amendola, who didn’t quite make it into the article, though he’s a phenomenal play against the Falcons, who have really struggled to defend slot wide receivers. We try to keep this to those who are the most played at the wide receiver position, whether it be in DFS or season-long leagues. Just because a player is in the worry section, it doesn’t automatically mean he’s on your bench, but you may want to consider it if you have better options. Let’s talk about which wide receivers have the best matchups of the week and which ones have it the toughest.

Matchups to Exploit

Dez Bryant vs. Rashard Robinson/Dontae Johnson
It seems like Bryant’s schedule has been littered with shutdown cornerbacks to start the season, playing against Janoris Jenkins, Aqib Talib, and Patrick Peterson in the first five games. He’s had somewhat of a break over the last two games, racking up 10 catches for 150 yards and a touchdown. This week he’s in for a treat, as Robinson and Johnson have already allowed four touchdowns in their coverage this year, while allowing over 15 yards per reception. Their slot cornerback K’Waun Williams has been better than expected, but there’s a reason they’ve already allowed over 1,000 yards to the wide receiver position. They are one of just seven teams to do that so far. Bryant is seeing high volume for the first time in a long time, making him an elite WR1 in Week 7.

Adam Thielen vs. Ladarius Webb
It’s been an up-and-down year for the Vikings offense, but Thielen has been the one consistent player, totaling at least five receptions in every game. He’s the only player in the NFL who can say that as we enter Week 7. The Ravens haven’t played many opponents with solid passing games, especially when it comes to slot receivers, like Thielen. They’ve allowed touchdowns to both Allen Hurns and JuJu Smith-Schuster out of the slot and it all comes back to Webb, who has allowed a massive 16.1 yards per reception in his coverage, which is usually in the 8-10 yard range for slot cornerbacks. With Jimmy Smith and Brandon Carr on the perimeter, look for Thielen to be targeted quite a bit in this game.

Jarvis Landry vs. Buster Skrine
This is a rematch of a matchup that took place in Week 3 when the Dolphins didn’t score a point until the final play of the game. It was an ugly game for their offense as a whole and Landry wasn’t much different while totaling 6/48/0 on 11 targets. This is still a matchup to target with him, as Skrine is a cornerback who has allowed a massive 152 yards after the catch this year, which ranks as the third-most in the NFL. We know that Landry isn’t a guy who is going to catch many deep balls, but rather relies on his athleticism after the catch. With DeVante Parker banged up and being shadowed by Morris Claiborne, Landry should be targeted a lot against Skrine.

Robert Woods vs. Justin Bethel
This is one that probably surprises a majority of you, but Woods needed to be included with his matchup against Bethel. He’s one of the cornerbacks who is awfully close to getting benched, as Bruce Arians has already stated. He’s already allowed six touchdowns in his coverage this year, while no other cornerback has allowed more than four of them. The 442 yards he’s allowed in coverage ranks as the second-most. It’s been a treat every week to simply find the wide receiver that he’ll be covering and just start him. Woods has actually played well as of late, totaling at least 66 yards in three of his last four games, making him someone who is on the WR3 radar in a plus-matchup.

A.J. Green vs. Joe Haden
You’d think we would have some sort of recent history to go off with these two considering they’ve played in the same division their entire career, but nope. Haden hasn’t seen Green on the field since back in 2014, when he was actually good at playing cornerback. The Steelers are playing a lot of zone coverage, which means Green will see a mixture of cornerbacks in this game, but it shouldn’t shock anyone to see the Bengals scheme to get Green in Haden’s zone. After allowing just four touchdowns on 113 targets in coverage in 2014, Haden allowed 10 touchdowns over the next 110 targets. He’s just not the player he once was and Green will exploit that. Under new offensive coordinator Bill Lazor, Green has been targeted 33 times in three games, including a touchdown in each of them.

Matchups to Worry About

Demaryius Thomas vs. Casey Hayward
This is going to be a rematch of Week 1, kind of. Back in that matchup, Hayward shadowed Thomas while Jason Verrett shadowed Emmanuel Sanders. But in this game, neither Sanders or Verrett will be on the field, so you have to assume they’ll stick Hayward on Thomas once again. The area of hope for Thomas is that Hayward has allowed two touchdowns in his coverage over the last two weeks, but we all know by now that it’s been 11 straight games where he’s failed to find the end zone. I’ll say this, though. I wouldn’t bench Thomas in this game, as he’s likely to see at least 10 targets, which makes him a must-play despite the tough matchup.

Doug Baldwin vs. Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie
How convenient it is that Rodgers-Cromartie would not be suspended anymore now that they’re about to play the Seahawks? Baldwin plays out of the slot 75 percent of the time, which is precisely where Rodgers-Cromartie covers. He’s not Patrick Peterson or anything, but Rodgers-Cromartie has been one of the premier slot cornerbacks over the last few years, while allowing just three touchdowns on 186 targets in coverage, including none in 2017. Baldwin himself has struggled to start the season, so this matchup should definitely have his owners somewhat concerned.

Keenan Allen vs. Chris Harris Jr.
Going against Harris Jr. has got to be one of the worst feelings for a wide receiver, as he’s been lights out for the last two years, allowing just 517 yards in his coverage on 103 targets. For those counting at home, that’s just 5.02 yards per target, meaning a wide receiver would have to see 20 targets (on average) just to hit the 100-yard threshold against him. It’s likely why Allen finished with just 35 yards on 10 targets in their first matchup this season. He did catch a touchdown in that game and it was just the fourth one Harris Jr. has allowed in the last two years. Do you want to bank on that happening again?

Sammy Watkins vs. Patrick Peterson
So the talk that Watkins had with Sean McVay didn’t help his production against Jalen Ramsey and A.J. Bouye last week? Hmm, you don’t say. During the entire offseason, I touted Watkins’ skill-set and the player that he can be, but when assessing the situation for what it is in Los Angeles, Watkins is a risky player without being shadowed by Peterson, who has been a defensive player of the year candidate to this point. On 20 targets in his coverage, he’s allowed just seven catches for 82 yards and a touchdown. That’s just 4.1 yards per target, while covering opposing No. 1 wide receivers all the time. Whew. Considering Watkins has seen just 10 targets over the last three games combined, it’s fair to say that he should be benched in this matchup.

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Mike Tagliere is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Mike, check out his archive and follow him @MikeTagliereNFL.