DeAndre Hopkins Week 13 Outlook - Browns at Titans

By Mike Tagliere (FantasyPros), Thu, Dec 3rd 2020, 10:39am EST

Weeks 11 and 12 was the first time all season where Hopkins finished outside the top-12 wide receivers in back-to-back weeks in a Cardinals uniform. He's now finished with 55 or less yards in three of his last four games, though there were a couple tough shadow matchups in there. Unfortunately, Week 13 won't be any different. When playing against the Rams, wide receivers have scored 6.7 fewer PPR points per game against the Rams than they do on average, making it the second-worst matchup when you adjust for schedule. It surely doesn't help wide receivers knowing they've seen just 52.3 percent of the targets thrown, which is the lowest percentage in the NFL. The Rams have allowed just six wide receiver touchdowns all season, and that's over a span of 207 targets. That's not it, either. They've allowed just 7.24 yards per target to receivers, which is the league-low (closest team is at 7.51). If the Cardinals want to move the ball, they'll have to do it via the short passing game, as the Rams have allowed a league-low 10.94 yards per reception. Last year, the average top-12 wide receiver performance took 19.7 PPR points, which is a number the Rams have allowed just once this season, and it was to Deebo Samuel last week, who saw 13 targets and was continually getting the ball behind the line of scrimmage. Hopkins is going to see Jalen Ramsey in coverage, which has been a chore for almost every receiver this year. I'd feel better about Hopkins if we knew Murray were healthy, but it doesn't seem like he is, which makes Hopkins just a low-end WR1/high-end WR2 this week.