Fantasy Football Player Notes

Last week was an example of why we try to play high-volume receivers even in bad matchups. Kirk was facing an uphill battle against the tough Steelers secondary while Murray struggled, yet he still wound-up with eight catches for 95 yards. He's now seen at least seven targets in each of the last four games, racking up at least six receptions in three of them. The Browns have Denzel Ward and Greedy Williams monitoring the perimeter, and they've been a good duo, allowing just under a 50 percent catch-rate, 6.77 yards per target, and two touchdowns in their coverage. The slot is where most teams go to move the ball against them, an area that Kirk has run just 15 percent of his routes from over the last four games. He remains on the WR3 radar with his volume, but unless Kingsbury moves him to the slot more often, he's got another tough matchup.

Is this the quietest 90-target season ever? He ranks 25th among receivers, but Fitzgerald hasn't topped 71 yards since way back in Week 2 and has failed to top 38 yards in five of his last seven games. The Browns weakness in the secondary is in the slot, which is where Fitzgerald lives at this stage of his career. The Browns have allowed 17 receivers to hit double-digit PPR days against them, and six of them have been slot-heavy receivers, including Tyler Boyd's five-catch, 75-yard performance last week on just six targets. The good news is that the Browns run a very zone-heavy scheme, which is the scheme Fitzgerald averages 10.9 yards per target against, while averaging just 5.9 yards per target against man coverage. At this point in Fitzgerald's career, relying on him for anything more than WR4 production would be a mistake, though his 27 targets over the last four games provides a safer floor than most in that range.