Fantasy Football Player Notes

Jefferson continues his monster season this week. He is the WR5 in fantasy with a 29.7% target share (seventh-best) and 39.6% air-yard share (sixth-best). He is a top-five wide receiver in receptions, receiving yards, YAC, and touchdowns. Jefferson is sixth in PFF receiving grade and eighth in yards per route run (minimum 25 targets). He remains an elite WR1 that will run about 72% of his routes against Jeffrey Okudah (64.6% catch rate, 98.2 passer rating) and Jerry Jacobs (53.6% catch rate, 73.2 passer rating). During their last meeting, he was held to six targets, three receptions, and 14 receiving yards, with Okudah following him on 78% of his routes. We'll see if Detroit lets Okudah shadow again and if they can keep Jefferson quiet in Week 14. In Week 3, Detroit rolled out man coverage on 66-77% of their snaps. Jefferson began the year slowly against man coverage, but he's now ranked 18th in PFF receiving grade and ninth in yards per route run against the coverage type (minimum 15 man coverage targets).

If Detroit deploys man coverage as much as they did in Week 3, Thielen is in big trouble. Thielen's efficiency overall has slid down the hill this year, so it's not surprising that his stats against man have also bottomed out. Thielen is 45th in PFF receiving grade and 55th in yards per route run against man coverage (minimum 15 man coverage targets). Thielen is the WR39 in fantasy with a 19.4% target share and 15 red zone targets (seventh-best). In Week 3, Thielen secured six of his eight targets for 61 yards and a score (WR16). We'll see if he can buck his season-long stats against man coverage if the Lions use as much as they did previously. Thielen is a WR3/4.