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FanDuel Sportsbook Promos Fantasy Football: 3 Receiver-Cornerback Matchups to Exploit in Week 1
Matchups are everything in the NFL, especially at the receiver position.
For fantasy purposes, being able to identify which receivers have advantageous (or disadvantageous) matchups is a sharp way to get a leg up on your opponent.
Each Friday this piece lists the best wide receiver-cornerback matchups for the upcoming week. It doesn't take a genius to tell you to start Tyreek Hill, but there will be weeks when some WR1s have better matchups and other weeks when typical WR2 or WR3s have matchups that bump them up in our weekly rankings.
numberFire's player matchups chart helps to identify advantageous matchups for specific positions. Then, Pro Football Focus' (PFF) Player Grades and their WR/CB Matchup chart are great starting points for identifying which specific matchups we want to target.
Projections and rankings come from our NFL projections, which are powered by numberFire. All statistics via NFL Next Gen Stats and Pro Football Focus unless otherwise stated. NFL odds come from FanDuel Sportsbook and may change after this article is published.
Week 1 Receiver-Cornerback Matchups
Mike Evans (TB) vs. Benjamin St-Juste (WAS)
numberFire Projection: 11.9 points (WR15)
- 64.5 Yards
- 4.4 Receptions (7.5 Targets)
FanDuel Props:
After turning in a WR5 season that saw him average 4.6 receptions, 73.8 yards, 0.8 touchdowns, and 14.3 half-PPR fantasy points per game in 2023, Mike Evans could get off to a hot start in 2024 against the Washington Commanders.
Washington was horrific against wide receivers last season, allowing the most fantasy points per target (1.79), yards per route run (1.92), and total touchdowns (29) to the position. According to NFL Next Gen Stats, they were bottom 10 in target rate (20.4%) and catch rate over expectation (5.3%) allowed, too.
The Commanders hired a new, defensive-minded coach in Dan Quinn, but lost the top two members of their secondary, Kam Curl and Kendall Fuller. Quinn could help things, but they enter 2024 with PFF's 30th-ranked secondary unit. There's just not a ton of talent here.
Schematically, Washington could see a major uptick in man coverage usage after Quinn's Dallas Cowboys played man at the highest rate in the NFL last season.
Against man coverage in 2023, Evans was PFF's 11th-highest-graded receiver. He ranked 11th in yards per route run (3.22) and 12th in passer rating when targeted (129.9) versus man.
Evans should spend the bulk of his time matched up with Benjamin St-Juste. St-Juste has the size to match up with Evans at 6-foot-3, but that didn't stop him from getting torched early and often in 2023. He allowed the second-most total yards in the NFL last season and ranked 77th among 100 corners with at least 300 coverage snaps in PFF coverage grade (56.4).
When St-Juste isn't on him, Evans could be defended by any number of rookie Mike Sainristil, Emmanuel Forbes (57.6 PFF coverage grade in 2023), or Michael Davis (54.5). I don't expect any of them to offer much resistance to Evans, so he's someone to start in season-long fantasy football and consider in DFS at his $7,900 FanDuel salary.
Props-wise, Evans is intriguing in the any time touchdown scorer market at +110 odds, but I'd rather look toward the over on his receiving yards prop of 67.5.
He went over this mark in 8 of 17 games last season and averaged 77.3 yards per game against bottom 10 pass defenses.
Tank Dell (HOU) vs. Indianapolis Colts
numberFire Projection: 11.2 points (WR22)
- 62.1 Yards
- 4.3 Receptions (7.1 Targets)
FanDuel Props:
There are questions about how the Houston Texans' targets will shake out with Tank Dell healthy and Stefon Diggs in the fold, and that explains Dell's relatively low receiving props. But a Week 1 date against the zone-heavy Indianapolis Colts bodes well for Dell's outlook in the season-opener.
In the seven games both Dell and Nico Collins played at least 50% of snaps last season, Tank led the way with a 22.6% target share and 35% air yard share. He averaged 5.0 receptions, 80.3 receiving yards, and 15.8 fantasy points per game in such outings.
Granted, those came without the aforementioned Diggs around -- and he'll surely eat into Tank's target share. But the second-year wideout is poised to have a strong season debut regardless thanks to his matchup.
In 2023, the Colts played zone coverage at the highest rate in football. Dell earned PFF's sixth-highest receiving grade (89.3) against zone while ranking 14th in yards per route run (2.73) and 17th in passer rating when targeted (120.3). He scored the fourth-most touchdowns (4) against zone coverage despite playing in just 11 games.
Indy was league-average in fantasy points allowed to receivers, but they boast PFF's fifth-worst secondary unit ahead of 2024 and rank just 16th in schedule-adjusted pass defense according to numberFire.
Dell cooked their secondary for seven receptions (on 10 targets), 72 yards, and a touchdown in their lone head-to-head matchup last season.
Indy does have a lock-down slot corner in Kenny Moore (78.4 PFF coverage grade in 2023), but Dell only lined up in the slot 23% of the time as a rookie. Stefon Diggs (31% slot rate) has more experience from the slot, but it wouldn't be surprising to see them rotating in Week 1.
Still, when Dell is outside he should feast. Indianapolis' other starting corners -- Jaylon Jones (55.8 PFF coverage grade in 2023) and JuJu Brents (64.5) -- don't scare us, especially considering both surrendered a 105+ passer rating when targeted last season.
Considering his success against Indy in 2024 and favorable numberFire projection, the over on Dell's yardage prop is how I'd be looking to target this matchup on FanDuel Sportsbook.
Dell went over 52.5 yards in five of eight games that he played at least 50% of snaps in 2023.
He's someone who should absolutely be in starting lineups in season-long fantasy football, and there's a lot to like about him in DFS with a $6,400 salary on FanDuel.
Khalil Shakir (BUF) vs. Arizona Cardinals
numberFire Projection: 8.2 points (WR48)
- 48.9 Yards
- 3.5 Receptions (5.5 Targets)
FanDuel Props:
The Buffalo Bills enter 2024 with the second-most vacated targets (317) in the NFL relative to 2023, according to The Fantasy Footballers. With Stefon Diggs and Gabriel Davis out of the picture, there's a lot of volume up for grabs on an offense that had Josh Allen average the 14th-most pass attempts per game (32.6) after Joe Brady took over as offensive coordinator last season.
We don't have all the answers before the season starts, but a Week 1 date with the Arizona Cardinals still makes this a receiver room to target. Last season, Arizona surrendered the second-most fantasy points per target (1.56), seventh-most yards per route run (1.77), and the 10th-highest target rate (20.1%) to opposing wide recievers.
They enter 2024 with PFF's 32nd-ranked secondary and numberFire's 31st-ranked pass defense.
I can understand wanting to back rookie second-rounder Keon Coleman, but Arizona's zone-heavy defense (seventh-highest zone coverage rate in 2023) makes Khalil Shakir the Bills wideout to target.
Shakir came on strong toward the end of 2023, leading the team in receiving yards per game (51.9) in the seven games Joe Brady was offensive coordinator. He posted a stellar 2.10 yards per route run over that stretch and ran a route on 72.1% of Josh Allen's dropbacks.
The slot man was especially effective against zone coverage, registering PFF's 20th-best zone coverage grade while racking up 2.30 yards per route run. Shakir led all qualified wide receivers in yards after the catch per reception against zone (9.5).
That puts him in a great spot heading into Sunday's date with the Cardinals. Nickel corner's Garrett Williams (57.2 PFF coverage grade in 2023) and Darren Hall (who didn't play in 2023 but had 60.1 coverage grade in 2022) shouldn't pose much of a threat when Shakir is inside, nor should outside corners Starling Thomas V (44.1) and Sean Murphy-Bunting (54.4).
Shakir is a capable season-long fantasy football starter this week, especially in leagues that reward points per reception. He's an interesting DFS option considering his $5,400 salary on FanDuel and stackability alongside Skyler Carlin's top DFS quarterback, Josh Allen.
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The above author is a FanDuel employee and is not eligible to compete in public daily fantasy contests or place sports betting wagers on FanDuel. The advice provided by the author does not necessarily represent the views of FanDuel. Taking the author's advice will not guarantee a successful outcome. You should use your own judgment when participating in daily fantasy contests or placing sports wagers.
