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FanDuel Sportsbook Promos Fantasy Football: 4 Wide Receiver-Cornerback Matchups to Target in Week 2
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 CeeDee Lamb, 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 2 Wide Receiver-Cornerback Matchups
Malik Nabers (NYG) vs. Benjamin St-Juste (WAS)
numberFire Projection: 11.6 points (WR17)
- 66.7 Yards
- 5.2 Receptions (8.1 Targets)
FanDuel Props:
Malik Nabers didn't have an especially noteworthy NFL debut, but it certainly wasn't bad. Nabers was on the field for 100% of the New York Giants snaps, and he consequently ran a route on 100% of Daniel Jones's drop backs. He only saw 7 targets (18.4% share), finishing with 5 receptions for 66 yards.
That netted him 9.1 fantasy points in half-PPR scoring, good for 32nd among wide receivers.
With a Week 2 matchup versus the Washington Commanders on deck, Nabers could be in for a true breakout this week.
Washington entered the season with PFF's 30th-ranked secondary, and they were subsequently torched in the opener. Baker Mayfield threw for 289 yards and 4 touchdowns, and he led the week with a 67.7% passing success rate, according to numberFire.
In turn, both Mike Evans (20.6 fantasy points) and Chris Godwin (18.3) were top-12 finishers at wide receiver.
Commanders cornerback Benjamin St-Juste was the primary defender on Evans, allowing him to catch 4 of 5 targets for 37 yards and 2 touchdowns. Last season, St-Juste allowed the second-most yards and ranked 77th among 100 corners with at least 300 coverage snaps with a 56.4 PFF coverage grade. In Week 1, PFF awarded him a 59.1 coverage grade.
Nabers saw time on both sides of the field last week, and he did play 17% of his snaps from the slot. That could result in him matching up with Washington's Emmanuel Forbes or Mike Sainristil -- both of whom are also plus matchups. Forbes had PFF's lowest coverage grade (30) among corners in Week 1, while Sainristil had the sixth-lowest (40.8).
Yes, there are concerns about Daniel Jones, but even he should be able to find Nabers against such a suspect defense. Our projections are right in line with Malik's props on FanDuel, but there's certainly reason to back the over on his 5.5 receptions prop. Head coach Brian Daboll emphasized the need to get Nabers involved this week, and this is certainly the matchup to do so.
DeVonta Smith (PHI) vs. Dee Alford (ATL)
numberFire Projection: 11.1 points (WR23)
- 62.2 Yards
- 5.1 Receptions (7.8 Targets)
FanDuel Props:
DeVonta Smith was rock-solid in his season debut, catching 7 of 8 targets (27.6% share) for 84 yards while playing 100% of snaps for the Philadelphia Eagles.
Perhaps most encouraging was how new offensive coordinator Kellen Moore deployed him. According to PFF, Smith lined up in the slot on 54% of his snaps in the opener. Last season, he was in the slot just 24% of the time.
That puts him in position to feast against one of the worst slot corners in football, the Atlanta Falcons' Dee Alford.
Among qualified slot corners, Alford was second-to-last in coverage snaps per target (4.8) and allowed the seventh-most yards per coverage snap (1.48) last season.
That suggests Smith is due for a nice day at the office on Monday night, especially given how effective he's been as a slot receiver. Last season, according to For The Numbers (FTN), Smith ranked fourth among all wideouts in Defense-adjusted Yards Above Replacement (DYAR) -- an estimation of cumulative value above or below a "replacement-level" alternative.
It doesn't hurt that the Falcons were among the most zone-heavy teams in the league last week -- a coverage scheme Smith thrives against. In 2023, Smith averaged 1.98 yards per route run against zone compared to 1.36 against man.
There's a lot to like about this matchup, and that puts both his receiving yards and receptions prop on the table. Between the two, I slightly prefer the over on his 60.5 receiving yards prop, a line he went over in 8 of 16 games last season.
Amari Cooper (CLE) vs. Jacksonville Jaguars
numberFire Projection: 10.3 points (WR29)
- 62.3 Yards
- 4.3 Receptions (7.5 Targets)
FanDuel Props:
Amari Cooper had a rough Week 1; there's no other way to say it. With Deshaun Watson completing just 53.3% of his passes for 169 yards, Cooper was held to 2 receptions, 16 yards, and 2.6 fantasy points.
But man, the utilization was great. Cooper paced the Cleveland Browns with a 20.9% target share, and he led the entire league in total air yards (175.1). He saw 5 downfield targets and 2 red zone targets, so the upside was clearly there. According to PFF's expected fantasy points model, Cooper was Week 1's fourth-biggest underachiever with a 7.9-point difference in his actual and expected fantasy output.
As a result, I'm bullish on his outlook in a plus matchup against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
The Jags entered the season with PFF's 29th-ranked secondary before surrendering the ninth-most Net Expected Points (0.25 NEP) per play in Week 1. Both Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle eclipsed 100 yards against them while Tua Tagovailoa averaged the week's fifth-most yards per attempt (9.1).
Cooper lined up out wide on 75% of snaps last week, so he'll spend the bulk of his time matched up with Montaric Brown and Ronald Darby against a Jacksonville team that played more man coverage than any other team in Week 1. Neither Brown (54.5 PFF coverage grade in 2023) nor Darby (72.9) were especially impressive last season, and they were both among the 40 most-targeted corners on a per-snap basis.
Amari excelled against man coverage last season, earning an 80.8 PFF receiving grade while putting up 2.00 yards per route run. He's averaged at least 2.00 yards per route run against man in five of his last six seasons dating back to 2018.
Given the number of air yards Cooper saw last week, this is a spot where I'm looking at the over on his receiving yards prop of 57.5. We project him for 62.3 this week, and this is a mark he went over in four of five games with Watson under center last season.
Demarcus Robinson (LA) vs. Starling Thomas (ARI)
numberFire Projection: 8.2 points (WR42)
- 46.9 Yards
- 3.9 Receptions (6.3 Targets)
FanDuel Props:
Demarcus Robinson is primed for an elevated role with Puka Nacua sidelined, and he has a mouth-watering matchup in his first full game as the Los Angeles Rams' No. 2 receiver.
Robinson is fresh off an encouraging Week 1 that saw him play 91.9% of snaps and run a route on 92.2% of Matthew Stafford's dropbacks. He was tied for second on the team with a 14.6% target share, turning 4 receptions into 42 yards and 6.2 fantasy points.
Sure, his final stat line was nothing to write home about, but we saw how impactful Robinson can be in this offense last year. In the five games Robinson played at least 60% of snaps, he averaged 4.2 receptions, 63.8 yards, and 13.7 fantasy points per game. That came via a 20% target share and 25.8% red zone target share, helping him score a touchdown four times in five games.
Oh, and all five of those games came with both Nacua and Cooper Kupp healthy.
Clearly this is a talented receiver -- one who Sean McVay and Matthew Stafford trust. We could see that trust turn into box score production against a Arizona Cardinals secondary that surrendered the second most FanDuel points per target (1.56) and seventh most yards per route run (1.77) to wide receivers in 2023. They were ranked as PFF's worst secondary unit in the NFL coming into 2024, and that was before they allowed the second-highest passing success rate (63%) in Week 1.
Expect to see Robinson in the slot and out wide in Week 2, flip-flopping with Kupp. He'll likely run the bulk of his route against Arizona's Starling Thomas -- a second-year corner who had PFF's 10th-lowest coverage grade (44.1) among qualified corners in 2023. He allowed the sixth-highest catch rate (80.4%) and second-highest passer rating when targeted (142.8) last season. On a per-snap basis, Thomas was targeted at the seventh-highest rate in football (5.1 snaps per target).
This is a great spot for Demarcus Robinson to take off, and it puts all of his receiving props in play ahead of Sunday. Given his stellar red zone target rate last season and LA's 23-point implied total, I can certainly get behind his any time touchdown prop at +260 odds.
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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.
