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FanDuel Sportsbook Promos Fantasy Football: 4 Wide Receiver-Cornerback Matchups to Target in Week 3
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 3 Wide Receiver-Cornerback Matchups
Chris Olave (NO) vs. Philadelphia Eagles
numberFire Projection: 12.7 points (WR12)
- 68.3 Yards
- 5.5 Receptions (8.8 Targets)
FanDuel Props:
Chris Olave hasn't had the flashiest start to the season, racking up just 6 receptions and 92 yards through two games. But that hasn't stopped the high-flying New Orleans Saints from scoring in bunches, and their two blowout wins could be contributing to Olave's slow start.
He's tied for second on the team in target share (20.5%) and has the highest route rate (86%) among all New Orleans pass-catchers. But the Saints have attempted just 40 pass attempts through two games, the fewest in the NFL.
Still, Olave was downed inside the five-yard line twice last week, and there'd likely be much more hype around him had he scored on either of those plays. He's one of the clear buy low wide receivers heading into Week 3's date with the Philadelphia Eagles.
Philly sits at 26th in adjusted pass defense early on, and they've yielded the seventh-most yards per route run (1.98) to opposing wide receivers according to NFL Next Gen Stats. But their sixth-ranked offense (per numberFire's power rankings) could put them in position to battle New Orleans in a shootout, evidenced by this game's tight spread (Saints -2.5) and high total (49.5).
Olave himself shouldn't have too much trouble with this Philadelphia secondary. Philly is a relatively balanced defense schematically, but they have played man coverage more than average in 2024, per NGS. That's good news for Olave considering he posted the league's 11th-most yards per route run (3.18) against man last season (compared to 1.84 against zone).
New Orleans has moved Olave all over the field early on, but he'll primarily line up on the outside opposite Quinyon Mitchell or Darius Slay. Among 101 qualified corners, Mitchell (52nd) and Slay (68th) are both in the bottom half of the league in PFF coverage grade. Slay has surrendered the fourth-highest passer rating when targeted (146.5), while Mitchell is responsible for the 11th-most receiving yards allowed (117) through two games.
Both are strong matchups for Olave given how well Derek Carr has played early on, and that should lead to a big day for fantasy.
This is a spot I'd be comfortable targeting either of his recieving yards or receptions props, but New Orleans' 26-point implied total (third highest on the week) has me drawn to his any time touchdown odds (+145). The Eagles have allowed 4 passing touchdowns to wide receivers, 2 in each game.
D.J. Moore (CHI) vs. Indianapolis Colts
numberFire Projection: 11.7 points (WR17)
- 68.9 Yards
- 5.2 Receptions (8.8 Targets)
FanDuel Props:
D.J. Moore has been the victim of Caleb Williams and the Chicago Bears' offensive struggles, but his underlying utilization is still rock-solid. Through two games, Moore is rocking a 29.7% target share and 41.8% air yard share while playing 98.5% of offensive snaps.
That's only resulted in 89 yards, but he has recorded at least 5 receptions in each of his first two games. Those came in tough individual matchups with L'Jarius Snead and Derek Stingley Jr. -- something he won't need to worry about this week against the Indianapolis Colts.
The Colts sit at 31st in adjusted pass defense, and their lone plus corner (Kenny Moore) spends the majority of snaps in the slot, whereas D.J. Moore is primarily an outside reciever. That'll pit him against Jaylon Jones -- the second lowest-graded PFF coverage corner in 2024 -- or Dallis Flowers -- a healthy scratch in Week 1 who's only playing because JuJu Brents is injured.
Indy's a unique matchup because they play the highest rate of zone coverage in the NFL, and they use a single high safety at the fifth-highest clip. According to Jacob Gibbs of Fantasy Points, Moore ranked ninth in the league with 2.93 yards per route run against single-high last season. He amassed PFF's 17th-highest recieving grade against zone in 2023.
Now, all this is a moot point if Caleb Williams doesn't have time to throw and continues to struggle. But the Colts are just league-average in pressure rate coming in, and they sent top defensive lineman DeForest Buckner to injured reserve this week. First-round edge rusher Laiatu Latu is also a game-time decision, so we could be looking at a hobbled Indianapolis front.
That would benefit Moore greatly, and it has me bullish on his chances of going over 64.5 recieving yards. He went for 53 against a better secondary last week, and the Colts have surrendered the fifth-most yards per route run (2.07) to receivers this season.
D.J. Moore - Receiving Yds
Ladd McConkey (LAC) vs. Beanie Bishop Jr. (PIT)
numberFire Projection: 9.7 points (WR30)
- 59.3 Yards
- 4.8 Receptions (8.1 Targets)
Ladd McConkey is tied for the highest target share (25%) on the Los Angeles Chargers through two games, and he leads their wide receivers in opportunities per snap. Now, he was quiet last week (2 receptions for 26 yards) in a blowout win, but I like his chances to bounce back in what should be a much closer game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Now, Pittsburgh is far from a soft matchup. They're third in adjusted defense and sixth in adjusted pass defense and have ceded the eight fewest fantasy points to wide receivers.
But they have been exploitable from the slot. According to Razzball, the Steelers have allowed the ninth most slot fantasy points per game. 60% of the fantasy points they've allowed to receivers have come from the slot, the fourth highest rate in the NFL.
Well wouldn't you know -- Ladd McConkey has lined up from the slot on 60% of snaps, including 68% last week per PFF.
When he's inside, Ladd will primarily face off with Pittsburgh's Beanie Bishop. An undrafted free agent, Bishop has garnered the 11th-worst PFF coverage grade through two games, allowing the sixth-highest passer rating when targeted. As a slot defender, Bishop has allowed 1.75 yards per coverage snap, 11th-most among qualified slot defenders.
It doesn't hurt that the Steelers have run zone coverage at the 10th highest rate in football early on. Last year at Georgia, McConkey was the PFF's 12th highest-graded reciever against zone and ranked third nationally with 4.27 yards per route run.
Much of the intrigue here is assuming Justin Herbert plays through a high ankle sprain. I wouldn't be too worried about Ladd's involvement even if Herbert plays hobbled, but it'd be hard to trust him if Easton Stick were under center.
Greg Dortch (ARI) vs. Amik Robertson (DET)
numberFire Projection: 5.8 points (WR70)
- 29.5 Yards
- 2.8 Receptions (4.4 Targets)
FanDuel Props:
Much to the dismay of fantasy managers, Greg Dortch's utilization took a step back last week. After the Arizona Cardinals fed Dortch a 25.8% target share in the opener, they shifted focus to some rookie (Marvin Harrison Jr.) in Week 2.
Dorch only saw 2 targets in the blowout win, and his route participation dropped from 60.5% to 42.3%.
But I'm not sure how much we can take away from a game the Cardinals were leading 21-0 two minutes into the second quarter, and I'm expecting Dortch to see more run in what should be a tight game against the Detroit Lions.
This is the kind of matchup we want to target Dortch in, specifically in PPR formats. This Cardinals-Lions game features the week's highest over/under (51.5), and it's projected to have the second-fast pace according to Brandon Gdula's numbers.
The Lions have ceded the most fantasy points to the slot through two weeks, so Dortch could thrive against Detroit's primary slot defenders, Amik Robertson and Brian Branch. Branch has been targeted on the 12th highest rate of slot coverage snaps, while Robertson is in the bottom half of qualified corners in PFF coverage grade.
It doesn't hurt that Detroit has played man coverage at the second highest rate in football. Last season, Dortch had the ninth-best PFF receiving grade and averaged the 22nd-most yards per route run (2.79) against man coverage.
That puts both his receiving yards and receptions props in play on Sunday, but I prefer the latter considering Detroit has allowed the most receptions (38) and second highest target rate (25.7%) to opposing receivers this season.
Greg Dortch - Total Receptions
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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.
