Fantasy Football Outlook: Christian Watson, Romeo Doubs, Kalif Raymond, Jayden Reed

Every week we’ll bring you The Primer, a deep dive into every fantasy-relevant player from every NFL game of the week. You can find the Thursday Night Football Primer here. Below we dive into a few notable players ahead of Thursday’s game between the Lions and Packers.

Fantasy Football Outlook

Christian Watson: Watson is set to return in Week 4. He didn’t practice on Monday, but he did manage a limited practice on Tuesday. Watson should have a field day against Detroit’s zone coverage (65-66% of their corner’s snaps). Last year, after he was a full-time starter in the offense, Watson had a 17.8% target share, a 38.1% air yard share, and a 22.9% first-read share (2.70 YPRR). Green Bay is notoriously careful with injuries, so if Watson is active, I’m treating him like he’ll be a full go. Watson will run about 67% of his routes against Cameron Sutton and Jerry Jacobs. Week 4 Positional Value: WR2/3

Romeo Doubs: Doubs leads all Green Bay receivers with a 72.4% route run per team dropback rate. He is also tops with a 20.0% target share. He has a 25.8% air yard share and 1.70 YPRR. Against zone coverage, Doubs ranks second on the team in target share (18.0%) and first-read share (21.3%). He leads the team with 2.20 YPRR against zone, which he’ll see plenty of against Detroit. Doubs will run about 80% of his routes against Cameron Sutton (58.8% catch rate and 83.7 passer rating) and Jerry Jacobs (71.4% catch rate and 120.1 passer rating). Week 4 Positional Value: WR4

Jayden Reed: Reed continues to impress as the team’s starting slot receiver (73% slot). He has a 20% target share, a 23.3% air yard share, and a 2.21 YPRR. The biggest issue for Reed is that Green Bay likes to utilize multiple personnel sets, so his role as the starting slot has his snaps capped (63.8% route run per team dropback rate). Against zone coverage, Reed is third on the team with a forgettable 14.8% target share and a 17.0% air yard share. Reed will see Brian Branch (64.7% catch rate and 90.7 passer rating) for most of the day. Week 4 Positional Value: WR4/5

Kalif Raymond: The Lions finally woke up and dropped Marvin Jones‘ route run rate to 35.3% in Week 3. Raymond was the big beneficiary, with a 50% route run rate and an 18.2% target share. That route run per team dropback rate needs to be higher to consider him in fantasy, though. Asking him to reproduce his 35% TPRR (the same as St. Brown) is unreasonable. Raymond could walk away with a good day if he and Goff can connect on a deep shot, though. Green Bay is bottom of the barrel against deep passing. Raymond is second on the team with four deep targets. Week 4 Positional Value: Deep league flex or DFS Showdown play