The fantasy football season is finally upon us after what feels like the longest of offseasons. If you are new to this column, welcome and thank you for reading. I believe understanding the WR and CB matchups gives fantasy managers a slight edge over those who don’t pay attention. This article regularly highlights players who will underperform due to a tough matchup, as well as players who could exceed expectations from the waiver wire or the bench as a result of a favorable matchup.
This column should be one of many tools you use across the FantasyPros website to help you optimize your lineup and get you ready for winning your matchups or finding edges in DFS.
Without further ado, here are six fantasy football WR/CB matchups to know for Week 1 of the 2024 season.
- Waiver Wire Advice
- Weekly Fantasy Football Expert Rankings
- Fantasy Football Start/Sit Advice
- Fantasy Football Trade Tools
WR/CB Matchups: Week 1
Advantageous Wide Receiver Matchups
Rashid Shaheed (WR – NO) vs. Troy Hill (CB – CAR)
Carolina had not seemed to realize they had issues in the secondary last year. At least, when looking through their draft selections and free agency signings anyway. They signed former seventh-round pick Dane Jackson, who has only started 28 games in the league and spent a Day 3 pick in the draft on Chau Smith-Wade from Washington State. They also re-signed Troy Hill to a new one-year deal this offseason. It appears he will have the nightmare task of guarding Rashid Shaheed on Opening Day.
Hill allowed the joint sixth-most fantasy points per route run last year (0.35) according to the Fantasy Points Data Suite. Shaheed, on the other hand, managed 0.36 fantasy points per route run, despite not even running routes 70% of the time. However, in this matchup, it feels he will get more targets than the 18.1% targets per route run he averaged in 2023. This feels like a giant mismatch. Thus, starting Shaheed as a Flex feels less of a gamble than usual this week.
Calvin Ridley (WR – TEN) vs. Tyrique Stevenson (CB – CHI)
Calvin Ridley makes his way onto his third NFL team in four seasons and has seen his career invariably stall since receiving a ban for a whole season for violating the NFL’s gambling policy. However, there seems to be a great deal of optimism heading to Tennessee and making use of the giant arm strength of QB Will Levis. Levis led all qualifying QBs on deep ball pass rate, with 22% of his passes going 20+ air yards. Also, according to PlayerProfiler.com, Levis managed 10.4 air yards per attempt, which also led all signal-callers in 2023.
On the other hand, Tyriquie Stevenson had a 2023 to forget for Chicago. His 0.37 fantasy points per route run against him were the fifth-worst of any qualifying CB in 2023. He was targeted a whopping 21.6% of the time a receiver was running a route at or past him. With Levis’ propensity to throw the deep ball, Ridley looking to rebound and Stevenson being left out there to be targeted, this could be a dream matchup for those fantasy managers still believing in Ridley.
Jalen Nailor (WR – MIN) vs. Dru Phillips (CB – NYG)
This will certainly catch a few eyes and make a few people squint when reading these names. Jalen Nailor is a deep sleeper owned in under 5% of leagues currently, according to fantasy football waiver wire data. Dru Phillips is a rookie CB picked 70th by the Giants back in April.
However, there are some numbers to back this up. Jalen Nailor was impressive in the preseason. With Sam Darnold‘s last chance to be a starter in the NFL, he is likely to take fewer risks. Nailor won the slot role and is expected to be heavily targeted by Darnold early on.
As for Dru Phillips, while we don’t have any actual NFL data on him, Fantasy Points’ preseason data suggests he did allow 0.33 fantasy points per route run against him. The step up from Kentucky, despite being in the SEC, to the NFL, is massive and it will take time to adjust and excel. Especially at CB. Therefore, there is a good chance Nailor could catch Phillips cold And take advantage of the rookie, who will be acclimatizing to life in the NFL this Sunday.
Other Notable Advantageous Matchups
- A.J Brown (WR- PHI) vs. Eric Stokes (CB – GB)
- Mike Evans (WR – TB) vs. Michael Davis (CB – WAS)
- Jaylen Waddle (WR – MIA) vs. Tyson Campbell (CB – JAX)
- Chris Olave (WR – NO) vs. Jaycee Horn (CB – CAR)
- Justin Jefferson (WR – MIN) vs. Adoree’ Jackson (CB – NYG)
Challenging Wide Receiver Matchups
Diontae Johnson (WR – CAR) vs. Marshon Lattimore (CB – NO)
The context to this pick is that in PPR leagues Diontae Johnson might carry the volume of targets to get away from being a disaster selection in your lineup this week. However, in other formats, or if you are chasing upside, Johnson is a player you may want to consider benching this week.
Johnson is likely to have a good year. However, as matchups to start, this is one of the worst. Marcus Lattimore tied for the fewest fantasy points per route run allowed last year, allowing just 0.14 fantasy points per route run against him. Also, he only had to defend targets on an extremely low 10.1% of routes.
If fantasy managers can afford to bench Johnson this week they should.
DeAndre Hopkins (WR – TEN) vs. Jaylon Johnson (CB – CHI)
DeAndre Hopkins is likely to play in Week 1. However, he is still not 100%. That isn’t ideal when going against one of the league’s best corners in Jaylon Johnson. Johnson is the lowest starting cornerback in 2023 to have targets on routes run against him (9%). As a result, he only allowed a measly 0.16 fantasy points per route run against him.
With Ridley having a plus-matchup, plus the use of the running backs, as well as Treylon Burks and Tyler Boyd, the concern is this is not the matchup to be wheeling Hopkins out in your lineup. They have better options across the field and it feels like Hopkins could be a trap/decoy. This would allow Ridley to see more favorable coverage to maximize his advantage. Avoid Hopkins at all costs this week.
Zay Flowers (WR – BAL) vs. Trent McDuffie (CB – KC)
This might seem like a strange one. It will be hard for fantasy managers to sit Zay Flowers, given his average draft position (ADP). However, the recommendation might not always be to sit the player with the challenging matchup. But, there should be some caution heeded, and this is one of those instances.
Flowers should see a reduction in targets given the health of Mark Andrews and the willingness of offensive coordinator Todd Monkin to include Rashod Bateman more in the offense. It is hard to see where he will finish as a top-24 wide receiver this week given the difficult matchup against Trent McDuffie.
McDuffie only allowed 0.18 fantasy points per route run against him last year — tied for 13th among all starting CBs in 2023. Also, he was only targeted on 10.5% of routes run against him — the fourth-lowest among all starting CBs last season.
Flowers is a Flex play or low-end WR3 this week.
Other Notable Challenging Matchups
- Deebo Samuel (WR – SF) vs. Sauce Gardner (CB – NYJ)
- Tyler Lockett (WR – SEA) vs. Riley Moss (CB – DEN)
- Tyreek Hill (WR – MIA) vs. Ronald Darby (CB – JAX)
- Michael Pittman Jr. (WR – IND) vs. Derek Stingley Jr. (CB – HOU)
- D.J. Moore (WR – CHI) vs. L’Jarius Sneed (CB – TEN)
Adam Murfet is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Murf, check out his archive and follow him @5yardrush.
Subscribe: YouTube | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | iHeart | Castbox | Amazon Music | Podcast Addict | TuneIn