We have made it to the double-digit weeks. We are on the home stretch of the fantasy regular season. For most fantasy managers, there are just five weeks left to get into the playoffs and play for your fantasy championship.
let’s dive in and give you the best fantasy start sit matchups possible and understand which you need to be more cautious for. Here are six fantasy football WR/CB matchups to know for Week 10.
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WR/CB Matchups: Week 10
Advantageous Wide Receiver Matchups
Demarcus Robinson (WR – LAR) vs. Cam Smith (CB – MIA)
Demarcus Robinson might have moved down the depth chart with the return of Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua. However, he is certainly showing he has some strong fantasy relevance down the stretch.
Robinson has scored five touchdowns in the last four games. In that span, he has finished as the fantasy WR32, WR10 and WR5. This week, Robinson is up against Cam Smith. Smith is conceding 0.55 fantasy points per route run against him, according to Fantasy Points. In addition, he is also seeing targets on 26.7% of routes run against him. Both of these marks lead the NFL among all cornerbacks.
Fantasy managers concerned about volume for Robinson should view him as an upside fantasy start sit Flex play in their lineups this week. Especially considering this matchup.
A.J. Brown (WR – PHI) vs. Caelen Carson (CB – SEA)
A.J. Brown returned to practice on Wednesday and is trending towards playing on Sunday. While Brown will always carry WR1 upside, he carries top-five upside at the position this week thanks to the matchup. Brown is managing 0.57 fantasy points per route run in 2024, which is the third-highest mark of any qualifying wide receiver coming into Week 10. Only Amon-Ra St. Brown and Justin Jefferson have achieved more.
This week, Brown will be covered most of the time by Caelen Carson. Carson is allowing 0.45 fantasy points per route run against him. Which is the second-most conceded by cornerbacks in the NFL in 2024. Furthermore, Carson is seeing targets on 23.1% of routes run against him. That is also the second-highest percentage allowed by all starting cornerbacks.
Brown, if healthy, should be doing the heavy lifting for fantasy managers in Week 10.
DJ Moore (WR – CHI) vs. Christian Gonzalez (CB – NE)
While there are some question marks around DJ Moore’s attitude and commitment, fantasy managers should be looking at this matchup and licking their lips.
Moore is running routes on 91.7% of dropbacks this season. Only Ja’Marr Chase is running a higher percentage of routes (91.8%). Consequently, his 0.33 fantasy points per route run, while heavily weighted on the earlier weeks of the season, is not where fantasy managers thought he would be. There is real optimism he can exceed this mark this week because Moore is facing Christian Gonzalez and the New England Patriots this week.
According to Vegas Insider, the Bears are 6-point favorites. And, according to our own FantasyPros metric, the Patriots are the 12th-worst team in fantasy points allowed to wide receivers. Gonzalez is allowing 0.32 fantasy points per route run against him so far this season.
Fantasy managers will be hoping the Bears and Moore can patch up their difficulties and get right with a much-needed victory on Sunday.
Other Notable Advantageous Matchups
- Xavier Legette (WR – CAR) vs. Deonte Banks (CB – NYG)
- Darnell Mooney (WR – ATL) vs. Rico Payton (CB – NO)
- Malik Nabers (WR – NYG) vs. Mike Jackson (CB – CAR)
- Diontae Johnson (WR – BAL) vs. Cam Taylor-Britt (CB – CIN)
- Justin Jefferson (WR – MIN) vs. Tyson Campbell (CB – JAX)
Challenging Wide Receiver Matchups
Zay Flowers (WR – BAL) vs. Mike Hilton (CB – CIN)
Zay Flowers carried a lot of fantasy teams last week as he finished as the WR2 overall. However, this is a matchup that should alarm and scare fantasy managers. A lot of Flowers’ success this season has come against man coverage.
The Broncos are the fourth-highest-ranked team in the league in terms of the percentage of man coverage they line up in. Admittedly, last week they dropped to about half their usual amount. But the game was already over at that point.
Flowers’ average separation score in man coverage, according to Fantasy Points data, is an impressive 0.413, which ranks first out of the 35 receivers who have run 70+ routes against man coverage so far this season. However, when switching to zone coverage, his separation score is far from elite — 0.075, which puts him in a tie for 53rd.
Plus, Flowers has to face Mike Hilton, who is only allowing 0.11 fantasy points per route run against him so far this season, which is the second-lowest mark in the NFL among cornerbacks. This is a very challenging matchup.
Fantasy managers must start Flowers, though. Great talent can always beat great coverage. However, perhaps they should temper their expectations and lessen the expected projection in their fantasy app of choice just a smidge and look to make the points up elsewhere.
DeVonta Smith (WR – PHI) vs. Jourdan Lewis (CB – DAL)
DeVonta Smith has had a reasonably consistent season so far. The WR17 overall has only failed to finish inside the top 24 of the position just twice in seven games.
However, there is a feeling that gamescript and matchup will play a big role in his performance this week. According to Vegas Insider, the Eagles are 7-point favorites with a projected over/under of just 43 total points.
With Brown having such a plus-matchup and Saquon Barkley putting up huge numbers week to week, it feels like Smith could be similarly marginalized this week as when the Eagles blew out the Giants in a low-scoring game. Smith ended that game with one catch off two targets for -2 yards and finished as the WR103 on the week.
Add to that the cover of Jourdan Lewis, who is only allowing 0.12 fantasy points per route run against him and you have the makings of a trap matchup. Fantasy managers should tread carefully with Smith this week. He will be hard to drop from lineups due to his upside. However, be mindful and cautious of the return he could bring this week.
Michael Pittman (WR – IND) vs. Christian Benford (CB – BUF)
Michael Pittman has not had the season fantasy managers expected. The WR52 currently has put up six single-digit games out of nine so far and has a high of just 14.3 fantasy points and a high finish of WR21.
This week, Pittman is up against one of the better corners in the NFL in Christian Benford. Benford is only allowing 0.15 fantasy points per route run against him, while only being targeted on just 10.8% of routes run against him.
Pittman is 100% a sit candidate for fantasy managers this week.
Other Notable Challenging Matchups
- DeAndre Hopkins (WR – KC) vs. Pat Surtain (CB – DEN)
- Cooper Kupp (WR – LAR) vs. Jalen Ramsey (CB – MIA)
- Courtland Sutton (WR – DEN) vs. Joshua Williams (CB – KC)
- Marvin Harrison Jr. (WR – ARI) vs. D.J. Reed (CB – NYJ)
- Terry McLaurin (WR – WAS) vs. Joey Porter (CB – PIT)
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Adam Murfet is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Murf, check out his archive and follow him @5yardrush.