2024 Fantasy Football WR vs. CB Matchup Report Week 18: Saturday Games
WR CB Matchup Report | |||||
Left WR vs Right CB | |||||
Wide Receiver | Team | DK / FD $ | Cornerback | Opp | Matchup |
BAL | $4600 / $6000 | Martin Emerson Jr. | CLE | Neutral | |
| The Ravens kick off the Week 18 slate with a chance to win their way into an AFC North title against Cleveland. Rashod Bateman, the corner aligned to the left of the offense will look to do his part against Martin Emerson Jr. Emerson is hovering around the "average" line this season with a catch rate north of 60% and 11.7 yards per catch. Bateman's boom or bust profile makes him a bit hard to trust but his down-field prowess should be on display against Emerson, who carries a 13-yard ADOT this season. | |||||
CIN | $8600 / $9500 | Pat Surtain II | PIT | Neutral | |
| This one is a bit tricky because, based on their typical alignments, we'd project Ja'Marr Chase to see coverage from Joey Porter Looking back to when these teams played in Week 13, Tee Higgins saw a shadow from Porter and that left Chase to have 57% of his routes covered by Donte Jackson. Jackson is a little be better than league average this season but was responsible for Chase's touchdown in their last time facing off. | |||||
CLE | $3000 / $4700 | BAL | Upgrade | ||
| Michael Woods has had a lock on the starting left receiver position for a few weeks with Cedric Tillman sidelined and, despite racking up a pile of snaps, has logged just 7 catches for 65 yards in that 5-game span. Because we can't have nice things, Woods is the benefactor of the best avaialble matchup on the Saturday slate. He'll run in the coverage of Brandon Stephens, who currently sits 3rd in the league with 732 yards allowed. The Browns are expected to start Bailey Zappe this week who is somehow an upgrade to their quarterback play recently so perhaps the capture a bit of magic between he and Woods, who spent plenty of time practicing together near the bottom of the depth chart. While you can't fire up Woods with any confidence on the full slate, theres a case to be made if you're playing Saturday-only. A player who will see 80%+ of snaps in a favorable matchup is worth getting some exposure to, even if the floor is near-zero. | |||||
PIT | $6600 / $7400 | CIN | Upgrade | ||
| George Pickens couldn't have picked a better spot to make his return than the one he has in Week 18. He'll be the primary assignment of Cam Taylor-Britt, the league's most prolific touchdown-allower and the player who has given up the 2nd-most yardage in the NFL this season. There is legitimate concern about the circumstance of this game, with the Steelers potentially having nothing to play for based on the outcome of the Ravens game preceeding this, but its full send on Pickens if the Steelers are still alive for the division crown come kickoff. Even if they aren't playing for anything, I can see Tomlin and Pickens wanting to shake the rust off for a quarter or two but that makes the range of outcomes incredibly hard to predict. | |||||
Right WR vs Left CB | |||||
Wide Receiver | Team | DraftKings/FanDuel | Cornerback | Opp | Matchup |
BAL | $6200 / $6800 | CLE | Upgrade | ||
| Zay Flowers made history this season, becoming the Ravens' first-ever Pro Bowler at the wide receiver position. HIs reward for this accomplishment is a juicy matchup against Mike Ford of the Browns. Ford is being thrust into the starting lineup with Denzel Ward getting a rest and should be a focal point of the Ravens' passing attack. The 7-year journeyman doesn't have a ton of starts under his belt but has accumulated plenty of touchdowns and PI flags in his time as a starter. Flowers should feast in this must-win game. | |||||
CIN | $7100 / $8300 | PIT | Downgrade | ||
| As detailed above, it was Tee Higgins who was shadowed by Joey Porter Jr last time out; seeing coverage from the 2nd-year corner on 75.6% of his routes in Week 13. Porter did well to limit his man to just 2 catches and 19 yards that game but Higgins made hay on the 25% of his routes not covered by Porter and finished the day with 5 catches for 69 yards and a score. Even in a tough matchup, a premium should be applied for a Bengals team that is clawing to keep their playoff hopes alive. | |||||
CLE | $6400 / $6600 | BAL | Neutral | ||
| Despite having to navigate some of the worst quarterbacking seen in recent memory, Jerry Jeudy is managing to overcome his circumstance and put forth solid fantasy production. Since Week 15, Jeudy has compiled 25 catches and 222 yards and this week gets an upgrade at quarterback with Bailey Zappe drawing the start. On the otherhand, Jeudy draws the more difficult of the Ravens' coverage matchups - running against Nate Wiggins. Wiggins is much closer to above-average this season but is miles better than his teammate Brandon Stephens and is not seeing many targets thrown into his coverage because of it. | |||||
PIT | $3300 / $4900 | CIN | Neutral | ||
| Hopefully the return of George Pickens will open things up for Mike Williams, who presumably will step back into the down-field, jump-ball, role that more naturally suits his skillset. His individual mathup against Josh Newton doesn't swing the pendulum one way or the other this week. Newton is doing well to keep opponents to a 55% catch rate this season but 14 yards per reception is a bit higher than you'd like to see from a starting corner and Newton's worst game of the year came last time these two teams faced in Week 12. | |||||
Slot WR vs Slot CB | |||||
Wide Receiver | Team | DraftKings/FanDuel | Cornerback | Opp | Matchup |
BAL | $3400 / $5000 | CLE | Upgrade | ||
| Nelson Agholor is expected back for the Ravens this week and draws a nice matchup against Cameron Mitchell of Cleveland. Mitchell has been starting for the Browns over the last 3 weeks and has allowed 10 of his 12 targets to be caught for 106 yards and 2 scores. The issue here is that Baltimore doesn't run many 3 receiver sets and therefore Agholor is averaging just 2.1 targets per game | |||||
CLE | $3800 / $4800 | BAL | Downgrade | ||
| Unlike Jerry Jeudy, Elijah Moore has struggled mightily with Jameis Winston out of the lineup. Making things worse for him this week is a matchup with Marlon Humphrey, easily the Ravens' most-effective cover corner. Despite a higher than usual yardage total, Humphrey is on track to earn his best coverage grade from PFF and has forced either a Pass Break Up or an Interception on nearly 20% of the targets into his coverage. | |||||
CIN | $4000 / $5500 | PIT | Upgrade | ||
| Andrei Iosivas will periodically catch a touchdown and bink onto the fantasy radar but is largely the 3rd banana in a 2-man passing progression. He does have a beautiful matchup this week, running in the coverage of Cam Sutton, so the top of his range is in play. Sutton has played just 135 coverage snaps this year but has surrendered 4 touchdowns on just 12 catches. While this upgrade technically goes to Iosivas, I'd expect a lot of looks going Higgins and Chase's direction when they're in the slot (as the are on 20% and 35% of their respective snaps) | |||||
PIT | $4100 / $5300 | CIN | Downgrade | ||
| Calvin Austin was the only Steelers receiver to show signs of life during George Pickens' absence but he wasn't exactly setting the world on fire. This week he draws the most difficult matchup on the Saturday slate, running against Mike Hilton of the Bengals. Hilton is by no means a shut-down corner but I don't see why a quarterback would go there when they could instead beat up on guys like Cam-Taylor Britt and Josh Newton | |||||