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Welcome to the Championship edition of the weekly wide receiver/cornerback breakdown! We will review each of the outside matchups, as well as my five favorite matchups in the slot. Then, below the charts in this article, I break down my five absolute favorite matchups. This article is critical for daily players, as this will help you gain a competitive advantage when setting your lineups. We are now in the Divisional Round so the slates continue to get smaller the deeper we get into the playoffs! Follow me on Twitter (@fightingchance) as well!
| Left WR | Right CB | Analysis |
| Stefon Diggs BUF | Bashaud Breeland KC | As this is the 20th week of writing this article and the 19th time including Diggs I am having a hard time coming up with new and creative ways to tell you how awesome he is. I have long cited how many 100-yard games he has had (five of the last six and the sixth he was pulled early to avoid injury against Miami in Week 17) or his volume (nine or more targets in all but four games this season) and I don't know how else to tell you. Breeland is a decent corner but suffered a concussion this week and could possibly miss the game. The Chiefs defense is solid, but Josh Allen to Stefon Diggs just simply can't be stopped right now. |
| Davante Adams GB | Carlton Davis TB | He might have only had 66 yards last week against Jalen Ramsey, but he did have nine catches and a touchdown against perhaps the toughest corner in football. Adams has double digit targets in five of the last six games and at least nine in every game but one after their Week 5 bye. He has not racked up huge games lately and didn't shine against Davis and the Bucs back in Week 6, but this guy in on another plane right now and truly can't be held down for an entire game. The Pack are at home and Aaron Rodgers has been unstoppable and his most used and most reliable target is Adams. You literally can't go wrong here. |
| Mecole Hardman KC | Tre'Davious White BUF | While the majority of the Chiefs offense flows through Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce, there is room for someone else to put up some numbers from time to time. Hardman had four catches for 58 yards last week and had 17 targets in the three games before that. None of these are overly impressive numbers, but it is a two-game slate so you are going to have to take a lower salaried guy at a position or two to put together a reasonable lineup. Hardman has nice big play ability, and even though he matches up mostly against White who is a solid corner, he can get behind a defense. If Sammy Watkins ends up missing the game he will be the de facto third receiver after Hill and Kelce and that alone has fantasy value. |
| Mike Evans TB | Jaire Alexander GB | He scored again in the Divisional Round, but Evans had just one catch for the third time this season. It was also the fourth time that he had 10 receiving yards or fewer as he ended up with just three. He did have a tough matchup with Marshon Lattimore who has consistently given Evans fits in his career, but it gets even tougher this week with Jaire Alexander who has been one of the top corners all season long. Evans had just one catch for 10 yards the last time these teams faced off back in Week 6, but he was also targeted just twice. With Rob Gronkowski fading and Antonio Brown not 100 percent if he even plays at all, Evans is going to have to be more involved if the Bucs want to go to the Super Bowl. I don't have extreme confidence in him for this game, but he should at least have four or five catches for 60-70 yards and if he can find the end zone again that won't be a bad day for him. |
| Right WR | Left CB | Analysis |
| John Brown BUF | Charvarius Ward KC | I'm gonna go ahead and call the Wild Card game an outlier when Brown had no catches on four targets since he went ahead and had eight catches for 62 yards on 11 targets last week against the Ravens. Brown only scored three times this season and two of them came in the first two weeks of the season. He had no catches in the Week 6 game atgainst the Chiefs, but that was three months ago now. The Bills are sure to put up some points in this one and with their lack of a passing game I see Allen throwing the ball 35+ times. Even if Brown only gets 20 percent of those that is seven targets and as a lower priced receiver he is a pretty decent bet to succeed especially with Gabriel Davis very dinged up. |
| Marquez Valdes-Scantling GB | Jamel Dean TB | His eight targets last week were a surprise since he hadn't hit that number since Week 4, but MVS still only produced four catches and 33 yards in the Division Round against the Rams. He is such an inconsistent wild card that it is really hard to put him in a DFS lineup. However, this is a two-game slate now so you need to have a couple of guys in your lineup to differentiate yourself from the pack. He had just three catches and 32 yards against Tampa Bay back in Week 6, but Valdes-Scantling is loaded with big play ability. He doesn't have the most reliable hands, but he is the receiver that Aaron Rodgers loves to throw deep to as averaged by his near 21 yards per catch average on the season. He isn't a guy that I tend to have a ton of confidence on a weekly basis but I can definitely see why he is someone to consider putting into a percentage of your lineups for Conference Championship weekend. |
| Demarcus Robinson KC | Levi Wallace BUF | Honestly whether Sammy Watkins plays or not isn't overly impactful on Robinson's production. The Chiefs veteran didn't play last week and Robinson had just one catch for 14 yards while Mecole Hardman had most of the production outside of Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce. Wallace only allows a 55 percent catch rate and Robinson has more than two targets just once in the last six weeks and has only scored once after the team's Week 10 bye. The Chiefs are going to score some points bur Robinson is fourth or fifth on the target tree and offers very little fantasy value this week. |
| Antonio Brown TB | Kevin King GB | His knee injury has been deemed not serious, but he also didn't participate in Wednesdays' practice. Brown is a veteran though, and has been in the offense for long enough to probably not need much if any practice time to be able to play. However, how much will the injury hamper him if he does play? In my opinion enough to take him out of consideration for DFS purposes. Kevin King isn't elite, but he isn't a bum. Unless you are really trying to play a contrarian angle I would stay away from Brown as the risk of him not playing much or aggravating the injury seems too much. If he doesn't play, Scotty Miller becomes a bit of an attractive option although he hasn't had more than one catch since before Christmas. Things might be different though with Mike Evans locked down with Jaire Alexander and Brown potentially out. Just something to think about. |
Now, here are my five favorite matchups in the slot for the Conference Championships.
| Slot WR | Slot CB | Analysis |
| Tyreek Hill KC | Taron Johnson BUF | Not only did Hill just have the best playoff game of his career against the Browns last week, but he had his sixth game of over 90 yards this season. The Bills defense has been playing better of late, but Johnson does allow a 73 percent catch rate and nearly 10.5 yards per catch out of the slot. Hill is one of the two real branches of the Chiefs target tree so he is always a threat to go off. The Chiefs offense hasn't been as strong in the second half of the season and he had just three catches for 20 yards against them the first time they played. Even with those last two factors Hill is always a great choice in DFS contests just for the sheer volume of targets he sees on a weekly basis and his speed threat to take any catch the distance. |
| Chris Godwin TB | Chandon Sullivan GB | He has been one of the more maddening receivers all season long as he has five games over 80 receiving yards and five games under 50 receiving yards. He had scored in four straight games before a let down last week with just four catches and 34 yards against the Saints. He had five catches for 48 yards against the Packers back in October, but I expect a better game out of Godwin and he is actually the receiver on the team I feel the best about coming into the game. Sullivan allows nearly 12 yards per catch which is high out of the slot and the Packers outside corners are much better than him. Godwin has the capability of having a pretty good game in any contest and is a solid choice this week. ] |
| Cole Beasley BUF | L'Jarius Sneed KC | He didn't have a catch last week, but more importantly he wasn't on the injury report for this week's Championship Game which is great news. Beasely did have four catches for 45 yards and a touchdown eaerlier in the season against the Cheifs and Kansas City did allow seven catches and a touchdown to Jarvis Landry last week. Sneed has allowed 11 of the last 12 targets that came his way to be caught, and the Chiefs can be beaten out of the slot. It would help his cause if Gabriel Davis would miss this game to have fewer mouths to feed for Josh Allen. Beasley has had five catches or more in four of the last six weeks, but hasn't scored since Week 13. He is a good bet for a half dozen catches, but he will need that touchdown to be a solid DFS option. |
| Allen Lazard GB | Sean Murphy-Bunting TB | He had his best game since Week 3 against the Rams, but a large part of his output came in one late catch. Lazard had been held back with a snap count to get him ready for the playoffs, so there is no reason to hold him back anymore. His eight targets were his most since the end of September against the Saints. Murphy-Bunting has actually played pretty well lately, despite being a borderline disaster for much of the season. If you are looking to choose a secondary receiver on the Packers I would certainly prefer Lazard over Marquez Valdes-Scantling, but I am not completely confident in either. |
Elite
Stefon Diggs vs. Bashaud Breeland
I just can’t quit this guy. Davante Adams and Tyreek Hill are both very good choices, but the guy who has been producing the most since the start of December is Diggs. The volume, the catches, the yards, it is all amazing. Breeland did suffer a concussion which could thin out the Chiefs secondary for this one and there is no one hotter than the Bills. Diggs and Allen are the perfect couple in 2020 and it would almost be shocking if he didn’t have eight catches for over 100 yards and a score.
Affordable
Chris Godwin vs Chandon Sullivan
The Bucs are a little banged up coming into this game as Evans still isn’t 100 percent, Antonio Brown suffered the injury last week and even Chris Godwin had hip and quad injuries coming into last week’s games. However, Godwin is probably in the best shape of the three, and the slot is the best place to beat the Pack. Sullivan hasn’t been getting beaten for big yards, but he has allowed 11 of the last 12 passes targeted at him to be caught. While I expect the Packers to win the game, the Bucs should still score a decent number of points and Godwin is $400 cheaper than Mike Evans on DK and only $200 more than Evans on FD. He certainly appears to be the best option of the big three receivers on Tampa Bay.
Bargain Bin
Mecole Hardman vs. Tre’Davious White
This isn’t the ideal matchup but not EVERYTHING can go to Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill . Right? Hardman was the third guy last week in the offense and even if Sammy Watkins plays next week, I have no confidence in him. Hardman is a speed demon and can always get behind a defense. The Bills defense has played well leading up to and into the playoffs, but they aren’t elite. Demarcus Robinson plays a few more snaps, but Hardman is running more routes. There is some risk here for sure, but on a two-game slate he has a chance to pop off in a big way while the Bills focus heavy on Hill and Kelce.
*Information gathered from research done at Pro Football Focus.