Fantasy Football: 5 Receiver-Cornerback Matchups to Exploit in Week 2

Matchups are everything in the NFL, especially at the receiver position.

For fantasy purposes, being able to identify which receivers have advantageous (or disadvantageous) matchups is a sharp way to get a leg up on your opponent.

Each Friday, I'll be listing out the best wide receiver-cornerback matchups for the upcoming week. It doesn't take a genius to tell you to start Justin Jefferson, but there will be weeks when some WR1s have better matchups and other weeks when typical WR2 or WR3s have matchups that bump them up in our weekly rankings.

But how do we know what to look for?

First, the numberFire (nF) Player Matchups chart helps to identify advantageous matchups for specific positions.

Then, we dive deeper into the specific cornerbacks. Pro Football Focus (PFF) Player Grades and their WR/CB Matchup chart are great starting points for identifying which specific matchups we want to target.

For receivers, the three key statistics we'll be citing are target share, average depth of target (aDOT), and Net Expected Points (NEP). For cornerbacks, we're mainly looking at the percentage of targets caught (REC%), forced incompletions per target (FI%), and the opposing quarterbacks' NFL passer rating against them.

Projections and rankings via numberFire.

Week 2 Receiver-Cornerback Matchups

Amon-Ra St. Brown (DET) vs. Coby Bryant (SEA)

numberFire Projection: 16.9 points (WR7)

Amon-Ra St. Brown didn't miss a beat in Week 1, finishing as the WR12 with 16.1 half-PPR points. He enjoyed the same elite usage as last season thanks to a 28.1% target share and a 97.2% route participation.

Now, with an even softer matchup with the Seattle Seahawks, St. Brown could go absolutely nuclear in Week 2.

The Seahawks were torched by a pair of previously-unproven receivers on the Los Angeles Rams. None of Seattle's defensive backs looked especially impressive, but St. Brown will benefit even further by drawing Coby Brant.

Bryant is Seattle's primary slot cornerback, but he struggled mightily in Week 1. He received the fourth-lowest PFF coverage grade (35.7) after allowing 7 receptions (on 10 targets) for 64 yards. The second-year pro didn't impress much last season, either. He gave up a 106.3 NFL passer rating while allowing 74.6% percent of targets to be caught.

St. Brown will further benefit from what is projected to be a high-scoring affair. This game has the second-highest total (47.5), and the Detroit Lions have the third-highest implied team total of the week.

The only concern with St. Brown is that the Lions (5.5-point favorites) could get up big early and milk the clock in the second half. That said, if that were to happen, it would likely come because of their best receiver's contributions.

Already a sure-fire WR1, Amon-Ra St. Brown has the upside to be fantasy's highest-scoring receiver thanks to his soft matchup.

Deebo Samuel (SF) vs. Los Angeles Rams

numberFire Projection: 15.2 points (WR13)

Deebo Samuel is the definition of a zone buster.

Samuel slotted in as PFF's 7th-highest graded receiver against zone coverage (83.7) in 2022. His ability to rack up yards after the catch (YAC) really shows up against zone, as he led the league with 496 YAC versus that coverage last season.

While Samuel sometimes suffers from heavy target competition in a lethal 49ers offense, that's not a concern against zone. Per FantasyPoints, Samuel was the top option when the San Francisco 49ers faced zone coverage, pacing the team with 0.29 targets per route run (TPRR).

That held true in Week 1. While Brandon Aiyuk stole the show, Deebo was just as heavily featured when they faced zone coverage. He led the team with 24 routes run against zone and tied Aiyuk with 4 receptions.

Why does this matter so much for Week 2?

Well, the Los Angeles Rams have been one of the heaviest zone teams in the league since Raheem Morris became the defensive coordinator in 2021. That's continued into this season with the Rams using zone at the 11th-highest rate (78.6%) in Week 1, per Next Gen Stats.

Deebo has absolutely shredded LA's zone defense. Just look at his numbers against them over the past three seasons.

An average of 21.2 fantasy points per game against the Rams?

We'll take that every day of the week.

Deebo is a high-upside WR2 this week with a mouth-watering matchup on deck.

Gabriel Davis (BUF) vs. Las Vegas Raiders

numberFire Projection: 10.7 points (WR33)

Deep threat Gabriel Davis will look to bounce back from a quiet Week 1 when the Buffalo Bills (-8.5) take on the Las Vegas Raiders.

Though Davis only caught 2 passes (10% target share), he finished with a healthy 23% air yard share thanks to a stellar 18.8 aDOT. He's well-positioned to turn that into a strong fantasy output in Week 2 thanks to a soft matchup.

The Raiders have the 23rd-ranked adjusted pass defense in the NFL, according to numberFire's metrics.

With Dalton Kincaid lining up in the slot (59%) and out wide (33.3%) more than expected in Week 1, Stefon Diggs saw a lot of time in the slot (46.8%), and Davis spent time on both sides out wide. Vegas' best cornerback, Nate Hobbs, spends most of his time in the slot, so Davis should see both Marcus Peters and Jakorian Bennett depending on which side of the formation he lines up at.

Both are advantageous matchups for Gabe Davis.

Marcus Peters took a step back last season (69.5 coverage grade) and doesn't look like the same caliber of defender post-ACL surgery. He allowed 4 of 5 targets to be caught in Week 1 and received a measly 53.7 coverage grade despite a soft matchup with Denver.

Bennett also gave up 4 receptions on 5 targets last week. The fourth-round rookie received the sixth-lowest coverage grade (43.0) in Week 1. Even in college, he wasn't especially impressive as he registered a 66.7 coverage grade in his final season.

At 6'3", 225 lbs, Davis has the size advantage over both Peters (6'0", 197 lbs) and Bennett (5'11", 195 lbs). While Bennett should be able to stay with Davis thanks to his 4.3 speed, the 30-year-old Peters could struggle to hang with Davis down the field.

It doesn't hurt that Buffalo has the highest implied team total (27.75) of the week. Consequently, Davis has a chance to build on his singular end zone target from last week and punch in a score. The matchup is there for him to break out in Week 2.

Jahan Dotson (WSH) vs. Demarri Mathis (DEN)

numberFire Projection: 9.3 points (WR45)

Jahan Dotson may have had a quiet Week 1, but his matchup with the Denver Broncos gives him a ton of upside to bounce back in Week 2.

Sure, the Broncos do feature one of the very best coverage corners around in Patrick Surtain II. However, Surtain is expected to shadow Terry McLaurin while Demarri Mathis checks Dotson.

We saw how that worked out for Jakobi Meyers last week.

Meyers finished with 24.6 fantasy points with Mathis as his primary defender. Against Mathis, Meyers scored 2 touchdowns and caught 6 of 7 targets. Overall, Mathis was targeted 9 times and allowed 8 receptions -- good for an 88.9% reception percentage. He allowed a league-high 150.2 NFL passer rating on those targets while giving up a healthy 11.2 aDOT. Consequently, Mathis received the single-lowest PFF coverage grade (27.4) of Week 1.

There's no reason Dotson can't enjoy similar success given his encouraging Week 1 usage. While he only caught 5 passes for 40 yards, he finished second on the Washington Commanders in target share (24.1%) and led the team with a 32.0% air yard share.

Perhaps most encouraging, Dotson was on the field for 86.2% of snaps and ran a route on a team-high 94.6% of those snaps.

Those were all noticeable improvements on last season's 74.3% snap share and 15.9% target share.

While it may be hard to trust Dotson after his Week 1 dud, he's got the matchup to really break out in Week 2. Consider him a WR3 with upside and certainly someone worthy of a FLEX spot.

Rashid Shaheed (NO) vs. Donte Jackson (CAR)

numberFire Projection: 8.5 points (WR57)

Last week's WR11 (16.5 points), Rashid Shaheed saw encouraging usage in the New Orleans Saints' season opener and has the right matchup to keep rolling in Week 2.

Shaheed flashed in short spurts as a rookie last season, but it's clear the Saints envision him as a much bigger part of their offense in 2023.

After playing just 49.5% of snaps and receiving a 10.3% target share as a rookie, Shaheed played 54.7% of snaps and garnered an 18.2% target share in his first game with Derek Carr. While we would like to see him on the field more, Shaheed certainly made his snaps count. He finished second on the team with a 24.6% air yard share and had the fourth-highest catch rate over expected (24.8%) of all Week 1 wideouts who saw at least 5 targets.

In Week 2, the Saints draw the Carolina Panthers. That likely pits Shaheed up against veteran Donte Jackson. Jackson didn't see much action thanks to last week's run-heavy game script but wasn't very effective in 2022. Last season, the 27-year-old received just a 55.2 coverage grade thanks to allowing a career-worst 76.6% reception percentage and a 92.7 NFL passer rating.

Shaheed has displayed real NFL talent despite limited opportunity, and with an advantageous matchup on deck, he should only continue to ascend. He's a sleeper FLEX candidate with WR3 upside.

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