The game within the game is what makes the NFL so incredibly fun to evaluate and analyze. Matchups between wide receivers and cornerbacks that occur on islands are crucial to both NFL and fantasy football successes. The coverage ability of a cornerback can easily dictate the production from a receiver — that's why it’s important to target situations in which receivers have a matchup advantage and to avoid the matchups where receivers are at a disadvantage.
PFF's WR/CB matchup chart ranks every matchup based on projected coverage, shadow coverage and PFF grades and other data from last season. With this data in mind, here are five clear WR/CB matchups to target and five to avoid for fantasy football in Week 1 of the NFL season.
5 WR/CB Matchups to Target
Philadelphia Eagles WR DeSean Jackson vs. Washington Football Team CB Fabian Moreau
The intrigue surrounding Jackson in this weekend's matchup against the team he torched last season in Week 1 is astounding — and it should be. Jackson averaged 4.18 yards per route run in 2019 (on incredibly limited snaps) and proved to still have the same vertical ability that made him one of the league's most dangerous players over the past decade.
His main responsibility in coverage belongs to Moreau, who surrendered 1.31 yards per reception and 0.27 fantasy points per route in 2019, neither of which were impressive when compared to opposing cornerbacks in PFF’s WR/CB matchup chart. In addition to these unimpressive ranks, Jackson has a 51% advantage over Moreau in this matchup according to the chart — the third-highest mark among all receivers.
The matchup also ranks as the second-easiest of the week for Jackson and the remaining Eagles receivers, according to PFF’s strength of schedule (SoS) metric.
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