Many quarterbacks like to rely on a big tight end as their security blanket against blitzes, but Monday night, Matthew Stafford again showed that he prefers to go to his outside receivers in single coverage. Against the blitz-heavy Packers, I suspected that Marvin Jones would have a big game, and he delivered with a league-leading eight targets and a touchdown against the blitz. That volume of blitz work pushed Jones’ blitz target percentage to an even-more extreme 50.0 percent. Only Marqise Lee’s is higher among players with 40 or more targets.
The Lions face another blitz-heavy team in Week 10 in the Browns, whose 45.3 percent blitz rate is highest in football. Start Jones and Golden Tate with confidence this week, and they are not the only players who should benefit from their teams’ blitz matchups. Research I did over the offseason shows that many players provide security blankets for their quarterbacks against blitz-heavy teams while others see fewer targets. Here are the other players I recommend to use and avoid this week.
Players to target
Jarvis Landry, WR, Miami Dolphins
DeVante Parker returned from his ankle injury Sunday night and looked no worse for the wear, snagging five of his eight targets for 76 yards. The month he missed distracted from the strong possibility that he is enjoying a breakout season. Parker now has at least 69 receiving yards in his four completed games. Make sure you pick him up in any league he is still available, but for this week specifically, I think Landry is the safer play. New Panthers’ defensive coordinator Steve Wilks has not been shy about bringing pressure. His team’s 41.9 percent blitz rate is the third-highest in football this year. That could easily lead to single coverage on Parker on the outside and some big plays, but so far this year, Kenny Stills has had the higher blitz target percentage, 43.2 percent compared to just 30.6 percent for Parker. Maybe more of those targets will move to Parker now that he’s showing signs of a breakout, but I don’t want to bet a starting spot in fantasy that I’ll make the correct assumption. Instead, I’d rather just start Landry. His 39.0 percent blitz target percentage is less than Stills’, but it’s still 16th-highest in football among the 75 players with at least 40 targets.
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