Fantasy Football: 3 Wide Receiver-Cornerback Matchups to Target in Week 14

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 this piece lists the best wide receiver-cornerback matchups for the upcoming week. It doesn't take a genius to tell you to start Ja'Marr Chase 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.

numberFire's player matchups chart helps to identify advantageous matchups for specific positions. Then, 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.

Projections and rankings come from our NFL projections, which are powered by numberFire. All statistics via NFL Next Gen Stats and Pro Football Focus unless otherwise stated. NFL odds come from FanDuel Sportsbook and may change after this article is published.

Week 14 Wide Receiver-Cornerback Matchups

Jakobi Meyers (LV) vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

numberFire Projection: 11.4 points (WR17)

• 64 Yards
• 5.5 Receptions (8.9 Targets)

FanDuel Props:

• O/U 61.5 Yards
• O/U 5.5 Receptions

Jakobi Meyers has quietly enjoyed a 29% target share and 3.9 downfield targets (10-plus yards) per game without Davante Adams in the lineup this season. He saw 11 targets and netted 97 receiving yards in his first game with Aidan O'Connell last week, so he's someone I'm looking to get exposure to in a soft matchup against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Tampa is just 28th in schedule-adjusted pass defense; they're bottom-10 in yards and fantasy points allowed to wide receivers. Much of that has come via heavy volume as the Bucs have been thrown on at the fourth-highest rate (62%) in football.

Meyers moves all over the field, and the Bucs play zone at the second-highest rate. That'll match him up with Jemel Dean and Zyon McCollum on the outside -- neither of whom are cakewalk matchups. But they've both surrendered more than 12 yards per reception and an aDOT (average depth of target) north of 11.5 yards. There's still big-play potential here, especially if the Las Vegas Raiders play from behind and have more passing volume. They have the league's highest raw pass rate (65.9%) to begin with.

Jakobi Meyers' props are right in line with our NFL projections, but I still think we can get involved here. Given how often Vegas throws -- and how often Tampa's been thrown on -- the over on his receptions prop is some merit at -114 odds. He's grabbed at least 6 receptions in five of seven games without Adams and has 26 targets over his last two games.

Calvin Ridley (TEN) vs. Ronald Darby (JAC)

numberFire Projection: 10.3 points (WR22)

• 59.4 Yards
• 4.2 Receptions (7.3 Targets)

FanDuel Props:

• O/U 67.5 Yards
• O/U 4.5 Receptions
• +200 Any Time Touchdown Scorer

Calvin Ridley has a revenge game against the Jacksonville Jaguars this week -- a secondary that also happens to rank dead-last in adjusted pass defense. That sets Ridley up well given how heavily he's been utilized in recent weeks. He's seen a 25% target share and 48% air yards share since Will Levis returned from injury, so I'm eager to buy into him ahead of this matchup.

The Jags have used zone a bit more as the season's gone out, but they're still deploying man at the fourth-highest rate in football. That'll pit Ridley against defensive back Ronald Darby in a one-on-one matchup that heavily favors the offense. Darby is 86th out of 118 qualified corners in PFF coverage grade, and he's given up the fourth-most receiving yards on the year. He's allowed the fifth-most touchdowns (5) and fifth-highest passer rating when targeted (128.8), all while being targeted at the highest rate on the Jags.

According to Fantasy Points, Darby has given up the second-most fantasy points per route run (0.41) in the league.

Tennessee has been much more effective throwing the ball of late, too. Though they're only 21st in adjusted pass offense since Levis' return to injury, that's a major improvement on their standing at No. 32 over the first nine weeks. The Titans are ninth in raw pass rate (62.7%) over that span -- up considerably from the 54.4% rate they posted from Weeks 1-9.

That's helped Ridley average 70 yards since Levis returned -- though his recent production is well accounted for in the prop market. But, despite 50% red zone and 25% end zone target shares resulting in 2 touchdowns over the last four games and the Titans sporting a modest 21.5-point implied total, Ridley still has +200 anytime touchdown scorer odds. That would be my preferred way to play Ridley on FanDuel Sportsbook given that Jacksonville has allowed the most passing touchdowns in the NFL.

Khalil Shakir (BUF) vs. Quentin Lake (LAR)

numberFire Projection: 10 points (WR28)

• 56 Yards
• 4.6 Receptions (6.7 Targets)

FanDuel Props:

• +210 Any Time Touchdown Scorer

Khalil Shakir has been Josh Allen's favorite pass catcher over the last six games. Shakir leads the Buffalo Bills with a 27% target share during that stretch, averaging 6.7 receptions, 63.7 yards, and 9.7 fantasy points per game. He's peaked with his two highest single-game target shares of the season in the last two games, so we can expect him to stay busy in a plus matchup against the Los Angeles Rams.

LA is just 20th in adjusted pass defense this season. Though they've limited WR targets overall, their per-target defense is pretty lackluster. The Rams are permitting the most fantasy points per target to the position and the 11th-most overall.

Shakir will match up with slot corner Quentin Lake on the inside, and that's certainly a winnable matchup. Lake has allowed .32 fantasy points per route run this season according to Fantasy Points -- fifth-most among primary slot corners and a bottom-15 mark league-wide. Based on Fantasy Points' numbers, Shakir has the 10th-best matchup advantage in Week 14.

The Rams do play zone at a 72.6% clip, according to Next Gen Stats. Shakir's been Buffalo's primary zone-beater this season; per PFF, he's been targeted on 29% of snaps (5th among qualified receivers) and produced 2.12 yards per route run (21st) against zone coverage.

Now, Shakir's lack of downfield and endzone work makes him tough to justify in DFS, but that doesn't mean we can't target him on the prop market. Shakir doesn't have yardage or reception props up at the time of publication, but this is a spot I'd be eyeing both props. He's recorded at least six receptions in five of the last six games, and Buffalo won't be limited by a snowstorm indoors.

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The above author is a FanDuel employee and is not eligible to compete in public daily fantasy contests or place sports betting wagers on FanDuel. The advice provided by the author does not necessarily represent the views of FanDuel. Taking the author's advice will not guarantee a successful outcome. You should use your own judgment when participating in daily fantasy contests or placing sports wagers.