• Kansas City Chiefs WR JuJu Smith-Schuster (74.2 PFF receiving grade): He should have little issue dusting Seattle Seahawks slot cornerback Coby Bryant (47.4 PFF coverage grade).
• Tampa Bay Buccaneers WR Mike Evans (73.3 PFF receiving grade): He is primed for a bounce-back week against the Arizona Cardinals.
• Dallas Cowboys WR Michael Gallup (65.1 PFF receiving grade): He should be avoided in his upcoming matchup against Philadelphia Eagles cornerback Darius Slay (79.4 PFF coverage grade).
Estimated Reading Time: 14 mins
Welcome to Week 16 of the 2022 NFL season. The sections below highlight five players to target and five to avoid in DFS and fantasy football with data gleaned from PFF’s WR/CB matchup chart.
5 WR/CB MATCHUPS TO TARGET
WR JUJU SMITH-SCHUSTER, KANSAS CITY CHIEFS VS. CB COBY BRYANT, SEATTLE SEAHAWKS
- Kansas City offers a high-flying 29.5-point implied team total against Seattle in Week 16’s second-highest totaled game (49 points).
- PFF’s OL/DL matchup chart gives Kansas City’s offensive line a 32% pass-blocking matchup advantage rating.
- Kansas City slot receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster (74.2 PFF receiving grade) runs a 40.7% plurality of his routes lined up in the slot. His primary pre-snap alignment is flanked by a 31.9% wide-left rate and a 27.4% wide-right rate.
- Seattle slot cornerback Coby Bryant (51.5 PFF slot coverage grade, 90.8% slot coverage rate) will be Smith-Schuster’s primary defensive foe, though Smith-Schuster will take meaningful snaps against wide-left cornerback Michael Jackson (54.0 PFF wide-left coverage grade, 90.9% wide-left coverage rate) and wide-right cornerback Tariq Woolen (75.2 PFF wide-right coverage grade, 93.8% wide-right coverage rate).
- Safety/No. 2 slot cornerback Ryan Neal (56.8 PFF slot-coverage grade) has logged just one practice since Week 14 while playing through a knee injury.
- The table below ranks Smith-Schuster’s receiving data in parentheses. The slot receiver sample size includes 70 NFL wide receivers with at least 100 slot coverage snaps, 55 NFL wide receivers with at least 100 wide-left snaps and 55 NFL wide receivers with at least 100 wide-right snaps. “No. 1” denotes the player, position or team’s best performance.
| NFL WR Data | PFF Receiving Grade | Per Routes Run %: Tgts – Yds | Catch % – Contested Catch % | aDot – YAC/Rec. | 15-Plus-Yd Pass Plays | Missed Tackles Forced Rec. |
| JuJu Smith-Schuster – Slot | 69.3 (No. 32) | 18.1% (No. 32) – 1.81 (No. 25) | 75.8% (T-No. 22) – 25% (T-No. 51) | 7.8 (No. 49) – 5.9 (T-No. 11) | 10 (T-No. 9) | 2 (T-No. 32) |
| JuJu Smith-Schuster – Wide-Left | 67.2 (No. 33) | 21.6% (No. 16) – 1.55 (No. 28) | 76.7% (No. 6) – 33.3% (T-No. 36) | 7.4 (No. 50) – 4.2 (No. 16) | 3 (T-No. 42) | 1 (T-No. 29) |
| JuJu Smith-Schuster – Wide-Right | 76.6 (No. 15) | 20.2% (No. 24) – 2.46 (No. 8) | 92% (No. 1) – 66.7% (T-No. 14) | 6.4 (No. 54) – 7.4 (No. 1) | 5 (T-No. 32) | 5 (T-No. 6) |
- The table below ranks Bryant’s slot coverage data in parentheses among 42 NFL cornerbacks with at least 100 slot-coverage snaps.
| PFF Slot Coverage Grade | Targeted % – Catch % Allowed | Yds Allowed/Cov. Snap | 15-Plus-Yd Pass Plays Allowed | Open-Target % |
| 51.5 (No. 35) | 16.7% (No. 25) – 76.8% (No. 31) | 1.34 (No. 34) | 3% (No. 32) | 60.7% (No. 28) |
- The table below ranks Jackson’s wide-left coverage data in parentheses among 59 NFL cornerbacks with at least 100 wide-left coverage snaps and Woolen’s wide-right coverage data in parentheses among 60 NFL cornerbacks with at least 100 wide-right coverage snaps.
| NFL Out-Wide CB Data | PFF Coverage Grade | Targeted % – Catch % Allowed | Yds Allowed/Cov. Snap | 15-Plus-Yd Pass Plays Allowed | Open Target % |
| Michael Jackson – Wide-Left | 54.0 (No. 40) | 14.9% (No. 30) – 65.6% (No. 36) | 1.07 (No. 22) | 2.3% (T-No. 21) | 48.4% (No. 41) |
| Tariq Woolen – Wide-Right | 75.2 (No. 15) | 11.1% (No. 10) – 55.8% (No. 18) | 0.91 (No. 20) | 2.8% (No. 38) | 34.6% (T-No. 20) |
- Smith-Schuster should have little issue with Bryant.
- Jackson’s catch rate and Woolen’s explosive pass plays allowed rate are their weaknesses.
WR DARIUS SLAYTON, NEW YORK GIANTS VS. CB CAMERON DANTZLER, MINNESOTA VIKINGS
- New York at Minnesota’s 48-point over/under shines bright in a week with seven games totaled under 40 points.
- Of Week 16’s 16 games, three carry significant weather concerns and five more garnered a mild disclaimer at RotoGrinders. Minnesota’s U.S. Bank Stadium is a closed-roof, indoor arena.
- New York No. 1 wide receiver Darius Slayton (71.0 PFF receiving grade) is prepped to plow through wide cornerback Cameron Dantzler (64.8 PFF wide-right coverage grade) and slot cornerback Chandon Sullivan (57.7 PFF slot-coverage grade).
- Dantzler is currently limping through an ankle injury.
- In Weeks 11-15, with New York’s three-wide-receiver grouping intact, Slayton logged a 39.3% wide-right snap plurality followed by a 35.1% slot rate and a 24.6% wide-left rate.
- PFF’s WR/CB matchup chart projects Slayton to face Dantzler on 17-of-41 snaps and Sullivan on 10-of-41 snaps.
- The table below ranks Slayton’s receiving data in parentheses among 88 NFL wide receivers with at least 250 receiving snaps.
| PFF Receiving Grade | Per Routes Run %: Tgts – Yds | Catch % – Contested Catch % | aDot – YAC/Rec. | 15-Plus-Yd Pass Plays | Missed Tackles Forced Rec. |
| 71.0 (No. 40) | 18.7% (T-No. 43) – 1.94 (No. 22) | 65.6% (No. 51) – 53.8% (T-No. 25) | 12.8 (No. 25) – 5.5 (No. 10) | 15 (T-No. 38) | 4 (T-No. 40) |
- Among 39 NFL wide receivers with at least 125 wide-right receiving snaps, Slayton’s 27.3% targets per route run rate ranks No. 5 and his 2.50 yards per route run rate ranks No. 7.
- The table below ranks Dantzler’s wide-right coverage data in parentheses among 60 NFL cornerbacks with at least 100 wide-right coverage snaps and Sullivan’s slot-coverage data in parentheses among 42 NFL cornerbacks with at least 100 slot coverage snaps.
| NFL CB Data | PFF Coverage Grade | Targeted % – Catch % Allowed | Yds Allowed/Cov. Snap | 15-Plus-Yd Pass Plays Allowed | Open-Target % – Missed Tackles |
| Cameron Dantzler – Wide-Right | 63.2 (No. 34) | 15.8% (No. 24) – 78.7% (No. 54) | 1.47 (T-No. 50) | 4% (T-No. 52) | 63.8% (No. 57) – 4 (T-No. 52) |
| Chandon Sullivan – Slot | 56.4 (T-No. 27) | 14.3% (No. 11) – 80% (No. 37) | 1.32 (No. 27) | 2.9% (T-No. 30) | 66.1% (No. 35) – 4 (T-No. 27) |
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