Welcome to the weekly wide receiver/cornerback breakdown! We will review each of the outside matchups, as well as my 10 favorite matchups in the slot. Then, below the charts in this article, I break down my four absolute favorite matchups. This article is critical for seasonal and daily players, as this will help you gain a competitive advantage when setting your lineups. We have entered bye week season, so you might have to dig a little deeper on that roster to find viable options

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He was able to practice on a limited capacity on Wednesday, which could be the first step towards his long awaited return. Teams with Kirk on them have been sorely missing his production. He will get a heck of a welcome back though as the Saints are the opponent, and they have been extremely stingy on defense. It might be very tempting to try to get Kirk back in your lineups, but this doesn't seem like a scenario where he is set up to succeed
Mr. Consistency did it again last week, and while no one should really be shaking their pom poms at beating up the Dolphins, Brown had another good game. His six catches for 83 yards he had against Miami can almost be considered his floor this week against the often torched Eagles secondary.
Jones had the best game of his career on Sunday as the Vikings secondary inexplicably had no answer for him. He isn't a bad receiver, but he is far from a great one. He has good height, but he isn't overly fast. It should have been a tough match-up for him against the Vikings, and he gets a much easier one this week against the Giants even though Janoris Jenkins has been a quality corner. Sure, start Jones, but don't go chasing last week's points. He is a low end WR3 or a solid flex play this week.
Finally! I have been waiting for my guy Hopkins to break out for so long, and I had started to lose faith so much that I didn't choose him for the #FFPieBet last week and it cost me dearly. His nine catches for 106 yards against the Colts was his best game since Week 1, and now this cupcake match-up against the Raiders who just traded one of their better corners away (to Houston ironically) makes it look even better. Hopkins is a top flight choice in all seasonal games and DFS formats.
On paper this looks like a terrible match-up, but the Bears defense hasn't been playing up to their capabilities for almost a month. Teddy Bridgewater crushed them. Kirk Cousins played fairly well, and even Derek Carr didn't look awful. Hopefully, the Chargers will end their woes against the Bears as well, but with so much work going to the two running backs, Williams production looks to be cloudy. He still doesn't have a touchdown yet this season, and is getting harder to start by the week. His talent says start him, his production this season says maybe don't.
Williams has a chance of playing in this one after practicing on Wednesday. He has missed a couple of games with plantar fasciitis, which usually keeps players out longer than this. He scored in all four games that he played in, although the last couple would have been bad fantasy games if he hadn't found the end zone. Williams is by far the most talented receiver on the Raiders, and if he plays this game he is worst worth a WR3 spot on your roster.
Week 7 was the first game where Jeffery wasn't heavily targeted, which was strange since the Eagles were behind the entire game. It was a tough match-up against the Cowboys, and it gets even tougher this week against the Bills. White was named AFC Defensive Player of the Week last week, and has played great all season long. You can start Jeffery in redraft leagues, but that is a very scary proposition this week.
Metcalf had a season high nine targets last week, and has four catches in back-to-back games after having five total catches in the previous three games. He hasn't been the big play threat that we thought he might be coming into the season, and he needs to find the end zone more to be anything more than a flex guy. He will get a great chance to make his presence felt this week against the Falcons secondary, and I don't need to say how bad they are. This is certainly a week to put Metcalf in your lineups with confidence nad perhaps a cheap option in DFS leagues.
The Redskins offense is a mess, their quarterback situation is forever in flux, but somehow McLaurin continues to produce. Of course that doesn't count last week in the rain soaked game against the 49ers. This will be another game against a tough defense against one of the best corners in football, but at this point you can't sit McLaurin as long as he is healthy.
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It was his first game since his three touchdown outing with the concussion, and if you need a refresher on Gabriel allow me. Gabriel will have one good game every four or five weeks, fool everyone into thinking he is fantasy worthy, and then suck in every game in between. Just when you lose faith and bench him, he has a great game again. Don't put yourself through the agony, he isn't worth it. Especially now with the Bears offense playing as poorly as it has there are so many better options available.
The Bengals just keep having guys pop up and have a good game or two and then the disappear under the wave of awfulness that is the Cincinnati offense. Sure, Erickson had a great game last week, and if you want to chase that be my guest. He isn't some up and coming rookie though. He has been in the league since 2016 and his career high is 20 catches. He is a special teams guy. The Bengals are desperate to find some sort of help at wide receiver, but Erickson should be third in line for targets behind Boyd and Tate. Their offense isn't good enough for this, and Erickson won't get targeted as heavily again. Don't chase last week's points, they won't get you anywhere this week.
He showed some flashes earlier in the season against the Falcons (but who doesn't?) and Raiders (trash defense), but Pascal had his best game of the year in Week 7 with Houston. He had six catches for over 100 yards and two touchdowns. He is the clear number two receiver for the Colts, but we will see if that adds up to sustainable fantasy relevance. If you grabbed Pascal off waivers this might not be the week to start him, as he has shined against average or below defenses, but Denver's secondary is very strong. This should be a game script that has the Colts running a bunch and Pascal should struggle to make an impact.
Woods had his second best game of the season last week, which should be no surprise since it was against the Falcons. Is this the Rams passing game getting back on track? Or was it just them exploiting an easy match-up? We won't get that answer this week, because it is another easy match-up and one that Woods should succeed in again. The Bengals are flat out bad and the Rams should roll.
Williams has had some moments where he looks like a receiver who could work his way into fantasy relevance. Then he remembers he is on the Dolphins, he hasn't scored since Week 1, and even though his team has been behind the whole season he has basically had two fantasy relevant weeks. Week 7 was his best of the season, however, and the Dolphins could be building some momentum. Hahaha, ok I can't say it with a straight face. The Steelers have played pretty good pass defense this year and Williams should top out at 50 yards.
Brown had that two touchdown game and everyone remembered that they heard his name before and maybe he could be good. Yeah, well if you watched him play last week you would have witnessed him drop a touchdown that was perfectly thrown right in his hands. He isn't a good receiver, he isn't consistent, and he isn't a highly used receiver on this team. The Falcons defense is atrocious and if you want to get cute and think you are smart and use him go ahead. He might score a touchdown this week, most receivers do against Atlanta. But it is a very risky play, and one not endorsed here.
Goodwin had one whole target last week, although it was partially tampered by him being evaluated for a concussion. The Niners spread the passes around more than any team in football, and Goodwin isn't that good to begin with. There isn't a realistic scenario on this Earth where you should even have Goodwin on your roster, never mind using him as a starter.
Obviously not much was going to happen in the passing game for the Redskins last week in that awful rainstorm, but were you honestly thinking it might anyway for Richardson? He hasn't had a catch in two weeks, and has five in the last four games. The Vikings secondary is way better than it played last week and will keep Richardson under 40 yards in the game.

Now, here are my 10 favorite matchups in the slot in Week 8.

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Yeah, the Titans secondary is one of the better in football, but there are two reasons that Godwin is first on this list. One, have you been paying attention this season? The guy is basically unguardable, and he is coming off a bye. Second, the Titans two best corners are outside guys and likely won't be spending a lot of time with Godwin. Mike Evans still commands a lot of attention, and although Scotty Miller stinks, the Titans outside corners likely won't come into Godwin territory much.
He hasn't quite had the big season many had hoped for, but Lockett has still been damn consistent. He does have four touchdowns in seven games, which is a nice rate and faces the Falcons defense that sometimes looks like it couldn't stop a toddler-led football offense. Lockett should get his in a big way this week with eight catches for 125 yards and a score.
Despite a pretty serious chest injury, Edelman just hasn't missed a beat. He has just two games of fewer than six catches, and only one game that he was targeted fewer than seven times. He is the king of the over the middle dunk pass, and every once in a while he breaks a long one. The Patriots passing game might not be asked to do much again this week as they should roll the Browns, but Brady just loves Edelman so much. Perhaps more than Giselle. Kidding. Probably . This is a very positive match-up and there is no reason to think that he won't have eight catches for 75 yards and a touchdown.
He might not be Howard Bender's best friend right now as he forced him to lose the #FFPieBet, but Cooper Kupp is still a dynamite receiver. He has had back-to-back less than Kupp-like games, but the 49ers game was a mess, and six catches for 50 yards last week still gets you 11 points. This week though they face the Bengals who are down to their 14th and 15th corner back due to injury. That might be a bit of an exaggeration, but when your starters coming into the season weren't great, your fourth is a mess. Kupp should be right around ten catches, 100 yards and a touchdown.  Just a week too late for Rotobuzzguy.

Elite

DeAndre Hopkins vs. Daryl Worley

You knew it had to come sooner or later. The Texans offense is too good, and Hopkins is other worldly talented. He finally broke out last week with a 100-yard game and a touchdown. And I know after reading the write-ups on the other receivers you are thinking “Hallam, you told us not to chase last week’s points!” That is true, when dealing with a guy like Alex Erickson or Marvin Jones , guys that don’t have a track record of success in the past, you certainly could be chasing last week’s points. However, when it is quite possibly the best receiver in football coming off a good game and he is facing arguably the worst defense in football, you aren’t chasing last week’s points, you are counting on this week’s points! Only Tampa Bay is allowing more yards per game than the Raiders 290 per contest, and only the Cardinals and Falcons have given up more passing touchdowns than the Buccaneers 16 on the season. Deshaun Watson has three straight games with over 280 passing yards, and is hot as fire cracker right now. The injury to Will Fuller opens up a few more targets for Hopkins, and the Raiders just traded away one of their starting corners, which depletes their group a little more. Sure, Gareon Conley wasn’t playing well, but the guy was starting in this putrid group of corners, so what does that say for the guys coming behind him? It says that Hopkins should have another 100 yard game and a touchdown, that’s what it says! Fire him up this weekend!

Affordable

Kenny Golladay vs. Deandre Baker

It was the Marvin Jones show last weekend, if anyone can explain to me how that happened, while Golladay was held to just a single catch. Playing against the tough Vikings secondary, I can see how Golladay struggled, but he was barely even targeted in the game. That solid game should buy Jones more of a date with Janoris Jenkins who is by far the Giants best corner. Of course, when you are talking about the Giants secondary, the best is a relative term. The Giants took Baker with the 30th pick in the first round in this past draft, but he certainly hasn’t been living up to that billing so far. The Giants might not be the worst pass defense statistically, but if you watch them at all it is mostly a joke on a weekly basis. Golladay has been very boom or bust this season, as he has two games with two catches or fewer and under 25 receiving yards. All of the other games he either has five or more catches and/or 100 yards and a touchdown. With Kerryon Johnson going down, and a game in their home dome, Stafford should throw a good amount in this one, especially in the first half. Golladay should have his way with Baker who he has a five inch height advantage on, and Stafford should be able to serve the ball up to his best receiver, especially in the red zone. Golladay is a great option for at least 80 yards and a touchdown at the floor. 

John Brown vs. Jalen Mills

I wanted to use Tyler Lockett here, but he was priced a little too high on DraftKings for it to be called “Affordable”. But Lockett is a great target in Week 8. However, we pivot to the Bills and John Brown . Sure, Mills played his first game all season last week coming off a foot injury and had an interception, but it was a very ill-advised deep throw from Dak Prescott into double coverage. He is a help to the Eagles secondary, but that is like throwing a shot glass of water on a three alarm house fire. The Eagles secondary still isn’t any good. Brown has been ultra consistent as he has been targeted at least five times in every game this season, and he only has had under five catches once and hasn’t had a game under 50 receiving yards. Sure, you would like to see more than two touchdowns, but he has had defenses like Tennessee and New England on his schedule this year. He has a clear connection with Josh Allen , and this game at home against a very below average secondary is the perfect time to get him in your DFS lineups. There is a chance of rain in Buffalo on Sunday, so keep an eye on that weather report as you would likely have to move to someone else in that case. However, if it turns out to be clear Brown is nearly a lock for five catches, 75 yards and a touchdown.

Bargain Bin

Corey Davis vs. Vernon Hargreaves

I have long been a retractor of Corey Davis , but it wasn’t because of his talent. The former fifth overall pick has been held back by subpar play of quarterback Marcus Mariota who doesn’t have the arm strength to get the ball down the field to an explosive talent like Davis. However, in the five quarters since Ryan Tannehill has taken over Davis has been targeted 11 times, and he has nine catches for 116 yards and a touchdown. This week, the Titans get the absolute gift of a match-up with the worst secondary in the league by yards allowed with over 300 per game through the air. Hargreaves has been the best in the secondary, but when you are the best in a group of the worst, I’m not sure that is something to brag about. I completely expect Ryan Tannehill to control the Titans offense again this week, and he should continue to look to his best receiver on a very regular basis. Davis very well could have ten to twelve targets, and seven catches for near 100 yards and a score. He is a great bargain this week. If for some reason you don’t like this reasoning, Dede Westbrook is another great cheaper option against the leaky Jets secondary and corner Brian Poole . Good luck in your matchups this week everybody!

*Information gathered from research done at Pro Football Focus.