The voice from the outer worlds
Welcome to Johny the Greek’s Cornerbacks Corner Week Eight. Last week we streamed corner and did it well. I recommended 54 different corner streams from 13 different Week 7 matchups. The majority of them worked out extremely well. We sit at 72% accuracy for the season, 73% last week based on those calls matching or beating their projections (Yahoo), and will continue to track accuracy all season long just like last year. Transparency is something we take seriously here at IDPGuys.
If you’re new to this article series, the idea behind it is that in the IDP world cornerbacks are the red-headed stepchild. Not here. We love streaming corners and have for some time now, it’s a key component of playing big boy IDP.
This is not an article for the Sleeper IDP players of the world, the “DB” people, baby IDP if you will. Although, in deep enough leagues, a CB stream at DB is still a decent option. This is more for your true degenerates. Those "CB and DT required /a few points a week is going to make a difference" type of player.
While I do enjoy my Sleeper leagues and those kinds of leagues as well (variety is the spice of life), the vast majority of what I play in these days is those advanced, individual positions, best possible competition, need every edge you can get type leagues. That’s the audience here. If that’s not you or you’re not a fan of my approach the exit button is top right on PC, it looks like an X, close window on mobile.
I’ve been doing this long enough that I have my audience, I know my readers, we talk in and out of the season and I live a perfectly happy and fulfilling life beyond fantasy football, this is just a hobby for me. I am so far from interested in arguing about any of this that if that stuff were a star it would take the light from that star billions of years to reach me, save yourself the time on Twitter I’ll just block and move on.
Apologies to those of you that don’t need this disclaimer but this is the world we live in these days, just making things clear upfront.
We’re going to be looking at things like the expected game script, opposing offensive tendencies, snap counts, teams that are more or less likely to target wide receivers, and historical production to inform our weekly decisions on what corners are an “ideal” streaming option.
By giving this entire thing more than two seconds thought we will have a distinct advantage over our opponents who are not doing this over the course of the season. We are going to put ourselves in the best position possible every week to score the most IDP points humanly possible from our cornerback slots.
Just a little background, I’ve been playing IDP for 18 years now and streaming corners for well over a decade of that time. In that time I have won clear of 25 titles in both redraft and dynasty traditional IDP leagues and many many more in best ball, DFS, and college fantasy football.
I am a true degenerate. Add an additional 50 plus second and third place finishes also in traditional IDP leagues, most of them with money prizes attached, and you’ll start to envision how deep my degenerate tendencies go. I am absolutely NOT an analyst, I’m just a guy who loves playing IDP fantasy football and has been pretty decent at it for a long time.
People throw that term around too much, this isn’t my job, this is just for fun. None of us are analysts unless your name is Matthew Berry etc.
Personally, I like to stream not only whatever the current week is but if my bench is big enough I’ll load up two more ideal streamers for the following week and by doing so I’ve already taken my pick of the litter a week before anyone else also streaming is even thinking about their corners for that week.
Corner is a naturally spotty position but by looking at all the factors I listed above we will have better outcomes than the majority of IDP owners who simply put in a “known” corner with a big name (Richard Sherman for example) into their corner slots and ride out the production whether or not that matchup makes sense each week.
Richard Sherman against last year's Falcons or Chiefs makes sense, while Richard Sherman against last year's Jets or Patriots does not.
It looks like we’ll have some pretty solid matchups this week and we’ll continue to target those for our ideal matchups but in today’s NFL, where passing is the name of the game, I’m sure we’ll find solid streaming options in just about every matchup so even those of us in the deepest of leagues have some options.
I always give last weeks results as well as an overall season-long accuracy because it’s important, to be honest, and upfront with stuff like this, if I’m in a slump and making bad decisions you’ll know it and can decide if you want to follow these streaming suggestions or not.
Last week I made 54 recommendations, of those 5 were declared inactive or injured during play, 36 were correct (met or exceeded projection) and 13 were incorrect (below projection).
We don’t count acts of God here (injuries) and I specifically ask people to check for inactives before each game so discounting those I was 73% correct last week, 72% accurate for the season overall.
Of those 36 correct calls last week 15 of them were “massive hits” (doubled or tripled projection) for a 41% massive hit rate.
Weekly Accuracy:
- 75% Week 1 Massive Hit: 25%
- 64% Week 2 Massive Hit: 35%
- 67% Week 3 Massive Hit: 34%
- 77% Week 4 Massive Hit: 37%
- 77% Week 5 Massive Hit: 40%
- 71% Week 6 Massive Hit: 40%
- 73% Week 7 Massive Hit: 41%
Season accuracy to date: 72%
Season massive hit rate to date: 36%
You can read all previous Cornerback Corner articles on my IDP Guys author page.
Disclaimer Time! I’m not going to get all of these correct. Cornerback especially is a wildly inconsistent position for production in IDP fantasy football. That’s why most people hate it with a passion. My whole thing is to put yourself in the best position to succeed by looking at all the variables and making the absolute best streaming call possible.
After that, you pray. Your team is your responsibility and yours alone, you set the lineup, not me.
Take ownership if things go south, these are only suggestions. I will do my absolute best to make sure that these recommendations are the best possible and will base these on factual information and statistics from places like NFLGsis.com, PFF, and other fantasy and NFL data and statistics sites.
Also, I will use the force, sometimes a gut feeling is all I have to go on in an unknown situation but if it comes down to that just know this isn’t my first rodeo.
I don’t work for the NFL. Nor do I get to sit in on defensive team meetings for all 32 teams. Meaning I don’t get inside information. If a player has been producing all season and has been playing a ton of snaps and they get yanked right before a game obviously I had nothing to do with it. I don’t work for any team, so no one told me. (See Vernon Hargreaves 2019 and 2021).
If someone goes down with an ACL, it’s not because I made a voodoo doll of them and stuck it with pins. These decisions are the same ones I’m making for my teams. If things go bad for you they go bad for me as well. I’m just here to help, don’t kill the messenger.
Article Key:
Outlook: This will be a brief overview of the two offenses and how that will affect the outlook for each team's cornerbacks corps. I look at offensive ranks for passing, expected game scripts, time of possession, competency of the quarterbacks, and their WR corps. This will help us guess how the game should go.
This will help us identify if this is a matchup we want to target for streaming corners or not. After last season’s issues with the weather causing problems with passing, we’ll try and look at that as well. (Raiders/Browns 2020 ring a bell?). First, we identify the matchups we want to stream from then we identify the best options in those matchups.
Ideal Matchup: This is the best possible matchup for this team's cornerbacks, streaming corners from this team, especially guys that are talented and play all the snaps gives you the best chances at excellent production from those corners.
Solid Matchup: This isn’t a perfect matchup to stream corner but it’s still pretty good, if you’re in a deeper league and have fewer options to stream from, this matchup is still a better option than most.
Avoid: This matchup will likely be terrible to stream corner from, due to anything from a god awful opposing quarterback who can’t complete passes to a banged-up wide receiver corps or even a run-first offense like the 2019 Ravens were, there’s something that makes this a bad matchup to stream corners from, avoid if possible.
However, there may be specific corners who get a “solid” in an otherwise “avoid” matchup simply due to their talent and ability to make plays in all aspects of the defense (see Marlon Humphrey, he always starts, doesn’t matter who’s in town).
Perfect Stream: This is one of the best matchups this week. I will be streaming from these matchups in my own leagues almost exclusively.
Poop stream: This is one of the worst matchups this week. I will very likely have zero corners from this matchup streaming anywhere.
***There will be games where I don’t recommend streaming from one team or another but still have someone listed as solid despite that, in those situations, it’s talent over matchup. Tre’Davious White (CB) might be up against the leagues worst passing attack but at the end of the day he’s still Tre’Davious White (CB) so I’d start him if I didn’t have any better options***
***For any "Deeper league only" suggestions, I'm talking a minimum of 16 teams, multiple cornerbacks started weekly (minimum 3x a week or more), and far fewer options available each week for waivers. These calls are for you truest of the true degenerates.
In regards to calling these calls correct or incorrect, I'll be calling them correct if they're close to their projection. If we're like a tackle off on a guy that only plays 70% of snaps a week and you wouldn't even be looking at except in the deepest and darkest of leagues, I'm going to take that as a win.
I also do the opposite with things like Quandre Diggs (CB/S) in week seven where he had five solo tackles and I still called that a miss, in the vast majority of leagues where you're actually playing Quandre Diggs (CB/S) you're going to be beyond happy with five solo tackles out of him, so it goes both ways with the weekly transparency thread***
Cornerback Corner
Panthers @ Falcons
Outlook: We can fire up the Panthers options pretty comfortably here, Donte Jackson (CB) and AJ Bouye (CB) are solid streams this week, Stephon Gilmore (CB) still hasn't popped his head out from the little gopher hole yet so we'll be avoiding that until we actually see some playing time from him first, risk management, it's a thing.
For the reverse, Terrell and Moreau will play enough to be viable in deeper leagues. Quite frankly, if this Panthers pass attack has been a shell of itself recently, I'd avoid the Falcons options entirely if I were you. There are plenty of other (better) options this week.
Carolina Panthers
Donte Jackson (CB) Solid
AJ Bouye (CB) Solid
Stephon Gilmore (CB) Avoid
Keith Taylor (CB) Avoid
Atlanta Falcons
AJ Terrell (CB) Solid (Deeper leagues)
Fabian Moreau (CB) Solid (Deeper leagues)
No significant third CB option
Dolphins @ Bills
Outlook: Beautiful stream for Xavien Howard (CB) and we can go Byron Jones (CB) in deeper leagues but we all know he's very sporadic due to the fact that he's actually good for real football and opposing teams tend not to target him if possible.
The third corner option for the Dolphins could be decent in crazy deep leagues. That is, if we can figure out who it is this week with that excellent Bills passing attack on the menu. As for the Bills, we'll start Taron Johnson (CB) because we always do, White and Wallace we can probably skip this week.
In much deeper leagues, they will play enough. However, this Dolphins passing attack isn't great. I'd look elsewhere beyond Taron Johnson (CB) for the Bills options.
Miami Dolphins
Byron Jones (CB) Solid (Deeper leagues)
Xavien Howard (CB) Solid/Ideal
Nik Needham (CB) Avoid
Noah Igbinoghene (CB) Avoid (Worth a stab in crazy deep leagues if healthy though)
Buffalo Bills
Taron Johnson (CB) Solid
Levi Wallace (CB) Solid (Deeper leagues)
Tre'Davious White (CB) Solid (Deeper leagues)
49ers @ Bears
Outlook: Jimmy G (first a beautiful specimen, distant second a QB) is occasionally capable of passing the ball but those days seem fewer and farther between recently. Plus the Bears defense is fully capable of messing his shit up.
Low scoring affair, lots of running, very little passing, on both sides. Cursed matchup, avoid at all costs. I'll list the guys that play enough but I'd advise against streaming from this matchup.
San Francisco 49ers
Josh Norman (CB) Avoid (Plays enough though)
Emmanuel Moseley (CB) Avoid (Plays enough though)
K'Waun Williams (CB) Avoid
Chicago Bears
Kindle Vildor (CB) Avoid (Plays enough though)
Jaylon Johnson (CB) Avoid (Plays enough though)
Duke Shelley (CB) Avoid
Steelers @ Browns
Outlook: We can start our Browns options in deeper leagues, the Steelers should be able to complete some passes in theory. As for the reverse, it's likely we're getting another week of backup quarterback play. If we aren't, then we can adjust on the fly and go Sutton or Haden in deeper leagues. It really hinges on that though. Baker makes this a decent matchup both ways, without him it's just half of a good matchup. UPDATE: It looks like Baker Mayfield (QB) has a legit chance to play this week, we can upgrade this matchup from "meh" to "acceptable".
Pittsburgh Steelers
Joe Haden (CB) Solid (If Baker plays)
Cameron Sutton (CB) Solid (If Baker plays, deeper leagues only)
Arthur Maulet (CB) Avoid
James Pierre (CB) Avoid
Cleveland Browns
Denzel Ward (CB) Solid (Deeper leagues due to injury issues this season)
Troy Hill (CB) Solid (Deeper leagues)
Greg Newsome (CB) Solid (Deeper leagues)
Greedy Williams (CB) Solid (Only if Ward or Newsome is inactive, otherwise avoid/sit)
Eagles @ Lions
Outlook: Very mediocre overall, start the obvious options, deeper leagues only if you can. Should be fine, not much to talk about really with this one. Very blah. But not a cursed matchup either.
Philadelphia Eagles
Darius Slay (CB) Solid (Deeper leagues)
Steven Nelson (CB) Solid (Deeper leagues)
Avonte Maddox (CB) Avoid
Detroit Lions
Amani Oruwariye (CB) Solid (Deeper leagues)
Jerry Jacobs (CB) Solid (Deeper leagues)
AJ Parker (CB) Avoid (Health concerns)
Titans @ Colts
Outlook: Start the normal options on each side, should be a nice back and forth divisional showdown between two offenses that are capable of putting up points. I'd lean more towards the Colts' options overall. They'll be up against the better quarterback and more talented wide receiver corps by several factors of magnitude.
Molden and to a lesser extent Jenkins should be fine for the Titans though, especially in deeper leagues.
Tennessee Titans
Janoris Jenkins (CB) Solid (Deeper leagues)
Elijah Molden (CB) Solid
Mabin or Jones (CB) Avoid
Indianapolis Colts
Kenny Moore (CB) Solid/Ideal
Xavier Rhodes (CB) Solid (Deeper leagues)
Isaiah Rodgers (CB) Avoid
Bengals @ Jets
Outlook: Beautiful matchup for our Jets options, on the reverse though I'm out on all of the Cincy corners with a backup quarterback leading an already terrible passing attack this week for the Jets. I'm all set with that. One half of a good matchup.
Bryce Hall (CB) is the best option here by far for the Jets, their other corners rarely clear 80% of snaps weekly unfortunately for us with this nice matchup for them.
Cincinnati Bengals
Chidobe Awuzie (CB) Avoid
Eli Apple (CB) Avoid
Mike Hilton (CB) Avoid
New York Jets
Bryce Hall (CB) Solid
Michael Carter (CB) Solid (Deeper leagues due to unideal playing time)
Brandin Echols (CB) Solid (Deeper leagues due to unideal playing time)
Rams @ Texans
Outlook: Another one half of a good matchup, start our Texans (minus the Hargreaves/King shenanigans) comfortably and we'll fire up Jalen Ramsey (CB) because tradition demands it. Leave the rest. The last month Vernon Hargreaves (CB) and Desmond King (CB) have, no bullshit, switched back and forth assuming that starting corner role no less than four times, in a row too I believe. That's a trap. Everything else for Houston looks good. If you need a Hail Mary, it was Desmond King (CB) who was the starter between him and Hargreaves last week.
Los Angeles Rams
Jalen Ramsey (CB) Solid
David Long (CB) Avoid
Robert Rochell (CB) Avoid
Donte Deayon (CB) Avoid
Houston Texans
Lonnie Johnson (CB) Solid
Desmond King (CB) Avoid (Fluctuation between King & Hargreaves for starting role)
Terrence Mitchell (CB) Solid
Tavierre Thomas (CB) Solid (Deeper leagues)
Vernon Hargreaves (CB) Avoid (Fluctuation between Hargreaves & King for starting role)
Patriots @ Chargers
Outlook: We can fire up the Pats options and feel decent about it and skip the vast majority of Chargers options, Asante Samuel Jr (CB) might be fine because he's shown the ability to be explosive in regards to splash plays so that's worth a shot in deeper leagues, everything else is a no go. Another mediocre matchup with one side being far more more attractive than the other.
New England Patriots
JC Jackson (CB) Solid
Jalen Mills (CB) Solid (Deeper leagues)
Jonathan Jones (CB) Avoid (IR, done for the season)
Myles Bryant (CB) Solid (Risky though, we've only seen one week of it in relief of Jones)
Los Angeles Chargers
Chris Harris Jr (CB) Avoid
Michael Davis (CB) Avoid
Asante Samuel Jr (CB) Solid (Deeper leagues)
Jaguars @ Seahawks
Outlook: We can start DJ Reed (CB) and Quandre Diggs (CB/S) if he's designated a corner in your league of merit against an occasionally competent Jags passing attack and the usual suspects for Jacksonville since the Seahawks should be able to complete passes against this below-average defense. Still just mediocre overall though.
Where are the ideal streams this week? Thursday night that's where, and we got screwed out of that as well by Covid with losing Adams and Lazard.
Jacksonville Jaguars
Shaq Griffin (CB) Solid (Deeper leagues)
Nevin Lawson (CB) Solid (Deeper leagues)
Tre Herndon (CB) Avoid
Seattle Seahawks
DJ Reed (CB) Solid (Deeper leagues)
Tre Brown (CB) Avoid (Playing time)
Sydney Jones (CB) Avoid (Playing time)
Quandre Diggs (CB/S) Solid
Football Team @ Broncos
Outlook: We can fire up the Broncos' options in much deeper leagues, same for the Washington side of things but this feels like a low-scoring defensive affair, unfortunately. Two very mediocre quarterbacks, not a ton of wide receiver talent beyond Scary Terry and Courtland Sutton (WR) occasionally. Another blah matchup.
However, I did read Jerry Jeudy (WR) was practicing this week and that could give this Broncos passing attack a bump that would make the Washington options look more appealing but at the end of the day, it's still Bridgewater throwing them the ball which isn't great.
Washington Football Team
Kendall Fuller (CB) Solid (Deeper leagues)
Bobby McCain (CB) Avoid
William Jackson (CB) Avoid
Benjamin St. Juste (CB) Avoid (Only saw time due to William Jackson injury last week)
Denver Broncos
Patrick Surtain (CB) Solid (Deeper leagues)
Ronald Darby (CB) Solid (Deeper leagues)
Bryce Callahan (CB) Avoid
Kyle Fuller (CB) Avoid
Buccaneers @ Saints
Outlook: Now we're starting to cook a little bit, this could be a shootout and will have to be if the Saints have any hope of keeping up with the excellent Bucs passing attack. Fire up all the usual suspects on both sides, the only thing holding this back from being an ideal stream is Winston.
Winston isn't a great quarterback and the wide receiver corps for the Saints is pretty bad. Unless we magically get Michael Thomas (WR) back this week. Even if we do, I'm not sure how much I'd trust it. I'm absolutely into Lattimore and Adebo this week though, basically everywhere I tried to get them and will be starting them.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Jamel Dean (CB) Solid (Deeper leagues)
Richard Sherman (CB) Solid (Deeper leagues)
Ross Cockrell (CB) Avoid
All others (CB) Avoid
New Orleans Saints
Marshon Lattimore (CB) Solid/Ideal
Paulson Adebo (CB) Solid
Chauncey Gardner Johnson (CB/S) Solid
Bradley Roby (CB) Avoid
Cowboys @ Vikings
Outlook: FINALLY. An ideal stream. This stream is the water of life, the voice from the outer worlds, the sleeper that must awaken. Fire up Diggs and Brown with confidence against an acceptable quarterback, an idiot but he can throw the ball and an excellent opposing wide receiver corps.
As for the Vikings side of things if we can nail down who actually plays corner for them there will be really nice options there as well with this truly excellent Cowboys offense in town. Here I am, here I remain.
Dallas Cowboys
Trevon Diggs (CB) Solid/Ideal
Anthony Brown (CB) Solid/Ideal
Jourdan Lewis (CB) Avoid
Minnesota Vikings
Mackenzie Alexander (CB) Solid
Patrick Peterson (CB) Solid (Deeper leagues)
Bashaud Breeland (CB) Solid
Giants @ Chiefs
Outlook: We can start all the usual suspects here, the Chiefs defense is poop and the Giants cornerback corps has many excellent options going up against a mostly potent Chiefs passing attack. I love the Giants' options here but will tolerate the Chiefs' options in much deeper leagues. Another week in the books, good luck my friends.
New York Giants
James Bradberry (CB) Solid/Ideal
Logan Ryan (CB/S) Ideal
Adoree Jackson (CB) Solid
Darnay Holmes (CB) Avoid
Kansas City Chiefs
L'Jarius Sneed (CB/S) Solid
Rashaad Fenton (CB) Solid (Deeper leagues)
Chavarious Ward (CB) Avoid (Not up to normal snaps yet, returning from injury)
Mike Hughes (CB) Avoid
Closing thoughts
Remember to check inactives before kickoff to avoid any surprise zeroes! The information here is usually only accurate up until Thursday evening each week, then it gets published and I won’t be editing and updating with any injury news that occurs after that point, it’s your responsibility to track injuries for your own team. Good luck this week!
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