One half of the Ravens terrible twosome at corner, Mr. Humphrey, was putting in work last week.
Welcome to Johny The Greek’s Cornerbacks Corner week Twelve. Week eleven was solid as we put in yet another week of good results and effective streams. Last week and were at 80% accurate for the week, that keeps us around 74% for the season which is pretty pretty good for a position as naturally spotty and inconsistent as cornerback. As the season continues I’m becoming more and more comfortable with the rookies and injury replacement corners I haven’t had a ton of experience streaming with before and the overall accuracy has drastically increased since the first couple weeks of the season. As we know what each teams offensive and defensive strengths look like and continue to learn more every week we should get better and better as the season continues. Let’s get the usual stuff out of the way and get into our week eight options for streaming corner.
If you’re new to this article series the idea behind it is that in the IDP world cornerbacks are the red headed step child, often neglected or scoffed at. Not here. I freaking love streaming corners and have for some time now. We’re going to be looking at things like expected game script, opposing offensive tendencies, snap counts, role 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 seventeen years now and streaming corners for well over a decade of that time. I have won many titles in both redraft and dynasty and also in best ball and DFS as well as college fantasy football. I am a true degenerate. 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 is even thinking about their corners. 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. That won’t be us, we’re going to waterboard our opponents with ideal matchups all season until they drown from our flood of IDP points.
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. Alright let’s have a look at how we did last week with some transparency and have a look at this week’s matchups. I always give last weeks results as well as an overall season long accuracy because it’s important to be honest and up front 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 52 recommendations, of those 7 were declared inactive or injured, 36 were correct (met or exceeded projection) and 9 were incorrect (below projection). We don’t count acts of God here and I specifically ask people to check for inactives before each game so discounting those I was 80% correct last week, 74% 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 this week which is pretty pretty pretty good. Almost half of all my streaming corner calls last week were massive hits. We’re hitting that part of the season where it’s all starting to make sense. Let’s go get those titles my friends.
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. I will also 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, I don’t get to sit in on defensive team meetings for all thirty-two teams, I don’t get inside information. If a player has looked solid 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 and since I don’t work for said team no one told me. (See Vernon Hargreaves 2019). 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 so 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 effect the outlook for each teams cornerbacks corps. We’ll look at offensive ranks, expected game scripts and how the game should go. This will help us identify if this is a matchup we want to target for streaming corners or not.
Ideal Matchup: This is the best possible matchup for this teams cornerbacks, streaming any 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 (they didn’t pass all that often because frankly they didn’t need to, their run game was ridiculous) 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 Logan Ryan (CB)).
This is the way: If you see this it means this game has the seal of Baby Yoda and is “The Way”. These are my favorite matchups to stream from this week and have the blessing of the child.
This is not the way: If you see this it means this is probably not a great game to stream corner from, this game does not have the blessing of the child. It is not the way. This game could be possibly cursed by the “wat”.
***There will be games where I don’t recommend streaming corners from one team or another in the “outlook” portion of the matchup but still have some guys listed as “solid” etc in the actual player recommendations, this is because I’ve been in those 32 team leagues and all IDP leagues and that’s what those are aimed at, if you HAVE to use guys from that matchup because you don’t have any other options then I’ll help identify who are the best of the worst options.***
Raiders @ Falcons
Outlook: The Falcons still have the second best passing attack in the league and were able to move the ball against the Saints effectively last week, they just weren’t able to score touchdowns. As for the Raiders their passing attack is as bipolar as they come, they were red hot against the Chiefs last week but are middle of the pack for the season, they can do it but most weeks they’d rather just run the ball. Neither pass defense is good at all, Falcons is the second worst in the league so Las Vegas should be able to pass if they want to. The Raiders isn’t much better at 27th overall so this could be a shootout, plus with a dome involved mother nature won’t be able to screw this one up. Fire up the corners, all the corners. This is the way.
Las Vegas Raiders
Travon Mullen (CB) Solid
Damon Arnette (CB) Solid
Lamarcus Joyner (CB) Solid (If healthy)
Nevin Lawson (CB) Solid (If Joyner is injured and out, avoid otherwise)
Atlanta Falcons
AJ Terrell (CB) Solid
Darqueze Dennard (CB) Solid
Kendall Sheffield (CB) Avoid (Playing time)
Chargers @ Bills
Outlook: The third and fourth best passing attacks in the league square off in a possible shootout of epic proportions. Both pass defenses are just outside the top ten so that could slow things down a little bit plus the game is in Buffalo in late November so who knows how that will factor in weather-wise. Regardless there will be passing here, whether it’s bombs or dink and dunk this will be a solid game to stream corner from, fire them up. This is also the way.
Los Angeles Chargers
Micheal Davis (CB) Solid
Te’Vaughn Campbell (CB) Solid
Casey Hayward (CB) Avoid (Playing time)
Buffalo Bills
Tra’Davious White (CB) Solid
Levi Wallace (CB) Solid
Taron Johnson (CB) Solid
Giants @ Bengals
Outlook: The Giants have the 29th passing offense and while the Bengals are still ranked pretty decent they no longer have Joe Burrow (QB) so that will most definitely make an impact on things, so much so that the Giants DST was a trending transaction this week and no ones wanted to touch that thing with a ten foot pole all season. Both passing defenses are bad, end of the pack, so we could see some completed passes but I hesitate to start any of the known and relied upon corners in this game. It’s a coin flip, in deeper leagues it is what it is but in general there are better places to stream from this week. This is not the way.
New York Giants
Logan Ryan (CB) Solid
James Bradberry (CB) Solid
Isaac Yiadon (CB) Avoid (Production)
Cincinnati Bengals
Le’Shaun Sims (CB) Avoid
William Jackson (CB) Avoid
Mackensie Alexander (CB) Avoid
Titans @ Colts
Outlook: The Colts quietly have the tenth best passing attack in the league and also the fourth best pass defense. The Titans are missing their best inside linebacker, Jayon Brown (LB), and to a (much) lesser extent Jadaveon Clowney (EDGE) and Kenny Vaccaro (S) as well. That defense is ripe to get run on this week so I don’t expect the Colts to be slinging it nearly as much as they had to against Green Bay last week. As for the other side of things I expect the Titans to sling it where they can but also run it a good deal as well, Colts corners should be a go and I expect the Titans to be in comeback mode at some point as well so this could be a nice game for Colts corners. Titans corners could be decent but in general I don’t think Indy will have to pass a ton this week, I’m less into the Titans corner options for this one. This game is indoors though so at least that helps. This is neither the way or not the way, it just is.
Tennessee Titans
Breon Borders (CB) Solid
Malcolm Butler (CB) Solid
Desmond King (CB) Avoid (Playing time)
Indianapolis Colts
Kenny Moore (CB) Solid
Xavier Rhodes (CB) Solid
Rock Ya Sin (CB) Solid
Panthers @ Vikings
Outlook: Two middle of the pack passing attacks and two uninspired pass defenses. The Vikings pass defense is nearly last in the league so the Panthers should be able to complete passes, hell Dallas did last week so anyone can. The Panthers pass defense is middle of the pack so despite the Vikings tendency to pound the rock we could see some aerial fireworks from them as well. This game is also indoors so mother nature won’t be a factor which is nice. Not a terrible matchup, we’ll start the usual suspects, but also not one of my favorite matchups this week. This game isn’t the way or not the way, it just is.
Carolina Panthers
Justin Burris (S/CB) Solid
Rasul Douglas (CB) Solid
Troy Pride (CB) Avoid
Minnesota Vikings
Jeff Gladney (CB) Solid
Kris Boyd (CB) Avoid (Playing time)
Cameron Dantzler (CB) Avoid (Playing time)
Cardinals @ Patriots
Outlook: The Cardinals can obviously throw the ball, just outside the top ten in passing offense. The Patriots obviously cannot throw the ball, near the end of the pack overall. Both pass defenses are middle of the pack and this one will be played outside in New England in late November so there could be weather shenanigans. Not terrible, I’d be fine starting Gilmore and company but for the Cardinals I’m probably steering clear of Peterson and his guys this week unless in deeper leagues which is unfortunate and a waste of solid cornerback streaming potential. Another neutral game here, neither the way or not the way, it just is.
Arizona Cardinals
Patrick Peterson (CB) Solid
Dre Kirkpatrick (CB) Avoid
Byron Murphy (CB) Avoid
New England Patriots
Stephon Gilmore (CB) Solid
JC Jackson (CB) Solid
Jonathan Jones (CB) Solid
Jason McCourty (CB) Avoid (Playing time)
Dolphins @ Jets
Outlook: The Jets have the worst passing offense in the NFL. The Dolphins isn’t much better at 26th overall. However the Jets pass defense is nearly as bad at 30th overall so Miami should be able to complete passes, the problem is the flux in the Jets cornerback corps, Desir got cut, Austin is on IR, Poole disappeared off the face of the planet. It’s all new guys and I’ve only seen a week of their snaps and production so I sure as hell won’t be pulling recommendations out of my butt just because, so no Jets corners from me this week. As for Dolphins options you could go with Howard or Jones but against the worst passing attack in the league you’d have to be on drugs or truly desperate to even consider it. This is not the way.
Miami Dolphins
Byron Jones (CB) Avoid (Doesn’t get targeted)
Xavien Howard (CB) Solid
Nik Needham (CB) Avoid (Playing time)
New York Jets
Bryce Hall (CB) Solid
Lamar Jackson (CB) Solid
Arthur Maulet (CB) Avoid (Playing time)
Browns @ Jaguars
Outlook: The Browns have the 30th ranked pass offense and Jacksonville’s isn’t much better, also towards the end of the pack and still with much uncertainty at quarterback. The Jags pass defense is 28th in the league so Cleveland could theoretically complete passes if they wanted to but it’s far more likely they take advantage of the Jags equally bad run defense and use their two headed monster to pound the rock all game, so no Jags corners for me this week. As for Browns corners this isn’t a great matchup in the first place and we lost Denzel Ward (CB) to a quad injury for a “few weeks” last game so even if we wanted to our best option isn’t available this week so I’ll be passing here as well. This is also not the way.
Cleveland Browns
Terrence Mitchell (CB) Solid
Kevin Johnson (CB) Avoid
Tavierre Thomas (CB) Avoid
Denzel Ward (CB) Avoid (Injured and out)
Jacksonville Jaguars
Sidney Jones (CB) Avoid
Tre Herndon (CB) Avoid
DJ Hayden (CB) Avoid
Chris Claybrooks (CB) Avoid
Saints @ Broncos
Outlook: Both passing attacks are middle of the pack, nothing special for either unit however Taysom Hill (QB) did show he could air it out last week if necessary. The Saints have the 11th best pass defense and surprisingly the Bronco’s pass defense is ninth overall plus this one is outside in Colorado so it could be a three yards and a cloud of dust game if mother nature is acting up. Not ideal across the board. We’ll fire up the known guys on each team for those in deeper leagues but in general I’d look elsewhere this week, not a terrible game but not a great one either. Not the way or not the way, this game just is.
New Orleans Saints
Janoris Jenkins (CB) Solid
Marshon Lattimore (CB) Solid
No third corner to speak of
Denver Broncos
Bryce Callahan (CB) Solid
AJ Bouye (CB) Solid
Kareem Jackson (CB) Solid
Niners @ Rams
Outlook: Two middle of the pack passing attacks in a divisional showdown and rematch, the Rams are fresh off an aerial masterpiece against a much better defense than this one so I’m all for starting Niners corners this week despite their fifth ranked pass defense. As for the Rams we can start Ramsey and Hill because they’re always good or have a good shot to be good but their pass defense is solid also at second in the league so this one could be a defensive struggle as well. What gives me pause is the first meeting between these two was anything but that with a total of 40 points scored and some decent fireworks, my gut says it will be fine but the numbers say avoid this one. We’ll call it neutral, neither the way or not the way, it just is.
San Francisco 49ers
Richard Sherman (CB) Solid (If healthy)
Emmanuel Moseley (CB) Solid
Jason Verrett (CB) Solid (If Sherman is out, avoid otherwise)
Los Angeles Rams
Troy Hill (CB) Solid
Jalen Ramsey (CB) Solid
Darious Williams (CB) Solid
Chiefs @ Bucs
Outlook: The best overall passing attack up against Brady the week after a loss with more weapons than the Marine corps. And while the Chiefs do have a top ten pass defense this one will be in sunny Tampa Bay, Florida and I highly doubt we’re getting a 10-3 final score here. Should be an epic shoot out of old GOAT versus new GOAT, the future is now, old man. This is the way, this game is most definitely blessed by the child. This is the way.
Kansas City Chiefs
Chavarious Ward (CB) Solid
Bashaud Breeland (CB) Solid
L’Jarius Sneed (CB) Avoid (Playing time)
Rashad Fenton (CB) Avoid (Playing time)
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Carlton Davis (CB) Ideal
Jamel Dean (CB) Solid (If healthy)
Sean Murphy Bunting (CB) Solid
Ross Cockrell (CB) Solid (If Dean is injured and out, avoid otherwise)
Bears @ Packers
Outlook: The Packers sixth best passing attack should be solid enough for us to lock in the Bears corners we like without hesitation. On the other side though the Bears are beat up and weren’t very good at passing even before long pole Foles got dinged up last week. We can probably start King and Alexander because they’re always good even in bad matchups but in general I’d steer clear of my Packers corners unless it was a deeper league and I was out of options. This is a decent matchup, nothing special.
Chicago Bears
Kyle Fuller (CB) Solid
Jaylon Johnson (CB) Solid
Buster Skrine (CB) Avoid (Playing time)
Green Bay Packers
Jaire Alexander (CB) Solid
Kevin King (CB) Solid
Chandon Sullivan (CB) Avoid
Seahawks @ Eagles
Outlook: The Seahawks let Russ cook and have the fifth best passing attack in the league so our Eagles corners are a go! As for Philly they’ve been awful passing the ball recently and are towards the end of the pack overall, however they get the Seahawks 32nd ranked pass defense that is legendarily bad, so bad that even Carson Wentz (QB) could maybe have a good game this week! This one should see plenty of scoring, we just need to keep an eye on the weather since it will be a night game in Philly. This is definitely an ideal matchup though and has the blessing of the child. This is the way.
Seattle Seahawks
DJ Reed (CB/S) Ideal (If listed as a corner in your league)
Tre Flowers (CB) Solid
Shaq Griffin (CB) Solid
Quandre Diggs (CB/S) Avoid (Inconsistency)
Quinton Dunbar (CB) Avoid (On IR)
Philadelphia Eagles
Darius Slay (CB) Solid
Avonte Maddox (CB) Solid
Nikel Robey Coleman (CB) Avoid (Playing time)
Ravens @ Steelers
Outlook: Neither passing attack is good, Baltimore’s is really not good, 31st in the league and they get the Steelers third ranked pass defense this week in Pittsburgh, not ideal. I might start the usual Steelers at corner just for the big play possibility but there likely won’t be much of a floor in combined tackles or passes defended. For Baltimore we’ll start the terrible twosome as usual but likely nothing beyond that, the Steelers should provide enough aerial fireworks for either or both of them to have a terrific game. This game is decent not great, no blessing from the child and not an avoid either, just OK.
Baltimore Ravens
Marlon Humphrey (CB) Solid
Marcus Peters (CB) Solid
Jimmy Smith (CB) Avoid (Playing time)
Pittsburgh Steelers
Steven Nelson (CB) Solid
Joe Haden (CB) Avoid (Playing time)
Mike Hilton (CB) Avoid (Playing time)
Cameron Sutton (CB) Avoid (Playing time)
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