With Jaire Alexander on IR we could be getting to know Mr. Stokes very well
Welcome to Johny the Greek’s Cornerbacks Corner Week Six. Last week we streamed corner and did it well. I recommended over 70 different corner streams from 15 different Week 5 matchups and the majority of them worked out extremely well. We sit at 72% accuracy for the season, 77% 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, often neglected or scoffed at. 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 degenerate, CB and DT required, a few points a week is going to make a difference, type of player. And 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 and 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 72 recommendations, of those 11 were declared inactive or injured during play, 47 were correct (met or exceeded projection) and 14 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 77% correct last week, 72% accurate for the season overall. Of those 47 correct calls last week 19 of them were “massive hits” (doubled or tripled projection) for a 40% massive hit rate.
Week 1 Accuracy: 75% Week 1 Massive Hit: 25%
Week 2 Accuracy: 64% Week 2 Massive Hit: 35%
Week 3 Accuracy: 67% Week 3 Massive Hit: 34%
Week 4 Accuracy: 77% Week 4 Massive Hit: 37%
Week 5 Accuracy: 77% Week 5 Massive Hit: 40%
Season accuracy to date: 72%
Season massive hit rate to date: 34%
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, I don’t get to sit in on defensive team meetings for all 32 teams, 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 and since I don’t work for said team 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 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 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 and 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. Also after last season’s issues with the weather causing problems with passing in some games 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***
Dolphins @ Jaguars
Outlook: Mediocre overall, we can start the usual suspects on each side, neither defense is good enough to really hold the other offense down. The Jags rookie QB may end up making some mistakes and launching a pick or two, wouldn’t be surprised at all to see one of those ends up in Xavien Howard’s (CB) arms at some point. Fine, not great.
Miami Dolphins
Xavien Howard (CB) Solid
Byron Jones (CB) Solid (Deeper leagues)
Nik Needham (CB) Avoid
Jacksonville Jaguars
Shaq Griffin (CB) Solid (Deeper leagues)
Chris Claybrooks (CB) Avoid
Tre Herndon (CB) Avoid
Packers @ Bears
Outlook: One half of a nice matchup, I’ll be saying that a lot this week. We can start our Bears options comfortably in this one but for the reverse, I’d be hesitant starting King, Stokes, or even Alexander if he’s healthy against this Bears passing attack led by a rookie that’s struggled to complete passes on a regular basis.
Green Bay Packers
Jaire Alexander (CB) Avoid
Eric Stokes (CB) Avoid
Kevin King (CB) Avoid
Chandon Sullivan (CB) Avoid
Chicago Bears
Jaylon Johnson (CB) Solid
Kindle Vildor (CB) Solid
Duke Shelley (CB) Solid (Deeper leagues)
Bengals @ Lions
Outlook: Decent matchup to stream from, we can start the Lions one acceptable option here pretty comfortably and as for the Bengals if we can figure out what their cornerback corps is actually supposed to look like when everyone is healthy and playing we can start the options that play enough in deeper leagues. You may wish to avoid the Cincy options for that exact reason though and because it’s the Lions’ passing attack, not the 94′ Niners.
Cincinnati Bengals
Chidobe Awuzie (CB) Solid (Deeper leagues)
Trae Waynes (CB) Avoid
Mike Hilton (CB) Avoid
Eli Apple (CB) Avoid
Detroit Lions
Amani Oruwariye (CB) Solid
Jerry Jacobs (CB) Solid (Deeper leagues, risky, lots of fluctuation here)
AJ Parker (CB) Solid (Deeper leagues)
Texans @ Colts
Outlook: There are a couple of sneaky Texans options that could be decent simply because they’ll be on the field enough and luck into some production I’m sure and for the reverse Kenny Moore (CB) is always worth a stab but beyond that, I’m probably all set, this Texans passing attack was surprisingly good against the Patriots last week but eventually adjustments were made and the Pats scored the final sixteen points of that game to win it and prior to that game Mills and company were not passing the ball well at all against anyone. One half of a decent matchup once more.
Houston Texans
Desmond King (CB) Solid
Terrence Mitchell (CB) Solid (Deeper leagues)
Lonnie Johnson (CB) Solid
Vernon Hargreaves (CB) Avoid
Indianapolis Colts
Kenny Moore (CB) Solid
Isaiah Rodgers (CB) Avoid
Xavier Rhodes (CB) Avoid
Rams @ Giants
Outlook: This is an excellent one for our James Bradberry (CB), Logan Ryan (S/CB) and even Adoree Jackson (CB) shares with the outstanding Rams passing attack in town but for the reverse, we’ve got a Giants offense that legitimately may not have ANY of their usual starters available this week. That’s not great. Is Jalen Ramsey (CB) still capable of having an excellent day? Absolutely. But beyond that, especially with the injury to Darious Williams (CB) and the uncertainty on his replacement, we can skip everything else here.
Los Angeles Rams
Jalen Ramsey (CB) Solid (Deeper leagues)
David Long Jr (CB) Avoid
Robert Rochell (CB) Solid (Deeper leagues, risky)
New York Giants
Logan Ryan (CB) Solid
James Bradberry (CB) Solid
Adoree Jackson (CB) Solid
All others (CB) Avoid
Chiefs @ Football Team
Outlook: The perfect matchup for all our Kendall Fuller (CB) shares, fire him up with gusto this week. The other Washington options should do well also as this Chiefs team likely bounces back offensively in a big way against the overmatched Football Team. For the reverse, we can likely just skip our Chiefs’ options entirely but Sneed and company may be playable in deeper leagues as the game script will almost certainly force Washington to have to throw in this one early and often to try and keep up. Not bad but also not perfect, just fine.
Kansas City Chiefs
L’Jarius Sneed (CB) Solid (Deeper leagues)
Chavarious Ward (CB) Avoid
Rashad Fenton (CB) Avoid
Washington Football Team
Kendall Fuller (CB) Solid/Ideal
Bobby McCain (CB) Solid
William Jackson (CB) Solid
Benjamin St Juste (CB) Avoid (Playing time)
Vikings @ Panthers
Outlook: The Vikings are more than capable of airing it out when they need to but you never know with this offense, same with the Panthers, but they’ve looked pretty crappy recently. This one could go either way, shootout or defensive struggle who knows. Both quarterbacks are capable, both teams have some excellent wide receiver options so I think we’re safe to start the safe options and leave it at that.
Minnesota Vikings
Bashaud Breeland (CB) Solid
Patrick Peterson (CB) Solid (Deeper leagues, not targeted often)
Mackensie Alexander (CB) Avoid
Carolina Panthers
Stephon Gilmore (CB) Avoid (Hasn’t played yet, not enough information)
Donte Jackson (CB) Solid
AJ Bouye (CB) Solid
All others (CB) Avoid
Chargers @ Ravens
Outlook: Absolutely going to start Marlon Humphrey (CB) and Anthony Averett (CB) this week everywhere I possibly can. As for the Chargers options I’m less enthused, Lamar Jackson (QB) had a great week passing last week but in general, the Ravens passing attack is typically ranked towards the bad end of the league so statistically starting our Chargers options is a less good idea. One half of a good matchup once more.
Los Angeles Chargers
Asante Samuel Jr (CB) Avoid
Michael Davis (CB) Solid (Deeper leagues)
Chris Harris (CB) Avoid
Te’Vaughn Campbell (CB) Avoid
Baltimore Ravens
Anthony Averett (CB) Solid/Ideal
Marlon Humphrey (CB) Ideal
Tavon Young (CB) Solid (Deeper leagues)
Cardinals @ Browns
Outlook: Beautiful matchup for whatever Browns cornerback options still have a pulse and are on this side of the dirt, not too many, unfortunately. The injury grim reaper has really gone to town on the Browns secondary but if we can discern who is available this week we will definitely have some excellent streaming options out of that. On the reverse side, the Browns run a bunch better than they pass if Jarvis Landry (WR) is somehow available this week that would help but in general we can probably skip the Cardinals corner options this week unless in much deeper leagues.
Arizona Cardinals
Byron Murphy (CB) Solid (Deeper leagues, if healthy)
Marco Wilson (CB) Solid (Deeper leagues, if healthy)
Robert Alford (CB) Avoid (Unless both Wilson & Murphy are inactive, then deeper leagues only)
Antonio Hamilton (CB) Avoid (Unless both Wilson & Murphy are inactive, then deeper leagues only)
Cleveland Browns
Greedy Williams (CB) Solid/Ideal (If Ward or Newsome inactive, otherwise avoid)
Denzel Ward (CB) Ideal (If healthy)
Greg Newsome (CB) Solid (If healthy)
Troy Hill (CB) Solid (Deeper leagues only)
Raiders @ Broncos
Outlook: This one could go either way, regardless we’ve seen the Raiders pass offense as a top-five option for several weeks this season so we know they’re capable of excellent production so I’d be fine with Patrick Surtain (CB) or Kyle Fuller (CB) in most places, as for the reverse the Broncos passing attack hasn’t really existed this season so we can skip whoever the Raiders are currently rolling out at cornerback these days.
Las Vegas Raiders
Casey Hayward (CB) Avoid
Nate Hobbs (CB) Avoid
All others (CB) Avoid
Denver Broncos
Kyle Fuller (CB) Solid (Deeper leagues only)
Patrick Surtain (CB) Solid (Deeper leagues only)
Bryce Callahan (CB) Avoid (Playing time)
Ronald Darby (CB) Avoid (Returning from injury, may be eased back into things)
Cowboys @ Patriots
Outlook: I would typically say we can start the Pats corners here pretty comfortably but the Cowboys run game has looked the best I’ve ever seen it look, that’s a lie it looked better with the great wall of Dallas and Emmitt Smith (RB) but beyond that this two-headed monster of Zeke and Tony is absolutely running all over opposing defenses, they just haven’t needed to pass recently so we may want to rethink our Pats options this week, still not a terrible idea in deeper leagues though. On the reverse, we’ll start Diggs and Brown because we always do and they always come through for us and we’ll forget the rest.
Dallas Cowboys
Trevon Diggs (CB) Solid
Anthony Brown (CB) Solid (Deeper leagues only)
Jourdan Lewis (CB) Avoid
New England Patriots
JC Jackson (CB) Solid (Deeper leagues only)
Jonathon Jones (CB) Solid (Deeper leagues only)
Jalen Mills (CB) Solid (Deeper leagues only)
Seahawks @ Steelers
Outlook: This had all the makings of a nice shootout before Russel Wilson (QB) shattered his finger last week, now it’s one half of a good matchup, and frankly that one good half is fully capable of having a God awful week like Big Ben has had multiple other times this season. We can probably just start the obvious options in deeper leagues here and leave the rest.
Seattle Seahawks
Sidney Jones (CB) Solid
DJ Reed (CB) Solid
Quandre Diggs (CB) Solid
Pittsburgh Steelers
Joe Haden (CB) Solid (Deeper leagues)
Cameron Sutton (CB) Avoid (Injury issues)
James St. Pierre (CB) Avoid (Fluctuation in playing time due to Sutton injury and uncertainty, plus it’s a backup quarterback for the Seahawks, just skip it)
All others (CB) Avoid
Bills @ Titans
Outlook: The Jack Rabbit is a beautiful idea this week, Kristian Fulton (CB) as well, the Titans options go up against Josh Allen (QB) and that prolific Bills passing attack so that side of things looks perfect, on the flip side, though, we’ve got many questions at wide receiver for the Titans and an offense that has been run first all season, we’ll still probably be safe with Taron Johnson (CB) because we always are but beyond that, I’m only starting White and Wallace in deeper leagues this week. One half of a good matchup once more, no perfect streams this week but also no true poopy streams either. A very “blah” week overall.
Buffalo Bills
Tre’Davious White (CB) Solid
Levi Wallace (CB) Solid (Deeper leagues)
Taron Johnson (CB) Solid
Tennessee Titans
Janoris Jenkins (CB) Solid/Ideal
Kristian Fulton (CB) Solid
Chris Jackson (CB) Solid (Deeper leagues only)
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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