Here's a quick list of some of my favorite RotoWire resources for analyzing matchups:
- Box Score Breakdown (snaps/routes, advanced stats, etc. from the previous week)
- NFL defense vs. position stats
- NFL advanced stats
- NFL injury report
- NFL depth charts
- NFL player news
Unless otherwise noted, references to "fantasy points" are based on PPR scoring with 25/10 yards per point and 4/6 points for TDs. Start % comes from Yahoo, as of Wednesday night / Thursday morning.
Sit/Downgrade 👎
Quarterbacks 👎
Baker Mayfield (at LAR) — 57% started
Start Instead — Dak Prescott (vs. PHI), Brock Purdy (vs. CAR), Daniel Jones (at KC)
Bucky Irving (foot/shoulder) and Chris Godwin (fibula) may or may not play this week. Either way, Mayfield is in a tough spot, traveling cross-country for a primetime matchup with one of the best defenses/teams in the NFL. It doesn't help that an illness swept through Tampa Bay's locker room and impacted practice participation for four different starters on offense, including Mayfield, who is best viewed as a back-end QB1 or high-end QB1 this week (rather than his usual spot solidly in QB 1 range).
- Other Tough Matchups: Josh Allen (at HOU), Dak Prescott (vs. PHI), J.J. McCarthy (at GB), Geno Smith (vs. CLE), Cam Ward (vs. SEA)
Running Backs 👎
Tyrone Tracy (at DET) — 44% started
Start Instead — Zach Charbonnet (at TEN), Woody Marks (vs. BUF), Aaron Jones (at GB)
Last week, Tracy had season highs for rushing yards (88) and receiving yards (51) against a strong Green Bay defense. His 23 touches were also a season high, but Devin Singletary took 17 of his own, including a pair of short touchdowns. There will likely be far less work to go around in the upcoming road matchup with a Lions defense that's allowing a league-low 16.6 PPR points per game to RBs. Without goal-line carries or consistent receiving production, Tracy still can't be trusted in difficult matchups even after his solid showing last week.
- Other Tough Matchups: Jonathan Taylor (at KC), James Cook (at HOU), Bucky Irving or Sean Tucker (at LAR), Isiah Pacheco & Kareem Hunt (vs. IND), Tony Pollard (vs. SEA), Devin Singletary (at DET), Jordan Mason (at GB), Kyle Monangai (vs. PIT)
Wide Receivers 👎
Jordan Addison (at GB) — 43% started
Start Instead — Khalil Shakir (at HOU), Darnell Mooney (at NO), Ricky Pearsall (vs. CAR)
Addison is someone I've drafted pretty steadily since he came into the league, and he's someone I'm looking to bench this week after a fourth straight game below 50 yards. Touchdowns have kept his fantasy scoring looking halfway decent, but there's no way he can keep it up in an offense that's scoring so few TDs in general. Addison is a shaky option even for favorable matchups, much less at Green Bay, until QB J.J. McCarthy shows serious improvement with his timing and downfield accuracy.
Tre Tucker (vs. CLE) — 31% started
Start Instead — Alec Pierce (at KC), Jakobi Meyers (at ARZ), Christian Watson (vs. MIN)
The only real appeal with Tucker at this point is that he never comes off the field for a team that's quick to abandon its ineffective rushing game. He thus has upside to run 40-plus routes, at which point even a subpar target rate tends to translate to a decent number of raw targets. The problem this week is two-fold, with Cleveland sporting a terrible offense and tough defense. The Raiders may be in position to run the ball even if it isn't working well, as they're favored by 3.5 points over one of the few teams with an offense worse than their own. It's certainly possible Shedeur Sanders proves no worse than Dillon Gabriel, but last week's showing against Baltimore suggets that's about the ceiling for what Sanders might provide right now.
- Other Tough Matchups: Nico Collins & Jayden Higgins (vs. BUF); CeeDee Lamb & George Pickens (vs. PHI); Emeka Egbuka, Chris Godwin (leg) / Tez Johnson (at LAR); Khalil Shakir (at HOU)
Tight Ends 👎
Jake Ferguson (vs. PHI) — 61% started
Start Instead — Dallas Goedert (at DAL), Hunter Henry (at CIN), Kyle Pitts (at NO)
Ferguson scored a touchdown Monday night at Las Vegas, but he's otherwise fallen off hard since CeeDee Lamb returned from a high-ankle sprain, accounting for just 15 percent of Dallas targets over the past four games. Ferguson has three TDs in that time, but with just 23.8 yards and 5.0 targets per game. He'll now have to deal with an Eagles defense that's shut down opposing tight ends to the tune of 4.63 YPT (1st) and a 58.7 percent catch rate (1st), yielding a mere 7.2 PPR points (2nd) per game. Ferguson scored 7.3 points back in Week 1 when these teams squared off, catching five of six targets for a mere 23 yards.
- Other Tough Matchups: Dalton Schultz (vs. BUF), T.J. Hockenson (at GB)
