This article is part of our On Target series.
Amari Cooper / Michael Crabtree
Raise your hand if Amari Cooper burned you and burned you good against the Panthers' porous secondary last week; okay, I had to put mine down to continue typing. It is a rather odd phenomenon for Cooper and Crabtree, as basically they take turns being the WR1. Cooper has not developed into the red zone weapon that true top-tier WRs have to be in order to sustain fantasy value when they fall victim to a bad game script which lowers their targets. He is more of a borderline WR2 at this time, despite what he can do in games where he sees double-digit targets. Assuming the Raiders make the playoffs, which they should, I am very interested in seeing how Oakland deploys these two in must-win games, as I think Cooper is clearly the more versatile and explosive player while Crabtree is a degree or two more trustworthy. Derek Carr's continued evolution as a passer ensures usable fantasy numbers for both of them for the rest of this season and next (at which point Crabtree will be 31), but I don't see it as a stone cold lock that Cooper ever firmly takes the WR1 helm.
125 yards and a touchdown on 11 targets from… Matt Barkley? Barkley threw his first career touchdown pass and Wilson was a beneficiary of him looking like a passable NFL QB. I have long been a believer of Wilson's (true story: the first long-form football
Amari Cooper / Michael Crabtree
Raise your hand if Amari Cooper burned you and burned you good against the Panthers' porous secondary last week; okay, I had to put mine down to continue typing. It is a rather odd phenomenon for Cooper and Crabtree, as basically they take turns being the WR1. Cooper has not developed into the red zone weapon that true top-tier WRs have to be in order to sustain fantasy value when they fall victim to a bad game script which lowers their targets. He is more of a borderline WR2 at this time, despite what he can do in games where he sees double-digit targets. Assuming the Raiders make the playoffs, which they should, I am very interested in seeing how Oakland deploys these two in must-win games, as I think Cooper is clearly the more versatile and explosive player while Crabtree is a degree or two more trustworthy. Derek Carr's continued evolution as a passer ensures usable fantasy numbers for both of them for the rest of this season and next (at which point Crabtree will be 31), but I don't see it as a stone cold lock that Cooper ever firmly takes the WR1 helm.
125 yards and a touchdown on 11 targets from… Matt Barkley? Barkley threw his first career touchdown pass and Wilson was a beneficiary of him looking like a passable NFL QB. I have long been a believer of Wilson's (true story: the first long-form football article I ever did on my blog about five years ago was a film breakdown of Wilson as a college prospect), and he's taken quite the circuitous route to NFL success, but he clearly has what it takes to play at this level. He was a great dynasty/keeper league buy while injured, but his price is going to have risen a by a standard deviation after that big game. He's going to be a passable WR3 in 12-14 team leagues down the stretch, and I've already made the decision to start him over the Tyler Boyd's and Malcolm Mitchell's of the world in this week's matchup against the 49ers.
I have covered him in this space several times now but I want it to be known: Hill is an every-week starter in both daily fantasy at his current price, and in seasonal leagues. The Chiefs use him in a unique role as a gadget player a la Tavon Austin but more importantly, also use him down the field and in the red zone. Adding those high-value deep throws and red zone usage to a player who is already involved close to the line of scrimmage is excellent for fantasy, because it builds a healthy floor and ceiling. It is my opinion that he has played his way into a more consistent role even if/when Jeremy Maclin returns from his injury, and Hill is likely to help teams all through the fantasy playoffs.
Saints Passing Game
Rather then try and discuss just one player, I would like to make several points about the passing game for New Orleans. The first is that Michael Thomas is the top option for the Saints and for us fantasy players. He works efficiently in the red zone and is capable of running the possession routes that former Saints like Devery Henderson or Kenny Stills never could. Second is that, with Thomas' emergence, the variance in Brandin Cooks' weekly results are higher than ever and he's simply a volatile WR2 and nothing more. The third is that Josh Hill played on over 65 percent of the snaps last week, while John Phillips was the blocking tight end and Coby Fleener barely played. I added Hill in several deeper leagues and am actually starting him over several back end TE1s this week in 12-team leagues playing against the Lions.
While there are many top tier WRs in play this week for daily fantasy (Antonio Brown, Mike Evans, Odell Beckham), Jones is the most interesting. If Marcus Peters spends more time on him in coverage then expected it could be tough sledding, but the Chiefs are 21st in DVOA against WR1s and it's likely that Jones moves around to get away from Peters. This is a potential explosion spot at home against the weaker Chiefs second and third corners (Phillip Gaines and Steven Nelson). While I think Evans and Brown definitely project better than him for cash games in DFS this week, Jones is an investment spot for tournaments as his expected ownership is a tier lower and he has the same, if not more, upside.
