Man vs. Zone Matchups for WR/TEs in Week 7: Emeka Egbuka on the Rise

Coverage schemes can often dictate what offenses and pass-catchers are able to do on a weekly basis. Being able to identify who excels against man or zone coverage can give you an edge in any fantasy football format, whether season-long, dynasty, DFS, etc.

Let’s take a look at a few players who find themselves in favorable spots ahead of Week 7.

Week Man vs. Zone Matchups for WR/TEs

A.J. Brown @ Chicago Bears

While his return to the lineup was far from what we hoped for, the overall usage and involvement from A.J. Brown is a lot more important. Brown caught just 3-of-10 targets in Week 6, the inefficiency led by four pretty brutal drops. But he ran a route on 97% of the dropbacks and saw double-digit targets in his first game back from the high-ankle sprain. He’s very clearly the WR1 in New England, especially with Romeo Doubs out for at least the next four weeks.

Thursday presents an ideal bounce-back spot for Brown, facing a beatable Chicago secondary allowing a league-worst 13.4 yards per reception on the season. The Bears deploy Cover-1 just over 25% of the time, a top-five rate in the NFL, a coverage Brown has historically torched throughout his career. Last season, Brown was targeted on 35% of his routes against Cover-1, while posting a 33.3% explosive play rate and 3.38 YPRR.

Emeka Egbuka @ Carolina Panthers

After a brutal start to the season, Emeka Egbuka has now posted consecutive solid outings. He’s very clearly the focal point of Tampa Bay’s passing attack, sporting an insane 40% target share over the past two weeks. The efficiency hasn’t been the greatest, especially last week when he caught just 7-of-16 targets for 48 yards and a touchdown.

Egbuka has been below seven yards per reception in four of six weeks this season, but I do like how Zac Robinson is moving him around. No player in football has run more routes from motion this season than Egbuka (53).

I’d expect Jalon Daniels to continue targeting Egbuka at a high rate this week. Carolina’s secondary is still missing Jaycee Horn and Mike Jackson, and this is a strong schematic matchup for Egbuka. The Panthers run Cover-3 as much as any defense in football. Against Cover-3 this season, Egbuka has been targeted on 29% of his routes, and a lot of the routes he runs in this offense project better against this defense.

Malik Washington @ New York Jets

With injuries and bye weeks impossible to avoid, Malik Washington is a viable replacement option this week. For starters, he’s been plenty involved, flirting with a 30% target share, while averaging just over seven targets per game. He also sees a few carries per game for an added bonus.

I’d like Washington even more if the Dolphins would start to abandon the run when trailing in the second half of games, but they’re content to accept defeat more often than not.

Still, Washington draws a Jets defense playing a ton of Cover-2, which Washington is sporting a strong 29% TPRR against so far this season. Washington is also averaging more fantasy points per route against zone coverage than man coverage this season, making this a solid spot.