Man vs. Zone Matchups for WR/TEs in Week 9: Jaylen Waddle Momentum Building?

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 9.

Week Man vs. Zone Matchups for WR/TEs Week 9

Drake London vs. Cincinnati Bengals

London fell victim to the rain and the wind this past Sunday, as both Atlanta and Tampa couldn’t do anything through the air. I’m completely throwing that game away and moving on to this week, which could suddenly be a much more favorable matchup than originally thought.

Cincinnati’s top corner DJ Turner left last week’s game with a heel injury and is listed as day-to-day. We’ll see if Turner can play this Sunday in Madrid, but if he can’t, it’s a huge boost for Drake London. Turner often shadows opposing top wideouts, and the Bengals are allowing a league-low 36.4 receiving yards per game to opposing WR1s.

This entire secondary changes if they’re without Turner on the outside. It’ll be interesting to see if the scheme changes if they can’t have Turner take away one area of the field. The Bengals are playing Cover-1 nearly 30% of the time so far this season. Against Cover-1, London is drawing a target on 32% of his routes, while averaging 3.08 YPRR, a top-12 rate in the NFL.

RELATED: Dwain McFarland's Week 9 Utilization Report follows the data to identify this week's top waiver wire options, trade targets, upgrades and downgrades. Find Fantasy Life's suite of Utilization Tools here.

Jaylen Waddle @ Carolina Panthers

It’s certainly been a disappointing first season for Jaylen Waddle in Denver, but perhaps he’s building some momentum. Waddle caught three passes for 39 yards and a touchdown last week, while adding a two-point conversion. The Broncos’ passing attack still has ways to go, but this could be a get-right spot, facing a depleted Carolina secondary. Still without Jaycee Horn and Mike Jackson, the Panthers deploy Cover-3 as often as any team in the NFL.

And while Waddle’s overall numbers won’t wow anyone, he does rank top-five among all wide receivers in TPRR against Cover-3 this season (36%). His fantasy points per target and target rate are both better against zone defenses this season, making this a pretty intriguing spot for Waddle to keep it going.

Malik Washington vs. Detroit Lions

Malik Washington remains a pretty underrated player in fantasy. He caught five passes for 40 yards and a touchdown this past week and has provided a solid weekly floor in PPR formats. The Dolphins offense hasn’t been as bad as we expected as of late, and it has become more fantasy-friendly due to a recent uptick in pace. They’ll likely have to keep up with Detroit’s offense this weekend, which should lead to seven to 10 targets for Washington.

Per usual, the Lions are playing as much man coverage as anyone in football. Washington, meanwhile, is sporting a 28% TPRR against man coverage this season, and a lot of the routes he runs are tougher to defend in that scheme. His 17.3% crossing routes and 3.7% flare routes (highest among WRs) make it difficult to stay with him in man coverage. He’ll also line up out of the backfield as often as most receivers in the league.

If you need help at wide receiver this week, don’t overlook the Miami pass-catchers.