Welcome to Going Deep! This weekly article will make use of charting data, advanced metrics, and other RotoViz tools — specifically the Passing Game Matchup Rater — to help readers better understand the challenges facing wide receivers and tight ends in the coming week. As my process makes heavy use of the Matchup Rater, I’d highly recommend that you set aside half an hour to watch the tutorial/walkthrough and take a spin through the tool. (Note that for 2024, the “Target Explorer” tab has been removed from the tool.)
This week’s Part 2 won’t be as in-depth as normal or written in paragraph format. Rather, for each matchup, I’ll include a bullet for each notable player and designate whether the matchup is strong, good, average, poor, or very poor based on my analysis.
Matchups
Raiders
- Brock Bowers – Poor (despite the challenging matchup, Bowers is firmly in all of my redraft lineups.)
- Jakobi Meyers – Poor (Meyers should only be in lineups when other options aren’t available.)
| Player | GMs | Tgt | Rec | Yards | TD | YPR | Tgt Shr | AirYards | AY/Tgt | Team % | WOPR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brock Bowers | 9 | 8.2 | 6.3 | 64.4 | 0.2 | 10.2 | 0.25 | 46.3 | 5.6 | 0.19 | 0.5 |
| Jakobi Meyers | 7 | 7.7 | 5.6 | 61.4 | 0.3 | 11 | 0.24 | 71.3 | 9.2 | 0.31 | 0.58 |
| Tre Tucker | 9 | 4.9 | 2.8 | 28.6 | 0.1 | 10.3 | 0.15 | 55.7 | 11.4 | 0.23 | 0.38 |
| Alexander Mattison | 9 | 3 | 2.4 | 21.7 | 0.1 | 8.9 | 0.09 | -0.8 | -0.3 | 0 | 0.13 |
| DJ Turner | 9 | 2.6 | 1.1 | 11 | 0.1 | 9.9 | 0.08 | 27.6 | 10.8 | 0.12 | 0.19 |
| Ameer Abdullah | 7 | 2.4 | 2 | 8.6 | 0 | 4.3 | 0.07 | -3.1 | -1.3 | -0.01 | 0.1 |
Dolphins
- Tyreek Hill – Average
- Jaylen Waddle – Average
- Jonnu Smith – Strong
- Smith’s alignment tendencies match up nicely with the Raiders’ defense, a unit that has been burned in back-to-back weeks.
| Player | GMs | Tgt | Rec | Yards | TD | YPR | Tgt Shr | AirYards | AY/Tgt | Team % | WOPR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tyreek Hill | 9 | 6.4 | 4.1 | 51.3 | 0.2 | 12.5 | 0.21 | 77.8 | 12.1 | 0.37 | 0.58 |
| De’Von Achane | 9 | 5.2 | 4.7 | 35.2 | 0.3 | 7.5 | 0.17 | -5.7 | -1.1 | -0.03 | 0.24 |
| Jonnu Smith | 9 | 5 | 3.7 | 38.6 | 0.1 | 10.5 | 0.17 | 29.7 | 5.9 | 0.14 | 0.35 |
| Jaylen Waddle | 9 | 4.9 | 3.4 | 40.8 | 0.1 | 11.8 | 0.16 | 43.6 | 8.9 | 0.21 | 0.39 |
| Erik Ezukanma | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.06 | 59 | 29.5 | 0.29 | 0.3 |
| Raheem Mostert | 6 | 2 | 1.5 | 17.5 | 0 | 11.7 | 0.07 | 1.7 | 0.8 | 0.01 | 0.11 |
