Welcome back to the cornerback corner, the only place on the internet where you get every single IDP cornerback streaming option every single week all season long.
Those of you familiar with my work at IDPguys.org already know what to expect here and from this article this season. For those of you new to this article series and IDP in general, we’ll use this week one preview to discuss the art of cornerback streaming, its value, and how it helps you win your matchup in those deeper IDP leagues with specific CB slots.
This article won’t help those of you playing in DB leagues, but it may help push you toward the more degenerate end of things. In those deeper leagues, often on MFL, Yahoo, Fantrax, ESPN, or RSO, you need every advantage you can get when your other league mates are just as insane as you are.
When you’re talking 53-man rosters, superflex, full IDP with CBs and DTs, every point is important, and the art of streaming your cornerbacks can be a massive advantage week to week and result in many more points than a “set and forget” approach. Cornerback Corner is your one-stop shop to find all the information you need to make those calls.
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Johny The Greek’s Cornerback Corner
What even is a cornerback stream?
Simply put, to “stream,” a position is to use waivers to pick up the best option based on matchup each week in an effort to maximize production from that specific slot on your roster. This also allows you to “punt” that position in startup drafts or rookie drafts. This is only achievable with certain positions, and cornerback is the preeminent example of that.
The depth at this position is immense, and your options week to week, even in the deepest of leagues, are plentiful. With a guaranteed two full-time 100% of snaps game starters per team and a nickelback that typically clocks in at around 70% of snaps or more, that’s 96 options available at this position every week. Even if your league mates have drafted a good chunk of them, there is always turnover, injury, and new options becoming available constantly.
Going the extra mile
By using waivers to attain these corners each week based on their matchup, you can create more points from your cornerback positions than by simply choosing a “known name” and leaving them in there all season long. Sauce Gardner (big name) versus the Bears, who completed roughly fifteen passes per game last season, doesn’t make as much sense as Roger McCreary (not big name) versus the Bengals, who completed almost 30 passes per game last season.
This theory has been proven both by research (see @DJKeltown on Twitter for his research on this subject) and by my own eyeballs by using this strategy over the last decade plus. It has helped me win titles; end of story. Even if you don’t end up using this article to stream cornerback yourself, at the very minimum, it will give you the absolute best options in regard to injury replacements and bye-week fill-ins.
Why read the Cornerback Corner?
What you can expect each week is a complete list of every single IDP-relevant cornerback option, how they fare based on their matchup that week, and how confident I am in their ability to score you a ton of points for you on your IDP league roster.
We’ll use data such as historical production, PFF scores, team-wide receiver targets from last season and then this season as data becomes available, offensive passing rankings, and opposing quarterback tendencies. Beyond that, I keep a running transparency thread at the start of every article so you can see in real-time all season how these recommendations stack up.
This will be my fourth season writing the cornerback corner, and I’ve averaged approximately 72% accuracy with these calls over that time (based on matching or beating projection, MFL & Yahoo, for each specific CB stream). This is not my first rodeo, and frankly, I already have an audience that I fully expect to continue reading this at the new site here.
If this is your first time reading this, then thank you for giving it a shot. To those that are back again for another season, thank you for taking the plunge with me over here at SGPN. Preamble over. Let’s have a look at the week one option for this season. This will be a preview. The full week one article will publish closer to the start of the season.
Lions @ Chiefs
Outlook: The overall number eight and one, respectively, passing offenses from last season face off outdoors in Kansas City on Thursday night football to kick off the season. These two high-powered passing attacks led by veteran quarterbacks should result in some fireworks and plenty of completions, which are our floor when it comes to cornerback streaming.
One small issue here is that in regards to targeting wide receivers last season, the Chiefs were middle of the pack with 300 total, which is a result of their reliance on Travis Kelce and passes to running backs out of the backfield; this is a slight ding against them and leads me to downgrade our Lions CB options slightly.
For the reverse, the Lions targeted their wide receivers 349 times last season, so it should be a nice game for L’Jarius Sneed and company. This is a really nice game overall to kick things off. I’d be comfortable rolling out the “known” options on either team in medium to deeper leagues.
Former Eagles’ safety Chauncey Gardner-Johnson reached agreement tonight with the Detroit Lions, per source.
The top remaining defensive free agent is off the board. pic.twitter.com/Wl0BoQKrmx
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 20, 2023
Detroit Lions:
Emmanuel Moseley (CB): Good option for deeper leagues only. Should play 100% of snaps.
Cameron Sutton (CB): Good option for medium to deeper leagues. Should play 100% of snaps.
Chauncey Gardner Johnson (CB/S): Good option for medium to deeper leagues. May not play 100% of snaps but has a better chance for a splash play (interception, sack, forced fumble, etc.) than Sutton or Moseley.
Kansas City Chiefs:
L’Jarius Sneed (CB/S): Great option for leagues of all sizes. He will play 100% of snaps and was close to being the DB1 overall last season.
Jaylen Watson (CB): Good option for deeper leagues only, but may not play 100% of snaps.
Trent McDuffie (CB): Good option for medium to deeper leagues. Should play 100% of snaps and could blow up for a huge week since we saw him playing the massively productive role Sneed was playing the last few weeks of last season. We can’t count on it, though.
Panthers @ Falcons
Outlook: With a rookie quarterback and a second-year starter who did anything but shine in year one, we’re already off to a less than stellar start in regards to our likely completed passes floor we need in this matchup.
Beyond that, when we factor into this equation that both teams were near the bottom of the league last season in wide receiver targets with 265 and 228, respectively, things look even direr. One positive factor here is this game is indoors in Atlanta, and removing weather from the equation always helps us when it comes to cornerback streaming.
That won’t be enough to overcome last season’s 29th and 31st-ranked passing offenses, respectively though. This has either a defensive struggle or a game where the stellar running backs on both teams shine written all over it. I’ll be passing on any cornerback streams from this matchup unless in the deepest and darkest of leagues. Of course, that isn’t set in stone, but we follow the data, and the data says this isn’t a great matchup to stream from at all.
Carolina Panthers:
Jaycee Horn (CB): Avoid (matchup) but will play enough (100% of snaps) if you need him in a deep degenerate league. Plus, he’s talented enough for a random interception, but we never plan on those. They’re just a nice bonus.
Donte Jackson (CB): Avoid (matchup) but will play enough (100% of snaps) if you need it. He is less likely than Horn to have a splash play.
Jeremy Chinn/Others (CB/S): Great option, not likely to be real though. The Panthers’ depth chart is incomplete and currently has Jeremy Chinn (S), the talented and productive safety, listed as the nickelback. That may or may not happen. What I can say is that if your league (hosting site) has Jeremy Chinn listed as a cornerback instead of a safety or as a dual designation (CB/S), you should absolutely take advantage of that and plug him into one of your cornerback slots.
This is a cheat code since it’s very likely he’ll be playing 100% of snaps at safety, which in general, is a far more consistent and productive position week to week. More information to come on this third safety slot. See cornerback corner Week 1 edition for an update.
Atlanta Falcons:
AJ Terrell (CB): Avoid. Terrell is the best option on his team in regard to cornerbacks, but the matchup isn’t great. I’d sit him unless in a very deep league and you have no other better options. He will play 100% of snaps if you need it, however.
🚨EXCLUSIVE: #Falcons All-pro @ajterrell_8 opens up about the #Falcons new additions, his brother 4⭐️ @nationwide_av signing with #Clemson, community work, & more: pic.twitter.com/V9heRF5QqG
— Luke Winstel (@lukewinstel) June 18, 2023
Jeff Okudah (CB): Avoid this matchup. There is also some uncertainty in his Week 1 playing time. Okudah provides more than enough doubt to pass on him. He should play 100% of snaps, but we won’t know until Week 2.
Mike Hughes (CB): Avoid. He is the least talented of these options and will likely play the fewest snaps as well. I would sit him in all leagues of all sizes.
Texans @ Ravens
Outlook: The 24th and dead last (32nd) ranked teams in regards to targeting their wide receivers face off outdoors in Baltimore to kick off the season for Lamar Jackson, CJ Stroud, and company. That’s already bad news, and when we look at the passing offense ranks from last season, 28th and 25th, respectively, it gets worse.
The Ravens tend to target their excellent tight end, Mark Andrews, and running backs out of the backfield. This, in conjunction with their very good running offense, is how they move the ball and score points. That doesn’t bode well for our Houston cornerback options.
For the Texans, it will either be a rookie quarterback making his first-ever NFL start against a very good Baltimore defense, or they’ll run it back with Davis Mills, who was forgettable last season. Either way, we can’t expect a ton of completions, and that isn’t ideal for our Baltimore cornerbacks, either.
Overall this isn’t a great matchup for cornerback streaming on paper, which is unfortunate since we have some very nice options in this cornerback corps. I would recommend deeper leagues only for any options you’re forced to use here.
Houston Texans:
Derek Stingley (CB): Good option for deeper leagues only. Stingley will play 100% of snaps and is very talented and productive. Perhaps to the extent that he can overcome this less-than-ideal matchup.
Steven Nelson (CB): Good option for much deeper leagues only. Nelson will play 100% of snaps and is a productive option from last season. The matchup just isn’t good at all.
Desmond King (CB): Avoid. King will not play 100% of snaps and may not even be the starter in this position by Week 1.
Baltimore Ravens:
Marlon Humphrey (CB): Good option for deeper leagues only. Hump will play 100% of the snaps. He is very talented and productive, perhaps to the extent that he can overcome this less-than-ideal matchup.
Rock Ya-Sin (CB): Avoid. Ya-Sin may not be the starter in this position by Week 1, and beyond that, the matchup isn’t good at all.
Brandon Stephens (CB): Avoid. Stephens may not be the starter in this position by Week 1. He’s not likely to play 100% of snaps even if he is, and the matchup isn’t good at all.
Bengals @ Browns
Outlook: It will be a great Week 1 for Denzel Ward (CB) and company, as the Bengals’ 5th-ranked passing attack from last season is in town. They also targeted their wide receivers the 6th most in the league last season. There should be no confusion as to why.
With excellent wide receivers all over the place and a young stud throwing them the ball, this lines up perfectly for our Cleveland cornerback options. The only slight downgrade would be this is outdoors in Cleveland, but thankfully, it’s September, not December, so we should be OK. It never hurts to check the weather, though. All systems go for our Browns cornerback options.
For the reverse, our Bengals corners get the 22nd-ranked passing offense from last season that targeted their wide receivers the 26th most in the league. Not great at all, but we have to remember Deshaun Watson (QB) played and started only six of those games due to suspension.
It’s a whole new ball game with him back at the helm, so we can throw those rankings out the window. With Elijah Moore (WR) joining the already excellent Amari Cooper (WR) and Watson having a full offseason to build chemistry, we may have the makings of a perfect stream here with a shootout written all over it. Fire up the Bengals’ corners with confidence here as well.
Cincinnati Bengals:
Cam Taylor Britt (CB): Good option for medium to deeper leagues. He should play 100% of snaps.
Chidobe Awuzie (CB): Good option for medium to deeper leagues. He should play 100% of snaps.
Mike Hilton (CB): Good option for deeper leagues only. Hilton likely won’t play 100% of snaps and is not nearly as talented and productive as the other two options.
Cleveland Browns:
Denzel Ward (CB): Great option for leagues of all sizes. Ward is one of the best streaming corner options for Week 1, hands down, and will play 100% of the snaps.
Martin Emerson (CB): Good option for medium to deeper leagues. We won’t know his or Newsome’s playing time until Week 2, though.
Greg Newsome (CB): Good option for medium to deeper leagues. We won’t know his or Emerson’s playing time until Week 2, though.
Jaguars @ Colts
Outlook: The Jaguars ended last season red hot and go to Indy in Week 1 to play indoors (slight positive bump here) against a Colts team that is clearly rebuilding. Despite the close spread (Jags -3.5), this feels like a blood bath blowout for Jacksonville.
The Jaguars’ 10th-ranked passing attack from last season adds Calvin Ridley (WR) and should be even more potent. They targeted their wide receivers the 7th most of any team last season, so this is all good news for Kenny Moore (CB) and our Colts’ cornerback options. We can fire them up with confidence.
As for the reverse, whether it’s Gardner Minshew (QB) or Anthony Richardson (QB) getting the start in Week 1 will determine how we approach our Jags cornerback options. We can’t really rely on last season’s 23rd-ranked passing attack or their targeting their wide receivers’ 11th most in the league as gospel with two new quarterbacks in town.
If it’s Minshew, we can fire up our Jags in deeper leagues, Tyson Campbell at least (it gets iffy after that), but if it’s Richardson, I wouldn’t count on the rookie completing a ton of passes in his first-ever NFL game especially considering how rarely he completed them in college (just under 15 completions a game against SEC defenses, not NFL defenses, not great). Overall we’ve got half of a good matchup here.
Jacksonville Jaguars:
Tyson Campbell (CB): Good option if Minshew starts and for medium to deeper leagues. He will play 100% of the snaps. Avoid him, but will still play 100% of snaps if you need it if Richardson starts Week 1.
Darious Williams (CB): Good option if Minshew starts for deeper leagues only. Williams will play 100% of the snaps. Avoid him, but will play 100% of snaps if you need it if Richardson starts Week 1.
Tre Herndon (CB): Avoid completely, likely won’t play 100% of snaps, and is the least “set in stone” cornerback option here. May not be the Week 1 starter, and regardless it would need to be a much better matchup to consider him in the first place (due to factors like historical production and playing time, etc.)
Indianapolis Colts:
Kenny Moore (CB): Great option for leagues of all sizes. Moore will play 100% of the snaps and is one of the best Week 1 starting cornerback options.
Isaiah Rogers (CB): Avoid. The matchup is great, but between offseason issues (report of gambling and possible suspension) and uncertainty beyond Kenny Moore as a Week 1 starter, we’re better off skipping this one until we know more.
Juju Brents (CB): Avoid. There’s a lot of uncertainty as to who the other cornerback starters will be here in Week 1 beyond Kenny Moore. We’ll have to see how it plays out and circle back in Week 2. Better to bench him and be wrong than to guess wrong and eat a zero.
49ers @ Steelers
Outlook: Two very defensive-minded teams that both target their wide receivers towards the middle of the pack face off outdoors in Pittsburgh for Week 1. Neither passing attack is impressive, as they rank 13th and 24th, respectively, in terms of passing offense from last season. The 49ers may not even have their best option at quarterback available with some doubt around Brock Purdy’s health for the start of the season, and Kenny Pickett isn’t anything to write home about, either.
This feels like a defensive struggle, a low-scoring black-and-blue affair. Completed passes, which is the floor we look to since they result in tackles and passes defended, may be few and far between in this one. There are some talented and productive cornerback options between these two teams, but I wouldn’t play them unless they were in a much deeper league overall. This is a mediocre matchup in general.
San Francisco 49ers:
Deommodore Lenoir (CB): Good option for deeper leagues. He should play 100% of snaps.
Chavarious Ward (CB): Good option for medium to deeper leagues. He will play 100% of the snaps.
Isaiah Oliver (CB): Avoid. He’s the least talented and productive of these three by a large amount and likely won’t play 100% of snaps.
Pittsburgh Steelers:
Patrick Peterson (CB): Good option in much deeper leagues due to the 49ers’ quarterback situation. If it’s Brock Purdy, then fire him up in the medium to deeper leagues. He will play 100% of snaps and has a long track record of solid production.
Patrick Peterson teaching Joey Porter Jr#steelers
pic.twitter.com/vtmrZf8ZHC— matthew luciow (@Luciow1992) June 15, 2023
Joey Porter (CB): Avoid. This rookie has the draft capital, but until we see him on the field playing snaps, we can’t count on him being the weekly starter. It’s a wait-and-see. If you were certain that he’s a Week 1 starter, then I’d say deeper leagues only, but with so many good options, it’s easier to just skip it and see what happens. We’ll circle back in Week 2 and readjust.
Chandon Sullivan (CB): Avoid. While it’s likely he’s a starter here in Week 1, the matchup isn’t great, to begin with, and traditionally the nickelback role (what the offseason depth charts have him listed as) plays fewer snaps each week, so that’s another downgrade for him. I’d find a better option if possible.
Just a taste!
Make sure you circle back before the season to read the full and complete version of the cornerback corner. This week’s article was just a preview of what you get as a weekly reader all season long. The in-season edition will contain every single matchup with every single IDP-relevant cornerback option, along with a call on starting or sitting them and in what size league. Make sure you stop by again right before week one to get the full experience!
This article should be published before the Thursday night game every week, but I have little control over that. Please see my Twitter (@orangeman3142) for Thursday night streaming options if that’s not the case.
Regardless of when this comes out every week during the season, the nice thing about cornerbacks is they are plentiful and readily available, so you’ll have many options, even if it’s after waivers have run. Feel free to contact me on Twitter with any questions, or you can email me directly at Johnysmack3141@yahoo.com. I hope you’ll come back for the start of the season and make this article part of your weekly reads.
These Are Only Suggestions! (Remember to check inactive before each game!)
Your lineup is your responsibility and yours alone. You submit the lineup at the end of the day, not me. There will be things that happen that are outside of my control, including injuries during warmups, injuries I missed during the week, and sudden benching that I’m not privy to since I don’t work for any of these defensive coaching staffs.
We make the best decisions we can with the information we have at the time, and after that, it’s in the hands of the fantasy Gods. I’m making these same moves and recommendations myself in my own leagues, all thirty-plus of them, so we sink or swim together.
I’ll be approaching 40 titles this season across Redraft and Dynasty, with another 50 plus second and third-place finishes. I’ve got double-digit titles in best ball, all IDP best ball, eliminators, and salary cap, and have made some good cash in DFS and NFL betting. This is not my first rodeo.
I’ve been writing IDP for seven years now and have been playing it for over 20 years, I produce this content because I enjoy helping others win, and if I weren’t any good at it, I would have stopped a long time ago. You’re in good hands here at cornerback corner. Let’s go get those titles!
SGPN Has You Covered!
Make sure you read the other excellent fantasy football work we have at SGPN! Also, make sure you check out the IDP Pros Podcast on the SGPN network every week, where we break down the latest news, injuries, and waivers that result from them all season long. We’ve got everything you need to crush in all your fantasy football leagues covered here at the Sports Gambling Podcast Network. Thanks for reading cornerback corner, and see you next week!
