Divisional Round Wide Receiver Start/Sit: Amon-Ra St. Brown, Stefon Diggs, and More
An in-depth look at the top start/sit decisions at wide receiver for the Divisional Round
As we enter Divisional Round Weekend, our pool of players to choose from has significantly decreased. There are only four games this wekeend, which leaves us little room to differentiate between our DFS or playoff pool opponents.
Which leaves us with two questions:
- Which chalky players do you follow the crowd with?
- Which players do we use to differentiate ourselves?
The answers to those questions are what will win or lose playoff fantasy pools, so let's dig in and see which wide receivers we should be targeting (and avoiding) this weekend. I'm going to break this into four sections: studs to start, under-the-radar guys to target, studs to sit, and under-the-radar guys you shouldn't target. It's going to be important to narrow down our targets this weekend, and it doesn't seem like we have too much weather to worry about.
Start-your-studs
Amon-Ra St. Brown
Amon-Ra absolutely dominated the Lions' targets last week, and there's no reason he won't do the same this week. While others like Josh Reynolds and Sam LaPorta will see their fair share of targets, the Lions' offense runs through ASRB and he should see double-digit targets this weekend. He's the top receiver on my list for the Divisional Round.
Stefon Diggs
Diggs is surprisingly low on a lot of peoples' playoff rankings, but he's really the only game in town for Josh Allen as evidenced by him seeing 11 of 14 receiver targets last week. He should see similar usage this week with Gabriel Davis out and could be a sneaky play based on his currently low ranking around the industry.
Mike Evans
With Chris Godwin nursing a knee injury, Evans should continue to see the most targets of the Bucs' receivers -- and may see even more than he did last week. While Cade Otton figured heavily into the game plan last week, I expect Evans to see more attention this week. There's no reason he doesn't finish as a top receiver this week.
Nico Collins
Collins is benefitting from the lack of receiving options in Houston and should see close to double-digit targets this week after seeing nine last week. The Texans will likely be playing catchup and Collins should benefit from that scenario.
Rashee Rice
While the Chiefs' receiver room is a mess, Rice has fully taken advantage of the situation. He led the team in targets last week (he even had more than Travis Kelce) and is set up to see double-digit targets again this week.
Brandon Aiyuk/Deebo Samuel
I'm a little worried about these two, but there aren't really any other 49ers receivers who see targets other than Aiyuk or Samuel. The reason I'm worried is that I don't know which one to pick, and they could be playing in a blow out. That said, you need to score points to have a blowout, so one (if not both) will likely put up numbers. I'm banking on Deebo, but Aiyuk is a great play as well (and he's actually been seeing more targets than Deebo lately).
Zay Flowers
There are a lot of mouths to feed in Baltimore, but Flowers should see the most targets and has the most upside due to his big-play ability. He's far from a sure thing, but he's the receiver I'd target on the Ravens.
Under-the-radar starts
I wouldn't stretch to roster any of these players, but all have a path to success as you look to differentiate yourself from your opponents this weekend:
- Josh Reynolds
- Khalil Shakir
- John Metchie
- Rashod Bateman
- Trey Palmer
Sit-your-studs
Chris Godwin
As mentioned, Godwin is nursing a knee injury, and moreso, he only saw five targets last week. That doesn't mean he'll be a failure this week, but he's a basket I don't want to put too many eggs into this week.
Christian Watson/Jayden Reed
I'm not sure either of these guys count as studs, but I don't want to mess with the Packers' receiver room all that much. They have SO many mouths to feed and Watson is coming off injury while Reed saw just three targets last week (Dontayvion Wicks saw just two). If I have to choose one Packers receiver, it will be Romeo Doubs, but I'll likely be avoiding that receiver room this weekend.
Under-the-radar sits
You're probably not looking at any of these guys for the most part, but just to be safe, here are a bunch of the non-stud wide receivers who won't be on my rosters:
- Jameson Williams
- Odell Beckham, Jr.
- Dontayvion Wicks
