Amari Cooper. Cooper has been really struggling, but Casey Hayward is likely going to be splitting matching up against both Michael Crabtree and Amari Cooper which means that Cooper will get to face off against an undrafted rookie Trevor Williams for part of the game. This is a situation where a lot of people are going to be scared off as Hayward is one of the top corners in the league and the typical consensus is that the number one corner defends the number one wide receiver, but that is likely not going to be the case here.
Can you give any context as to why you do not expect cooper to be shadowed?
ReplyDeleteSure thing. Is it possible he will be shadowed? Absolutely, but that's why he is a GPP play as he will be less than 5% owned. Here are the reasons that I do not believe he will be shadowed and instead it will likely be a 50/50 split worst case.
Delete1) Article from a Raiders beat writer saying that Hayward will shadow Crabtree and fits against him better than Cooper. http://raiderswire.usatoday.com/2016/12/16/4-reasons-why-the-raiders-have-cause-for-concern-in-week-15/
2) Hayward was on Crabtree for a majority of the game back in week 5
3) Amari Cooper is not the clear cut number one receiver in Oakland, this is evidenced by Marcus Peters primarily lining up against Michael Crabtree last week instead of Cooper.
4) In the red zone, Crabtree is the bigger threat, so I believe even if Hayward shadows him between the 20's that he will defend Crabtree in the red zone.
Ok that all makes a lot of sense. Thanks!
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