How to apply Yards Added numbers to cornerback usage

As a PFF Fantasy reader, you no doubt strive to make sophisticated, informed fantasy decisions. It is the pursuit that drove fantasy analysts to look past receptions to targets and to look past touchdowns to red-zone and end-zone targets. Cornerback matchups are at the frontier of that analysis, and the research from my previous article demonstrated why that trail isn’t well-worn. Contrary to the consensus opinion, an elite corner’s presence on the field does not by itself hurt a receiver’s production. That corner also must regularly shadow the receiver to turn the game into a bad matchup for him.

That epiphany started with the mystery from my last article of why the top cover corners in recent seasons have had so small of an impact on the fantasy success of top receivers. I worried that my new Yards Added metric had somehow missed the mark, but the game logs of the top receivers who faced Josh Norman in 2015 provided a simpler explanation.

Top Receiver Production in Games with Josh Norman, 2015
Week	Receiver	Team	Shadow%	Rec	Yards
1	Allen Robinson	JAX	50.0%	1	27
2	DeAndre Hopkins	HOU	63.6%	5	53
3	Brandin Cooks	NO	37.5%	7	79
4	Vincent Jackson	TB	42.9%	10	147
6	Doug Baldwin	SEA	25.0%	3	23
8	T.Y. Hilton	IND	50.0%	1	15
9	Davante Adams	GB	18.2%	7	105
10	Justin Hunter	TEN	25.0%	4	47
11	DeSean Jackson	WAS	42.9%	5	87
12	Dez Bryant	DAL	71.4%	2	26
13	Brandin Cooks	NO	44.4%	6	104
14	Julio Jones	ATL	66.7%	7	88
15	Odell Beckham Jr.	NYG	77.8%	6	76
16	Julio Jones	ATL	54.5%	9	178
17	Mike Evans	TB	55.6%	4	99