Week 7 vs Chicago
Woods saw a season-high ten targets last week against the 49ers which he tuned into a 4-29-1 stat line in addition to two carries for 11 yards. As usual, Woods managed to salvage another wise pedestrian stat line with a touchdown. Woods offers more value than his counterpart Cooper Kupp since it is clear that this coaching staff is set on getting Woods touches one way or another, especially in the red zone.
Woods will have his work cut out for him as he will be seeing a lot of Kyle Fuller and the Chicago Bears defense who are ranked third in aFPA against WRs. Expecting-end WR3 numbers from Woods barring yet another touchdown.
Week 6 at San Francisco
Woods had a very productive Week 5 against Washington as he caught 4-of-5 targets for 71 yards and one touchdown. The stat line is not telling of Woods’ day as the bulk of his production came on a 56-yard touchdown reception, making the rest of his day forgetful. As it goes for all the Rams on offense this season, the targets will not be there so the touchdown scores will have to save productivity. With that level of touchdown dependency, Woods is more of an upside WR3 this week against San Francisco.
Week 5 at Washington
Woods had a pedestrian game last week against the Giants as he turned his seven targets in six receptions for 35 yards. Woods’ strange season continues as even though he is on the field for most of the snaps, Jared Goff is spreading the ball around to almost every viable player on offense. It is nice that Woods is also getting work on the ground, but he is not seeing enough work through the air to justify a low-end WR1 status he seemed to have earlier this season.
With Cooper Kupp seeing more work overall than Woods this season, there’s little reason to think that will change this week against Washington, which why Woods should be viewed as a low-end WR2 in this one.
Week 3 at Buffalo
After a 100-yard performance in Week 1, Woods only caught two of his five targets for 14 yards against Philly in Week 2 but managed to salvage his day with a five-yard rushing touchdown. Even though Woods didn’t have the best game, it was still very encouraging to see the coaching staff try to get him involved in the offense. There might be more of the same in Week 3 as Woods will see plenty of All-Pro corner Tre’Davious White in one of his stiffest tests of the season. He won’t be quite a WR1 in this game, but Woods should see enough work to be a middling WR2 in Week 3
Week 2 at Philadelphia
Carrying over as Goff’s primary WR option from the second half of last season, Woods led all the team in targets Week 1 as he finished six receptions for 105 yards on right targets and chipped in a 14-yard run. Woods was getting open all game in this one and was the only receiver in Week 1 to have three catches of 20 or more yards according to PFF. Even though a tough matchup against Darius Slay awaits him in Philadelphia, Woods’ targets and usage are enough to make him our 11th-ranked WR this week and a low-end WR1 against Philly.
Week 1 vs. Dallas
Even though he started off the season a bit slow, Robert Woods emerged as the Rams primary receiver as he almost doubled Cooper Kupp’s targets in the second half of the season. Los Angeles’ switch to 12-personnel has benefitted Woods and he was never off the field and operated as the team’s WR1. He did not have a good game against Dallas last season going 4-17-0, however he should plenty of targets against a secondary who lost Pro Bowl CB Byron Jones this offseason. Start Woods confidently as a low-end WR1 for the season opener.
Fantasy Upside
Continuing to be one of the most overlooked WRs in fantasy football, Robert Woods’ WR14 finish in half-PPR leagues last season was his third consecutive year finishing as a top-20 fantasy WR. Even though the second half of the season saw the LA Rams move over from a three-WR set to a two-TE set, Woods was still featured in the offense over teammate Cooper Kupp. In fact, in the final eight games of the season despite missing one due to personal reasons, Woods still grossly out-targeted Kupp as he amassed 80 targets to Kupp’s 47. With former teammate WR Brandin Cooks traded to Houston in the offseason, Woods’ consistent production is poised to take a leap forward.
Fantasy Downside
As well as Woods has produced, he will still have to contend for targets with Kupp, Josh Reynolds and TE Tyler Higbee who seemingly broke out late last season during the team’s changed offensive philosophy. Even with so many players fighting for targets, the diminishing play of the offensive line can continue to make this once prolific offense a shell of its former self, thus no longer capable of supporting fringe WR1s let alone two.
2020 Bottom Line
With all the changes happening to the Rams offense, Woods seems the be the biggest beneficiary as he saw his already stable role grow. The departure of Cooks opens a lot more opportunity for Woods and it’s clear he is now Jared Goff’s primary playmaker. We have Woods ranked 11th amongst WRs and his current ADP has him going in the middle of the 5th round in 12-team leagues. Woods has tremendous value where he’s going and is one of the few WRs going in the fifth round who have a legitimate chance to finish in the top 10 this season.
Week 17 vs Arizona Cardinals
Robert Woods had just one fantasy finish among the top 24 wide receivers in Weeks 1 through 6, but he's finished as a top-ten option in three of the past four weeks. He's played every single offensive snap for the last two games in a row, and his target rate of 18.1% over the last six weeks is the fourth-highest among all wide receivers.
Woods faced off against this Cardinals defense in Week 13 and emerged with 13 receptions and 172 yards on 18 targets. Even with a potential early exit, Woods is a good bet against Arizona and their 18th-ranked aFPA to wide receivers. Vegas projects his game to be a shootout with the highest implied point total of the week, and an injury-free Woods is a decent candidate to soak up the inevitable sizeable volume of targets that would come with a high-scoring outcome. There's certainly risk in a game whose outcome is fairly meaningless to both teams, but when Blake Bortles is on the gridiron, caution is often thrown to the wind.
Week 16 at San Francisco 49ers
Robert Woods was a fantasy bullet-train over the past few weeks, but that train careened off of a cliff in Week 15 against the Cowboys. Woods caught just four passes on nine targets for 17 yards, which made him the WR71 and probably prevented many teams from advancing to the fantasy finals. Woods maintained a dominant snap share, but simply couldn't find success against any of his Cowboys defenders in coverage.
It appears as though Richard Sherman will return this week after missing a game with a hamstring strain, and Woods will often see Sherman across from him on the right side of the offense. Woods will see a decent share of snaps in the slot, but 49ers slot cornerback D.J. Reed is no slouch either. Woods faces an uphill battle that gives him a likely ceiling-range as a high-end WR3 to low-end WR2 but with an extremely low floor. He makes for a nerve-wracking start if he's on your championship-contending fantasy team.
Week 15 at Dallas Cowboys
Robert Woods continued his post-bye fantasy breakout streak in Week 14 with seven receptions on nine targets for 98 yards and a touchdown. Woods finished as the WR6 for the week, and over the past three games, he's the overall fantasy WR4. Since the Rams' Week 9 bye, Woods is tied for fourth in total targets with Jarvis Landry, and his 19.3% target rate is the third-highest mark out of 91 wide receivers to play at least 150 snaps.
Woods is faced with a difficult matchup against a Cowboys defense that ranks eighth in aFPA to wide receivers. Fortunately, Woods generally spends about 30% of his snaps lined up in the slot, and the Cowboys have allowed four touchdowns to wide receivers lined up in the slot over their last two games. Dallas has also allowed sizeable yardage totals to over their last four games to wide receivers lined up inside. If Woods continues his recent snap share dominance and target rate, he remains a good bet to return WR1 value despite the challenging matchup.
