Marshon Lattimore has been targeted so little this season it would be easy to forget he was on the field. Lattimore got injured at the end of the New Orleans Saints’ season opener and missed the following game against the Dallas Cowboys. Other than that, he’s played 100 percent of the snaps. Still, Lattimore has seen only 9 targets on more than 150 coverage snaps.
Teams have opted to attack Paulson Adebo, and it’s hard to blame them with his subpar performance this year. Adebo has allowed the second-most receptions (26) and third-most yards (328) this season so far.
With Mike Evans, Baker Mayfield and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers coming to town, expect Lattimore’s workload to jump. This is one of the NFL’s biggest individual rivalries between two extremely talented players.
Mayfield is going to target Evans. It wouldn’t be surprising to see Lattimore shadow Evans the majority of the game. That would likely lead to Lattimore seeing the most targets he’s seen this year.
Even when he isn’t guarding Evans, Lattimore can’t fall asleep on the boundary. Mayfield has too much confidence in himself and too much trust in his teammates to shy away from Lattimore. That could be Chris Godwin, who leads Tampa Bay in targets, or any other receiver. Mayfield won’t just look the other way.
