Browns are gold mine for fantasy points

If a fantasy team owner this summer decided to draft the entire group of fantasy-relevant Browns players, there’s enough talent to make a run at a championship. Mark Podolski breaks it down.

Imagine pinning your fantasy hopes on players from the 2017 Browns lineup.

Talk about donating your league’s entry fee.

Not only was that team historically awful — sorry, but remember 0-16 in 2017? — fantasy owners would have been forced to play the likes of quarterbacks DeShone Kizer, Kevin Hogan and Cody Kessler.

At running back, Isaiah Crowell and Duke Johnson had value, but at wide receiver there wasn’t much help with the likes of Corey Coleman, Sammie Coates and Rashard Higgins. At tight end, David Njoku was a rookie and had little value. In fairness to the group of receivers, few in the league would have produced with that instability at QB.

Two years later, things have changed from a fantasy perspective.

The Browns, on paper, look like fantasy gold in 2019, especially after the blockbuster trade to acquire All-Pro receiver Odell Beckham Jr. on March 12.

If an owner this summer decided to draft the entire group of fantasy-relevant Browns players, there’s enough talent to make a run at a championship.

Here’s how it could be done in a points-per-reception, 14-round league (with fantasy position and projected round to draft player):

• Nick Chubb, running back (RB1, first round): As a rookie, Chubb became the starter for the last 10 games of 2018, and averaged 82.3 yards per game, and scored eight touchdowns. Projected over 16 games, that’s 1,316 yards and 13 touchdowns. That type of production warrants a pick somewhere in the middle of Round 1 in most fantasy drafts.

• Odell Beckham Jr., wide receiver (WR1, second round): His first three years produced seasons of at least 1,300 yards and 10 touchdowns. It will be interesting to see if those number get a bump or decline with other options available for second-year quarterback Baker Mayfield. There’s also an argument Beckham is a mid to late first-round pick, which would make it difficult for an owner to land Chubb and Beckham.

• Jarvis Landry, wide receiver (WR2, third/fourth round): In 2013, when Landry and Beckham were LSU teammates and Zach Mettenberger was the QB, Beckham had 59 catches, 1,152 yards and eight TDs. Landry had 77 for 1,193 yards and 10 scores. Don’t be surprised if those numbers are similar in 2019.

• Baker Mayfield, quarterback (QB1, fifth/sixth round): Mayfield’s production in 13 games would have produced 4,576 passing yards and 33 TD passes in 16 games. As a rookie. Without Beckham. Enough said.

• David Njoku, tight end (TE1, eighth round): Njoku’s receptions (32 to 56) and yards (386 to 639) nearly doubled from his rookie season to 2018. A 60-to 70-catch season isn’t out of the question in 2019.

• Antonio Callaway, wide receiver (WR4/5, 10th round): Callaway was solid as a rookie (43-586-5) and any receiver with Mayfield throwing to him has value in fantasy.

• Duke Johnson, running back (RB4/5, 11/12th round): Someone has to back up Chubb. Until there’s more clarity to Kareem Hunt’s situation (he’s facing a likely suspension stemming from the video that showed him striking a woman), drafting Johnson would only be as the handcuff to Chubb.

• Kareem Hunt, running back (RB4/5, 11/12th round): The length of his suspension is the big question, so right now Hunt is a draft-and-stash option.

• Browns defense/special teams (13th round): With defensive end Olivier Vernon (51 career sacks in seven seasons) acquired in a trade and paired with Myles Garrett (20.5 sacks in two seasons), the Browns defense should be improved and generate sacks, turnovers and fantasy points.

• Greg Joseph, kicker (14th round): Joseph was the kicker from Week 3 on, and made 17 of 20 field goals, but missed four extra-point attempts. Best fantasy advice: don’t draft a kicker until the last round.