100 Questions: Fantasy Football 2024 (Cleveland Browns)

As we head toward the start of the 2024 NFL and fantasy football season, FTN Fantasy editor-in-chief Daniel Kelley is asking (and attempting to answer) the 100 most pressing questions in fantasy football. This is 100 Questions. Today: The Cleveland Browns.

The last time the Browns won 12 games, it was 1986. The last time they won a division title, it was 1989 and a version of the franchise that eventually would go on to be the Ravens. The second-to-last time they won a playoff game, it was 1994 and still a version of the franchise that would go away. A few years ago, they committed enough money to buy Rhode Island to a quarterback who has given them 12 games of an 81.7 passer rating in two years.

But! Over the last four years, the Browns have 37 wins. That’s tied for the 11^th-most in the league in that time with relevant teams like New Orleans, Seattle and the Rams. They have two 11-win seasons in the last four years, one of only 10 teams that can say that. Last year they had the Coach of the Year (Kevin Stefanski, his second such honor in the last four years), Assistant Coach of the Year (Jim Schwartz), Defensive Player of the Year (Myles Garrett) and Comeback Player of the Year (Joe Flacco, now in Indianapolis).

I guess the Browns are the ultimate “You can make whatever argument you want about them” team right now. Because many other teams with the Browns’ last four years would be pretty satisfied with the progress, the foundation. But in Cleveland, it still feels like the other shoe is going to drop. Unless it doesn’t.

The Questions

26. Can David Njoku Do That Again?
27. Did the Browns Get Jerry Jeudy with a Plan?
28. This Backfield Sure Is Confusing, Huh?

100 Questions for 2024: Cleveland Browns

Can David Njoku Do That Again?

OK, so, the thing with the Browns is that the fantasy stock of most of the players is tied up in how Deshaun Watson fares. Really, all three questions for the team could be some variant of “Uh, is the quarterback going to be any good?” The problem there is that no one knows the dang answer. Watson has had a few flashes since joining the Browns where he resembles his former self, but they’ve been rare, and he’s dealt with suspensions and battled injury. You have to try to predict how he’ll do to build your personal fantasy plan for 2024, but if I (or anyone) tried to predict it in writing as some sort of wannabe advice? It’d just be guesswork. Pure guesswork.

So instead, let’s look at the other pieces and try to approach them QB-agnostically.

Which brings us to David Njoku. If Deshaun Watson isn’t any good … well, then the only Browns receiver you want is Amari Cooper, and even his production will be muted. If Watson is worthwhile … there is nothing in Watson’s history — shared with Njoku or otherwise — that leads us to believe he’ll lean on the tight end to the extent that we’d want to draft him at TE9. The best finish for a tight end with Watson in Houston was TE17 (Darren Fells, 2019), and in 10 games with Watson over the last two years, Njoku has averaged 5.4 targets and 8.9 PPR points per game. Watson has his pros and his cons, but if you’re looking for a tight end to have success, Watson is not he quarterback you want, no matter what version of Watson we get.

Did the Browns Get Jerry Jeudy with a Plan?

There are three primary reasons to trade for a player:

• You want a player at whatever the cost happens to be (you believe in him)
• You want a player at a reduced cost (you want a lottery ticket)
• You want something else and get the player as part of the package

C doesn’t apply for our purposes here. So we have to decide whether the Browns’ trade for Jerry Jeudy was A (they wanted Jeudy, cost irrespective) or B (they saw a depressed asset and figured it couldn’t hurt to try). We can’t get into the head of Browns GM Andrew Berry, but I’m a big believer in timing. The legal tampering period opened March 11. If the Browns just saw Jeudy as a depressed asset who could be worth a shot, they could have waited for that to start, poked around, tried to see what worked up, and then if they struck out still gone back to the Broncos for Jeudy. Sure, someone else might have swooped in that time, but if you just see Jeudy was a maybe, you don’t care that much.

Instead, the Browns nabbed Jeudy on March 9, two days before the league year began. To me, that qualifies them as A. They wanted Jeudy, and they got him. That doesn’t guarantee he’ll be a star by any means, but it does tell me they want him to be the No. 2 receiver (and likely primary slot option) over Elijah Moore, last year’s trade acquisition who utterly failed to launch. You aren’t counting on anything out of Jeudy, but he should offer enough upside to be worth a pick in the 11^th round or so, ahead of his current ADP.

This Backfield Sure Is Confusing, Huh?

Nick Chubb is excellent! Nick Chubb is also attempting to come back from one of the more gruesome running back injuries we’ve seen in years, and it’s the second significant injury he’s had to that leg as an adult. He’s running on the sidelines, but he’s still on the PUP list and the Browns have said they will not rush him, so it’s hard to imagine Chubb is going to be a fantasy factor (or even active) to start the season.

Behind him, in some order, Jerome Ford, D’Onta Foreman and (also on the PUP list) Nyheim Hines. That’s a lot of names that add up to something far less valuable than a healthy Nick Chubb. Fantasy drafters are opting for Ford (RB40 by current ADP) over Foreman (RB66), Hines (undrafted) and even Pierre Strong Jr. (RB97), with Chubb sitting at RB28. Personally, though, I’d avoid drafting any of them. Are you sure Ford (71.5 PFF rushing grade last year) will slot ahead of Foreman (77.4) based on history with the offense? Does it matter, given they each ran for only 3.9 yards per carry last year? Will Hines get healthy enough to matter and absorb the receiving part of the backfield? And when will Chubb be back and render them all irrelevant? And of course, drafting Chubb carries its own huge pitfalls, because he’s already slated to maybe miss the first few weeks or be eased in, and any kind of setback could cost him a big chunk or all of the season. I’m not drafting Ford, Foreman, Hines or Strong pretty much at all, and unless Chubb falls in drafts (barring some very positive surprising news about him between now and my draft day), I’m probably not touching him either. Just avoid the Cleveland backfield.

(I wrote everything above prior to Foreman’s injury in camp, but he’s already out of the hospital and back with the team, and it sounds like it was more scary than it was long-lasting. If that changes and Foreman doesn’t make it back … I’m still not very excited about Jerome Ford.)