Fantasy Football 2014: Cleveland Browns RB Rundown
Most of the attention in Browns preseason has been on their QB battle, but as the nation witnessed on Monday Night that may come down to picking the less horrible of two bad options. It looks like Brian Hoyer will get the first try at the job, but expect Johnny Football to get under center at some point this season. Whoever takes the snaps, the Browns offense is going to have to be powered by their ground game.
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While there are a few intriguing running back options in Cleveland, they all come with major question marks and issues of their own. If opponents are allowed to stack the box against them, the Browns RB could be in for a long season, but there is always fantasy relevancy even in some of the least successful offenses. In fact, the Browns rushers could end up being nice values if you can get them at the right price since other owners may be scared away by the offensive struggles.
Here is a quick look at what I expect from each of the Browns RB and where I think you should target them in your draft based on my ranking in my top 80 RB which came out last week and which will be updated later this week.
RB. Cleveland Browns. Ben Tate. 22. player. 53. Tate will be the feature back in Cleveland to start the season and could have to carry the offense especially early in the season. He may not get the scoring chances of a back on a better offense, but he’ll get plenty of carries and showed he is a good fit in Kyle Shanahan’s offense. Shanahan’s offense has produced some solid fantasy seasons for Alfred Morris and other, but there is one big IF in Tate’s season profile. IF he can stay healthy, Tate has great value as a RB3, but he’s struggled to do that in Houston even when he wasn’t getting a heavy workload. Even as an injury risk, though, Tate’s upside makes him a great pickup as your third RB in standard leagues and a decent RB2 in deep leagues.
Terrance West. 61. player. 53. West has established himself as a solid backup to Tate and a talent that could be a fantasy factor this season. Given Tate’s injury history, West will probably get a chance at some point this season. He’s shown he has ability to contribute and will be at least flex material if he gets the starting job at any point this season. He would be much higher on this list except that he doesn’t seem to be in line for much of a role when Tate is healthy. If you’re roster guidelines allow you to stash him for some point later in the season, he’s worth a late round pick, but in most formats he can be left on the wire until his situation changes.. RB. Cleveland Browns
Dion Lewis. NR. player. 53. Lewis has struggled this preseason and is safely left on waiver wires to start the season. He’s clearly the Browns third RB, but doesn’t look ready to get assume a larger role anytime soon.. RB. Cleveland Browns
This post is part of a series detailing the backfield situation for each NFL team from a fantasy football perspective. Check out my top 80 rankings and click here for the full series.