Kareem Hunt working with Browns receivers raises his fantasy ceiling

Kareem Hunt was already looking like a great fantasy value this year, but recent news pushes the arrow up a bit further.

After he served an eight-game suspension to start last season, the Cleveland Browns did not ease Kareem Hunt into action. He played at least 54 percent of the snaps in all eight games he played, and over 60 percent in four of the last five in a tandem with Nick Chubb.

Chubb had a healthy workload last year, with 298 carries (third in the league). But his passing game role dried up when Hunt played, with 11 catches and 17 targets over that span. Meanwhile, Hunt had 37 catches on 44 targets (5.5 per game) while chipping in 179 yards and two scores on 43 carries.

In full PPR fantasy scoring from Week 10-17 last year, Hunt was RB17 while Chubb was RB15. After Browns offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt said it would be crazy not to have Chubb and Hunt on the field together, wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator Chad O’Shea offered an interesting bit of information.

Fantasy Football: Kareem Hunt might be a PPR steal in 2020

Hunt has shown himself to be a dynamic pass catcher, so the Browns should feature him in that aspect of the game. After Odell Beckham and Jarvis Landry, there is a drop-off in Cleveland’s wide receiver depth. Rashard Higgins and Taywan Taylor are the most obvious candidates to be the No. 3 wide receiver, and Shea mentioned Hunt as a candidate too.

Hunt played 309 snaps last year. According to RotoWire’s data, he lined up out wide or in the slot for 73 snaps (23.6 percent of the time) with an even balance between the left (36 snaps) and right side (37 snaps). But the deeper data shows, however random such as sample can be, that Hunt was more prolific lining up on the right side.

Hunt was on an 88-target and 74-catch pace for a full season last year. He is already looking like a great value in drafts, coming in at RB27 in full PPR (via Fantasy Football Calculator,12-team leagues). A standalone RB2 finish in PPR scoring is a good bet in a backfield work share. And if something happened to Chubb, Hunt would be lined up as the workhorse with a ceiling that’s hard to comprehend.