How much does Jacoby Brissett limit the fantasy upside of Amari Cooper and other Browns receivers?
One day after Deshaun Watson’s suspension was extended to 11 games, his Cleveland Browns teammates expressed confidence in backup quarterback Jacoby Brissett’s ability to step in and win games.
One of those teammates was wide receiver Amari Cooper, who is entering his first season with the Browns after being traded by the Dallas Cowboys.
“We know Jacoby, we understand what he brings to the table, we see him practice every day, see how hard he works, so we 100 percent believe in him,” Cooper said Friday. “He wouldn’t be back there if we didn’t.”
Running back Nick Chubb said similar things of Brissett.
So what does this mean for fantasy football managers? Absolutely nothing.
The Browns’ confidence in Brissett is great, and he may even lead them to a few wins. But those wins won’t be high in fantasy production from him or his top targets. And we know this because we’ve seen his work in the past — in each of his previous three stops.
In 37 career starts, Brissett has averaged 199.6 yards per game on 6.46 yards per attempt. Those numbers would have ranked 30th and 29th in the NFL last season. It’s for that reason he holds little to no fantasy value himself, but it’s also why the value of Cleveland’s receivers is limited.
In the two seasons Brisssett started at least 11 games, as he’s expected to this year, he didn’t have a single receiver record 1,000 yards or catch more than five touchdowns. That includes T.Y. Hilton, whose 2017 with Brissett under center for 15 games ended a streak of four straight 1,000-yard seasons.
That doesn’t mean Cooper or Donovan Peoples-Jones or David Njoku hold zero value. As a No. 1 receiver, Cooper is still worth drafting — especially with a Watson return coming in time for the stretch playoff run — but he should be selected later than most top targets. According to FantasyPros, his average draft position is 26th among receivers and 63rd overall, which is somewhere around the fifth round in 12-man leagues. Njoku is 153rd overall, and Peoples-Jones is 203rd.
The only player on the Browns who carries immediate fantasy value is Chubb. Outside of him, expectations for everyone else should be extremely limited.