The Daily Blitz: Demetric Felton

Saturday, September 25, 2021

Cleveland Browns Week 3 NFL Power Rankings Roundup

Throughout the 2021 NFL season, we will compile a consensus NFL Power Rankings that averages the rankings of all 32 NFL teams.

Here is where the Cleveland Browns rank in terms of average, best and worst:

Average ranking: 8.0 (8th)
Best ranking: 4th (USA Today)
Worst ranking: 10th (Multiple)

Below you will find a Week 3 roundup for the Browns in our consensus 2021 NFL Power Rankings.

ESPN -- Rank: 8

Fantasy surprise: RB Demetric Felton

On the first offensive touch of his NFL career, the rookie spun out of two tackles then broke another on the way to a 33-yard touchdown on Sunday. The sixth-round pick out of UCLA wound up finishing with a team-high 51 receiving yards on top of returning punts and kicks in Cleveland's 31-21 win over Houston. Coach Kevin Stefanski noted afterward that Felton's role as a multipurpose playmaker in the offense would continue to grow. But with wide receiver Jarvis Landry dealing with a knee injury and fellow wideout Odell Beckham Jr. still yet to play, Felton's role could grow sooner rather than later. -- Jake Trotter

NFL.com -- Rank: 8

The Browns got a solid performance from Baker Mayfield and the now-customary game-icing touchdown run from Nick Chubb to beat a Texans team that continues to look friskier than expected. Houston QB Tyrod Taylor was dicing up his former team before suffering a hamstring injury that ended his day after two quarters (and which is likely to cost him considerable time, per NFL Network's Tom Pelissero). The Browns were pretty much in control from that point onward, as Texans rookie Davis Webb delivered an uneven performance in relief. One subplot to watch: Jarvis Landry is week-to-week after suffering an MCL injury on the second snap of the game. With Odell Beckham's lingering absence threatening to turn into an Unsolved Mysteries episode, Cleveland is suddenly thin at wide receiver. Mayfield's lack of downfield passes underlined this issue against Houston.

CBS Sports -- Rank: 10

They found a way against the Texans, but it was clunky at times. They were in a close game until Tyrod Taylor went out. Losing Jarvis Landry for a bit will hurt the offense.

USA Today -- Rank: 4

Very premature to anoint RB Nick Chubb a future Hall of Famer -- but he's doing gold jacket-type things. Chubb is the first Cleveland player since Leroy Kelly (Hall of Fame Class of 1994) to rush for a TD in eight consecutive games and first since Jim Brown (Hall of Fame Class of 1971) to run for at least 50 yards 35 times in his first four seasons.

The Athletic -- Rank: 10

Baker Mayfield's Next Gen passing chart is full of green dots from Week 2. He was 19-of-21 passing in Cleveland's win over Houston, an efficient albeit not incredibly dynamic afternoon. The question with Mayfield is contract-related at this point. The Browns feel good about him, but two interceptions and only one touchdown pass two weeks into the season isn't going to add dollar signs to a future extension. Having nine incomplete passes, though, is pretty impressive.

Previous updates:

More Cleveland Browns pages:

Fantasy Football Projections 2021: Cleveland Browns

Our 2021 Fantasy Football Projections will be viewable by both position and team.

Below you will find our 2021 fantasy football projections for the Cleveland Browns.

MORE: Fantasy football projections for more NFL teams

QUARTERBACKS

Player	Att.	Comp.	Yards	TD	INT	Rush	Yards	TD	Points
Baker Mayfield	530.3	334.9	3887.1	27.84	9.81	54.6	185.6	1.77	276.4
Case Keenum	19.2	12.1	135.4	0.72	0.38	1.3	4.2	0.02	8.08

Baker Mayfield: Making major improvements over his 2019 campaign, Mayfield set a career high in passer rating (95.9) and a career low in INT% (1.6%). Outside of a four-game stretch near the end of the season (Weeks 12-15), however, Mayfield's efficiency didn't translate into a usable level of fantasy production.

Mayfield performed as a QB1 (top 12) in all four of those weeks (Weeks 12-15), but he had only one other top-12 weekly finish throughout the rest of the season (Week 7). Over the full season, he finished as fantasy's QB17. Leading a run-first playoff-caliber team likely means another season of modest passing volume that translates into mid-tier QB2-level fantasy production.

RUNNING BACKS

Player	Att.	Yards	TD	Rec.	Yards	TD	Points
Nick Chubb	269.2	1346	11.04	24.6	201.1	1.6	242.85
Kareem Hunt	134.6	572.1	4.44	39	335.9	2.7	153.14
Demetric Felton	17.8	76.5	0.45	6.9	50.3	0.4	21.23
D'Ernest Johnson	22.9	100.8	0.57	4	30.2	0.2	19.72
Andy Janovich	1.3	2.9	0.01	1.7	14.1	0.1	3.21

Nick Chubb: Despite missing four games, Chubb still finished as fantasy's RB9 in 2020. Chubb has finished second and third in rushing yards per game in 2019 and 2020, respectively. Through his first three seasons, Chubb has never averaged fewer than five yards per carry in a season.

Even with the league's best No. 2 back (Kareem Hunt) on the roster, Chubb has averaged 18.05 touches per game since Hunt returned from his 2019 suspension. Only four teams in the league had a higher rushing play percentage than the Browns in Kevin Stefanski's first year as head coach.

Kareem Hunt: While Chubb (RB9) was a top-10 fantasy running back in 2020, so was Hunt (RB10). Outside of Week 16, Hunt had double-digit touches in all of his other 15 games. Playing in one of the league's most run-heavy offenses, there is enough to go around for both Chubb and Hunt to be drafted as viable starters in 12-team leagues.

WIDE RECEIVERS

Player	Rec.	Yards	TD	Rush	Yards	TD	Points
Odell Beckham	67.7	955.3	6.1	2.5	12.5	0.08	167.71
Jarvis Landry	72	834.7	5.6	3.8	18.1	0.15	155.78
Rashard Higgins	26.9	382.1	2.6	0	0	0	67.26
Donovan Peoples-Jones	9.5	156.9	1.1	0	0	0	27.04
Anthony Schwartz	6.1	110.6	0.6	0	0	0	17.71
KhaDarel Hodge	0.9	10.1	0.1	0	0	0	2.06

Odell Beckham: OBJ has now missed at least four games in three of the past four seasons. Since becoming a Brown, Beckham has averaged 4.6 and 3.3 receptions per game in 2019 and 2020, respectively, both of which are the lowest per-game averages of his career. In addition, Beckham's per-game averages of 4.2/58.9/0.3 as a Brown are significantly lower compared to his per-game averages as a Giant (6.6/92.8/0.75).

Jarvis Landry: While he has typically exceeded his preseason expectations, Landry finished 2020 as fantasy's WR36, identical to his final 2020 half-PPR ADP (via Fantasy Football Calculator). Landry set career lows in targets (101) and receptions (72) last season and his yards from scrimmage (850) and total touchdowns (four) were either the lowest or second-lowest of his career. Given that those numbers were mostly without Odell Beckham Jr. (torn ACL), it's unlikely that Landry outperforms last year's modest numbers (by much) in Cleveland's run-first offense.

Rashard Higgins: Higgins' 2020 averages of 46.1 yards per game, 11.5 yards per target and 16.2 yards per reception all set career highs. That said, Cleveland's run-heavy offense can barely support two fantasy-relevant wide receivers, let alone three, so Higgins will be off the fantasy radar in standard-sized leagues without an injury to OBJ and/or Landry.

TIGHT ENDS

Player	Rec.	Yards	TD	Points
Austin Hooper	51.4	524.9	4.1	102.79
Harrison Bryant	21.7	241.4	2	46.99
David Njoku	13.7	164.9	1.4	31.74
Stephen Carlson	0.9	10.1	0.1	2.06

Austin Hooper: The team's overall passing volume is modest, but Cleveland's offense is TE-friendly with 27.74% of 2020 targets going to the position. Hooper, who has now missed three games in back-to-back seasons, underwhelmed in his first season in Cleveland as he averaged a career-low 6.2 Y/TGT and 33.5 YPG, a three-year low. With Odell Beckham sidelined (torn ACL), Hooper was more productive down the stretch -- 25/211/3 on 40 targets over his final five games including the playoffs.

More Cleveland Browns pages:

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Saturday, September 25, 2021

Cleveland Browns Week 3 NFL Power Rankings Roundup

Saturday, July 31, 2021

Fantasy Football Projections 2021: Cleveland Browns

QUARTERBACKS

RUNNING BACKS

WIDE RECEIVERS

TIGHT ENDS

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