Fantasy Index

Around the NFL

Cleveland Browns

Watson out for season

Good thing yesterday's wide receiver factoid wasn't about Amari Cooper. Things look pretty shaky for Cleveland's No. 1 and the rest of the Browns' receiving corps going forward, with Deshaun Watson headed for surgery, and done for the year.

Apparently the shoulder injury Watson has been dealing with for most of the season involves a broken bone. I haven't read every story yet, but it seems to not reflect well on the Browns' medical staff. Either he's been trying to throw the ball for the past month with a fractured bone or it just cropped up (in addition to the other issues that sidelined him for multiple games). Whatever the case, no more Watson this season.

In a surprise move (surprising to those of us who first wrote up Watson and then wrote up P.J. Walker this morning, only to have to scrap both articles), Cleveland is going with UCLA fifth-rounder Dorian Thompson-Robinson as its starter. This is fair in the sense that Walker looked bad for 3-plus starts, while the rookie only looked bad for one.

But it's a negative for a great receiver like Cooper and a good one like Elijah Moore. Potential positive (or at least neutral): David Njoku.

Here are those receivers in their one game with Thompson-Robinson starting. Keep in mind that not only is it a small sample set, but he was facing the Ravens, so a really tough matchup.

MAIN RECEIVERS WITH DTR (1 GAME)
PlayerTgtNoRecTD
Amari Cooper61160
Elijah Moore42200
David Njoku76460

Njoku, then, was fine, which is encouraging. Thompson-Robinson had no success going to Cooper, and Moore also didn't do much. Moore isn't starting in most leagues anyway, but Cooper has been.

Since I think it's only 50-50 whether Thompson-Robinson stays in the lineup, here are those players' numbers with Walker.

MAIN RECEIVERS WITH WALKER (3 GAMES)
PlayerTgtNoRecTD
Amari Cooper841080
Amari Cooper82220
Amari Cooper116890
Elijah Moore74190
Elijah Moore74590
Elijah Moore52300
David Njoku43240
David Njoku95540
David Njoku84771

With Walker, you got 2 good games out of 3 from Cooper. Not much out of Moore. And two good games out of Njoku, too. Just 1 TD from the three of them in three games. Not great, Bob.

Going forward, seems like Njoku should be fine to use, and Cooper is a guy you'll have to choose your spots with. And hope that Thompson-Robinson is better than he was in his one start, or that it's Walker back in the lineup before long.

--Andy Richardson

7 Reader Comments:

Paul Desimone

Hayward, CA
2023-11-15T19:54:43Z
... And guess who I traded for just this morning. "lol" doesn't do this one justice.

Paul Desimone

Hayward, CA
2023-11-15T20:40:33Z
I've got to say, the Index was right on top of this one as far as adjusting Cooper's ranking on the fly like this.

Ian Allan

Seattle, WA
2023-11-15T21:30:32Z
Thompson-Robinson looked good in the preseason. Good enough that they were (foolishly) willing to trade Joshua Dobbs to Arizona for a Starbucks card. I don't think they'd be putting him in the lineup if they didn't think he had a good chance of being better than P.J. Walker. He's more mobile. In his earlier game, he didn't know he was playing until the day of the game.

Paul Desimone

Hayward, CA
2023-11-15T22:11:48Z
With Cleveland at 6-3, they have a shot at getting into the playoffs. It'd be a feat for DTR (hey, I coined it) to have a good game against the Steelers, who probably will confuse the kid into some big mistakes. Where do they go from here as far as QB? Sure, it'd be a nice story if the kid does a Brock Purdy, but it's hard to envision it. As for Cooper, well, at least for the moment, I just traded for a backup to the backups who I'd planned to back Cooper up. Crazy.

Andy Richardson

Port Chester, NY
2023-11-15T22:31:44Z
Since you mention the playoffs, I notice that 11 teams in the AFC are currently .500 or better. And a 12th team, the Chargers, who are 4-5 but could reasonably get hot and win 9-10 games. Only 7 will make the playoffs. Crazy last 7 weeks.

In the NFC, only 7 teams are .500 or better. The NFC South might be won by an 8-9 team.

There are only 2 NFC teams with more wins than the Vikings.

Ian Allan

Seattle, WA
2023-11-15T22:57:08Z
All of those NFC South teams have really easy schedules. THere will be 9-win team there for sure. Might take 10 wins.

Andy Richardson

Port Chester, NY
2023-11-15T23:07:11Z
I suppose. I guess I’m thinking maybe all the NFC South teams will split their games against each other and then lose out of division games.
Sign in to add a comment

Fantasy Index