There was some good news yesterday for Browns' second-round pick Quinshon Judkins. Prosecutors aren't going to pursue charges related to his arrest on domestic violence charges a few weeks back.
This story is not necessarily over. The end to the legal matter means one of two things: 1) Judkins didn't do anything wrong, or 2) He may have done something wrong, but authorities don't have a strong case against him. Cynically, one could theorize that some money in the right place had an impact. But it's also possible that the kid's totally innocent, so whatever.
The NFL says it's continuing its investigation. They can and do suspend players even in situations where there are no legal repercussions. And Judkins has missed a lot of training camp, so he's unlikely to show up and step into the starting lineup. Holdover Jerome Ford and fourth-rounder Dylan Sampson will probably still be ahead of him, at least initially.
Part of me believes the enthusiasm for Judkins (pre-arrest, he was being drafted in the top 25 at the position) was a little too dismissive of Ford all along. Ford was just a fifth-round selection back in 2022, but let's not give him some credit for what he's done with his opportunities thus far.
The last two seasons, Ford has played at least 40 percent of the snaps 26 times -- sometimes starting, something coming off the bench behind Chubb. In those 26 games, he's averaged 11 points in PPR leagues, with double-digit fantasy points 15 times. That's without even playing more than half the time in 10 of those contests.
If you look just at the eight games where he's played two-thirds of the snaps, he's averaged 13 points per week. (Table shows all games where he played at least 40 percent of the time, sorted by percentage of the snaps.)
| JEROME FORD WITH 40 PERCENT OF THE SNAPS | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Opp | Run | No | Rec | TD | %Snaps | Pts |
| 2024 | at Cin. | 92 | 5 | 39 | 0 | 80.3 | 18.1 |
| 2024 | NYG | 37 | 3 | 33 | 0 | 79.1 | 10.0 |
| 2024 | at L.V. | 58 | 7 | 27 | 0 | 78.0 | 15.5 |
| 2024 | Dal. | 44 | 6 | 25 | 0 | 75.0 | 12.9 |
| 2023 | at Den. | 65 | 4 | 14 | 0 | 69.9 | 11.9 |
| 2024 | at Den. | 41 | 1 | 21 | 0 | 66.3 | 7.2 |
| 2023 | Ari. | 44 | 5 | 33 | 0 | 64.4 | 12.7 |
| 2023 | at Bal. | 107 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 64.1 | 11.9 |
| 2023 | Bal. | 26 | 5 | 19 | 0 | 62.3 | 9.5 |
| 2024 | at Was. | 47 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 58.1 | 7.9 |
| 2024 | K.C. | 84 | 2 | 20 | 0 | 58.1 | 12.4 |
| 2023 | Jac. | 51 | 5 | 31 | 0 | 56.6 | 13.2 |
| 2023 | Ten. | 18 | 2 | 33 | 1 | 56.3 | 13.1 |
| 2024 | at N.O. | 10 | 4 | 29 | 0 | 56.2 | 7.9 |
| 2024 | at Pit. | 28 | 3 | 19 | 0 | 55.6 | 7.7 |
| 2023 | at LAR | 19 | 3 | 33 | 1 | 50.7 | 14.2 |
| 2023 | Chi. | 20 | 4 | 11 | 0 | 50.7 | 7.1 |
| 2023 | S.F. | 84 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 50.0 | 11.1 |
| 2023 | at Pit. | 106 | 3 | 25 | 1 | 49.4 | 22.1 |
| 2023 | Pit. | 31 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 49.3 | 5.9 |
| 2024 | LAC | 5 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 45.6 | 1.7 |
| 2024 | at Jac. | 64 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 44.4 | 7.4 |
| 2023 | at Ind. | 74 | 2 | 20 | 0 | 42.7 | 11.4 |
| 2023 | at Hou. | 25 | 1 | -2 | 0 | 42.7 | 3.3 |
| 2023 | Cin. | 36 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 40.5 | 3.6 |
| 2023 | NYJ | 64 | 2 | 57 | 2 | 40.0 | 26.1 |
If Judkins does get a league suspension of some kind (or even if this blows over, but the rookie is slow to pick up the offense or something), Ford should have a role. Maybe in a committee. But there's enough of a track record to suggest he'll be viable in fantasy leagues, either as an initial starter, or as part of a tandem. If you select Judkins, I think Ford should also be drafted, just in case.
--Andy Richardson