As the NFL season looms, fantasy football will once again make its way into the discussions on social media, in families and at workplaces. The Cleveland Browns will be an interesting team for fantasy football players to assess but Nick Chubb continues to be reliable for fantasy production.
The Browns will be a difficult team for fantasy owners to make decisions related to both sides of the ball. The defense is talented, on paper, but is relying on a lot of new players and some very young ones. The Browns also face some of the best quarterbacks in the league this season, making their defense less stable in fantasy.
On the offensive side of the ball there is a lot of talent but not a lot of certainties. Baker Mayfield played well last season but is a quarterback in a run-first offense. Odell Beckham Jr. is explosive but hasn’t really clicked with Mayfield and is returning from a major knee injury. The rest of the Browns pass catchers, including Jarvis Landry, have talent but are either not explosive or won’t get a ton of targets to make them highly valuable in fantasy football.
It is at running back that the Browns may have the most fantasy value but, even there, have some limits. Chubb is paired with Kareem Hunt in the Cleveland backfield. Last year, with Chubb missing four games due to injury, the pair almost evenly split 388 carries. The previous season, Hunt only played in eight games but had 80 touches in that short span.
How the Browns split carries could greatly impact the duo’s fantasy value but Chubb’s ability to break long runs with limited carries is a positive sign:
2020 Leaders in Gash % (Percentage of runs to go for 10+ yards) — (Powered by @FTNData)
◾️Nick Chubb (17.9%)
◾️Jonathan Taylor (15.1%)
◾️Alvin Kamara (15.0%)
◾️J.K. Dobbins (14.9%)
◾️Dalvin Cook (14.4%)*MIN 100 carries
📈➡️ https://t.co/jTCFCRWR0H pic.twitter.com/H1kMl6c1S8
— FTNNetwork (@FTNNetwork) July 18, 2021
With less than 200 carries in 2020, Chubb made a lot out of a little. For fantasy football owners, this information is encouraging that Chubb could be in for a breakout season despite Hunt’s presence. If Chubb can stay healthy for the entire season and garner closer to 260 carries, he could be in line to be the top back in the league in 2021 if he keeps his “gash %” high.
