The Cleveland Browns will face the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 9. Here’s fantasy football start-sit advice for every Browns skill player who has the potential to make a fantasy impact during the game.
Looking for more lineup advice? Head over to our Week 9 Fantasy Start-Sit Cheat Sheet, where we cover every fantasy-relevant player in every game.
Jameis Winston, QB
This man has as many multi-pass TD games as Deshaun Watson this season and has a higher peak finish in 2024 than Patrick Mahomes or Aaron Rodgers.
He’s made one start.
The Browns’ season isn’t going anywhere, but with the 30-year-old Winston in the final year of his contract, I’m not the least bit worried about motivation. We know that there is a reckless side to him, but that’s the mindset I want if I’m streaming the position.
I’m not going there this weekend against the third-most effective blitzing team that ranks fifth-best in yards per pass allowed this season — but I’m OK with stashing him and seeing where this goes.
- Week 16 at Cincinnati Bengals
- Week 17 vs. Miami Dolphins
Jerome Ford, RB
Ford’s hold on the lead job was fading as the days came off the calendar in September, and that was before Nick Chubb made his season debut. A hamstring injury has cost the 25-year-old consecutive games, and while he may return this week, it shouldn’t matter in most situations.
Despite the success of Week 8, this offense is still volatile, and so is Ford’s running style. I’d be interested if he held the lead role on a run-centric offense like the Chargers, but in this situation, as it stands, Ford (26% of his career carries have failed to gain yardage) doesn’t need to be rostered.
Nick Chubb, RB
Chubb was on the field for 35.1% of Cleveland’s offensive snaps in his return to action in Week 7, a rate that we saw spike to 60.1% in the win over the Ravens a week later.
It’s great to see the role trending in the right direction, but don’t mistake that as an excuse to lock him into your lineups with vintage Chubb expectations.
In his two games this season, Chubb is averaging just 0.1 yards per carry before contact this season, a tough situation for anyone to produce behind, let alone a running back coming off of a devastating knee injury.
Whether that number is the result of poor Cleveland blocking, hesitation on Chubb’s part, or a combination of both, it doesn’t really matter. In those games, without room to gather momentum, his ypc after contact is down 32.7% from his career rate.
Chubb could be an asset when you need him most (Bengals and Dolphins in Weeks 16-17), we just aren’t there yet — not against the Chargers’ defense that is allowing a league-low 1.7 red-zone trips per game.
Cedric Tillman, WR
Jameis Winston was spreading the ball around in his first start, but it was clear that the 6’3″ Tillman had his trust from the jump (7-99-2). Sure, one of those scores was on a defensive miscommunication, but Winston made the Ravens pay for it, something we didn’t see from this Browns passing game under Deshaun Watson.
You likely added Tillman this week, and I think you bought in on his upside, but I’d be surprised if he ran away with the Flex role on your roster. At the time of his third-quarter touchdown, Tillman was one of four Browns targeted at least five times on Winston’s first 27 passes.
In a similar way that Joe Flacco is going to bring professionalism to Indianapolis, I expect Winston to do that in Cleveland — it’s good for the team but not great for fantasy managers.
Tillman is my WR40 this week. I think he’s a good player with a safe role, though painting Winston as a consistent QB is not a step I’m ready to take. The Chargers simply don’t play in fantasy-friendly games (their next game with 40 total points scored will be their first this season).
Jerry Jeudy, WR
Five catches for 79 yards may not seem like a step forward, but I promise you, as someone who has been admittedly too high on Jeudy this season, this is good to see.
- Weeks 1-7: 15.6% on-field target share, 18.1% below production expectation, and 52% catch rate
- Week 8: 18.6% on-field target share, 0.3% below expectation, and 62.5% catch rate
As I said, we aren’t celebrating a full-fledged breakout, but there were some breadcrumbs laid last week, and that nourishment is welcomed with open arms by starving Jeudy managers.
Now, that production does need to be contextualized, as it came against one of the most vulnerable pass defenses in the league. And we have years of evidence to suggest that the Jameis Winston experience isn’t a ride that comes without twists and turns. I’m sitting on my Jeudy stock right now, and that’s a step up from the sell position I was toying with in the Deshaun Watson era.
I’m just going to leave this here: Jeudy was a top-10 receiver in Dec. 2022.
David Njoku, TE
Njoku has been a physical mismatch ever since he entered the NFL, and Jameis Winston is as good at taking advantage of talent as there is. We saw that on the 23-yard touchdown last week in single coverage where he just outmuscled the defender, and I suspect we see more of it moving forward given Winston’s propensity to trust his top playmakers.
He’s scored in consecutive weeks and can be used as a weekly option across all formats with confidence as the featured pass catcher in the fourth most pass-oriented offense when inside the red zone. It should be no surprise that Njoku posted his highest aDOT since Week 12, 2022, giving him an upside that only a handful of tight ends in today’s game have.
Los Angeles Chargers at Cleveland Browns Insights
Los Angeles Chargers
Team: We still haven’t seen 40 total points scored in a Charger game this season (the Browns aren’t exactly explosive on either side of the ball, but even they’ve seen 40 points hit three times this season)
QB: Over the past two weeks, Justin Herbert is 20-of-24 for 328 yards and a touchdown when throwing out of play-action.
Offense: In Weeks 1-4, the Bolts averaged 1.5 points per drive. In the past three weeks, however, that number has spiked to 2.0 (up 33.3%).
Defense: Los Angeles is the only team in the league that can say they’ve recovered as many fumbles as rushing touchdowns they’ve allowed (three).
Fantasy: This is a low-volume offense, and those situations typically result in touchdowns to pay off fantasy managers – J.K. Dobbins was able to help you out with a short score, but that’s not going to be the norm for a team that ranks 31st in percentage of drives that reach the opponents’ 20-yard line (20.8%, only the Browns have been worse).
Betting: Unders are 5-1 in the last six Justin Herbert starts in which the Chargers have been a road favorite.
Cleveland Browns
Team: Cleveland leads the league in play-action rate this season (19.4%), which they essentially mirrored in Jameis Winston’s first start (19.7%).
QB: Winston went 8-11 when throwing deep downfield (15-plus air yards) on Sunday against the Ravens, totaling 167 yards and two touchdowns.
Offense: The Browns completed just 19.2% of their third downs through Week 6. Against the Bengals in Week 7, they were eight-of-19 (42.1%) and, in the upset win over the Ravens on Sunday, eight-of-15 (53.3%).
Defense: Cleveland leads the NFL in pressure rate this season (42.7%) and made Lamar Jackson uncomfortable on 50% of his dropbacks last weekend (the second time this season, they created chaos on at least half of their opponents’ pass attempts.
Fantasy: David Njoku has scored in consecutive weeks and can be used as a weekly option across all formats with confidence as the featured pass catcher in the fourth most pass-oriented offense when inside the red zone.
Betting: Since the beginning of last season, the Browns are 7-2 ATS when playing at home with a total that closes under 40 points (unders are 6-2-1 in those games).