Three Browns players to follow in fantasy football for Week 7

The Cleveland Browns Week 7 showdown at home versus the Miami Dolphins is just around the corner, and it’s time to take a look at some of the players available to help your cause in fantasy leagues.

While Cleveland’s offense as a whole has been less than stellar, two rookies on the roster are definitely worth keeping in mind this week versus the ‘Phins.

RB Quinshon Judkins

The Ohio State product had a rough outing last week on the road against the Steelers, offering only 36 yards on 12 carries and no catches on one target, while failing to score. However, his season-worst output was more a byproduct of the Browns being down by three scores, as head coach Kevin Stefanski stated himself, meaning the team was forced to put the ball in the air more than they would have liked.

Up next, Judkins will see a Dolphins defense that’s dead-last in the NFL in rushing yards allowed per game (168.5) and has allowed six rushing TDs for the year, an average of one per game.

Keep in mind that running backs have caught 30 passes so far against Miami (seventh-worst in the league), as well. So with an average of five per game, that’s something that needs to be accounted for in PPR leagues, even if pass-catching out of the backfield is not Judkins’ strong suit. 

Also, Miami is allowing 29.0 points per matchup, the fourth-worst mark in the league so far, so there should be opportunities for Judkins to find the end zone, somehow. I won’t hesitate in considering a very strong RB2 option for Week 7.

TE Harold Fannin Jr.

Did we mention that Miami is allowing 29 points per game? Fannin is coming off his two best games as a pro, and it’s no coincidence that these outings have come since Dillon Gabriel took over as starting quarterback. It’s not uncommon to see second-teamers who usually have a lot of reps together in practice, develop chemistry once they get the chance to play at the same time. 

Fannin scored his first professional touchdown two games ago, against the Vikings, and recorded career bests in targets (10) and receiving yards (81) last week against the Steelers, while tying a personal best seven catches.

Meanwhile, Miami is the ninth worst team in the league with 11 touchdown catches allowed so far. If we look solely at what the Dolphins have done versus tight ends, things look even better for Fannin. Miami has allowed 36 receptions (ninth-worst) for 410 yards (third-worst) and three touchdowns (seventh-worst). Throw into the mix that regular starter David Njoku is day-to-day and Gabriel has been putting the ball in the air excessively (52 attempts last week), and Fannin looks like a nice TE1 play this week. You can certainly do much worse.

DE Myles Garrett

Chalk this one up to PFF, if you will. Hear me out if you play in an IDP league. Garrett made headlines this week, by being sort of caught in the middle of a debate regarding PFF grades, when the portal assigned and subsequently changed his grade, reportedly more than once, before using a chunk of their podcast to justify such a number after adding just two assisted tackles and one pressure to his statline. 

While the whole PFF grading system is completely out of his hands, don’t think for one second that Garrett hasn’t caught wind of the debate. The Dolphins have allowed 13 sacks so far in the season, which is very middle-of-the-field, but Garrett might be on a mission to prove he isn’t receiving any handouts from anyone, much less PFF. He's a genuine Defensive Player of the Year candidate on most seasons, based on pure merit.

Once again, this is only for IDP leagues, but if you do play under this format, I would certainly check him out this week.