Austin Hooper Week 2 Outlook - Patriots at Seahawks

By Mike Tagliere (FantasyPros), Thu, Sep 17th 2020, 8:59am EDT

Remember when the Browns listed David Njoku as the third-string tight end, then later that week he led the tight ends in targets and production? It's not like three targets is a lot but it was more than Hooper, who finished with just two targets in his first game with the team. I mentioned this offseason how the Vikings used their two tight ends last year, and it appears the Browns wanted to potentially use three tight ends, as even rookie Harrison Bryant was targeted twice. The tight ends combined for 7-of-39 targets, which is a measly 17.9 percent target share. Now that Njoku is on injured reserve, it's fair to say Hooper gets a big bump in the confidence department. The Bengals were without starting safety Shawn Williams last week and it led to Hunter Henry tagging them for 5/73/0, though it took him eight targets to get there, something we can't guarantee from him, even with Njoku out. There are now six tight ends who've hit double-digit points against the Bengals over the last 17 games, and five of them saw at least seven targets. I won't say Hooper gets there, but I'll still consider him a high-end TE2 considering Bryant is a rookie who can't be too involved.