Fantasy Football Player Notes

Fantasy managers are nervous about the fact that Chubb essentially splits snaps with Kareem Hunt. But as they showed in Week 2 against the Bengals, there is plenty of room for both. The Browns are going to lean into the run as much as possible this season, and have shown no concerns about giving Chubb the ball near the end-zone. He's a borderline RB1 who can be started with confidence each week.

Hunt is the 1B to Nick Chubb's 1A, but there is plenty of room for both to succeed. The Browns' system is designed to feature the running back position, and both Hunt and Chubb have shown they can thrive, particularly in a soft matchup. There should be no concern about rolling Hunt out as a borderline RB2 most weeks.

Beckham fought through a core injury all last year, which he addressed this offseason with surgery. His talent is undeniable, but there are plenty of red flags. He's missed 21 games already in his career, has to share targets with a crowded group of pass-catchers, and will be playing for a head coach in Kevin Stefanski whose offense ran the ball 48% of the time last year. So it's unlikely that Beckham is going to see close to the more than 10 targets per game he has averaged in his career. There's immense upside with Beckham because, well, he's Beckham. But he's not going to see the 24.9% target share he saw last year, so you're better off taking him as your WR2 and hoping everything breaks right.

We thought Hooper would be much more involved in the gameplan with David Njoku going to IR, but four targets is not something to get excited about. The Browns decided to involve rookie Harrison Bryant and give him two targets, so this is bound to be a timeshare no matter what. Unless we see a game where the Browns are expected to throw the ball 35-plus times, it's going to be tough to trust Hooper as anything more than a touchdown dependent TE2.

After some agent posturing, Njoku looks ready to stick with the Browns this year. The team brought in Austin Hooper, an obvious negative for Njoku's value, but Kevin Stefanski ran plenty of two-tight end sets in Minnesota. Kyle Rudolph and Irv Smith Jr. essentially split targets last year, and Baker Mayfield has thrown more than a third of his career touchdown passes to tight ends. In other words, there's still room for Njoku to produce in Cleveland if things break right, though he's only worth a look in deeper, tight-end premium formats.