When should you draft Browns players in your fantasy football leagues?

There is still plenty of time for you to create or join a fantasy football league over at Yahoo. I had one of my DBN drafts this past Wednesday, and then the annual DBN staff league that I am a part of will be having our draft on Tuesday at 9 PM ET.

Every year, in relation to fantasy football, we like to look at where members of the Cleveland Browns are expected to be drafted. Nobody is going to consider taking the Browns’ defense or kicker, but many of their offensive stars have some potential. The data we’ll look at is for 10-man leagues that go 15 rounds.

Quarterback

• Robert Griffin III: Average pick is the 13th round (pick 121.6). He’s only been drafted in 7% of the leagues. Griffin could be an attractive late-round option because of his ability to run the ball and pick up points that way. Also, if Cleveland’s defense is as bad is it looks right now, Griffin will have a lot of games where he’s throwing the ball to come back.

Running Back

• Isaiah Crowell: Average pick is the 14th round (pick 126.3). He’s only been drafted in 16% of the leagues. For a starting running back, I’m surprised that Crowell isn’t going higher. He ran very well to close out last season and has looked solid this preseason. The concern is whether he’ll get enough second half touches if the opposing teams put up points quickly against our defense; in those cases, Crowell’s counterpart will be on the field as a receiver.
• Duke Johnson: Average pick is the 12th round (pick 106.0). He’s been drafted in 80% of the leagues. So that’s why Crowell’s stock is so low — everyone is treating Johnson like the starting running back. He will get some work as a receiver, but I truly think Crowell is the better fantasy option, which you may be able to take advantage of in one of your later rounds.

Wide Receiver

• Josh Gordon: Average pick is the 11th round (pick 100.5). He’s been drafted in 85% of the leagues. Most of those rankings were probably before Gordon’s breakout game in the third week of the preseason. His four-week suspension will lower his value a tad, but in terms of production, I’d be tempted to really over-value Gordon compared to where he is going, maybe even as high as the sixth round.
• Terrelle Pryor: Average pick is the 13th round (pick 122.1). He’s only been drafted in 2% of the leagues. Unless you’re in a league with Browns fans, you should be safe getting Pryor in your final round. Although he had a nice start to the preseason, he’s still a crapshoot until he proves otherwise in terms of fantasy value, so I wouldn’t be too giddy about taking him early.
• Corey Coleman: Average pick is the 14th round (pick 123.4). He’s been drafted in 84% of the leagues. Some of these numbers don’t seem to make sense — how can Pryor’s average be two picks earlier than Coleman’s average, yet Pryor is at a 2% draft rate and Coleman is at an 84% draft rate? I’d have to guess that Coleman’s default ranking is at a point where auto-drafters will take him at the end of a draft, while Pryor just misses the cut on that.

Tight End

• Gary Barnidge: Average pick is the 10th round (pick 96.2). He’s been drafted in 100% of the leagues. Riding off of last year’s momentum, Barnidge is the top-ranked fantasy player for the Browns. Tight ends typically don’t get a lot of yards in Hue Jackson offenses, but he could still rack up a lot of touchdowns.

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Which Browns players did you draft or do you plan to draft in your fantasy leagues, and where at?