As mentioned in an earlier article, picking a lights-out fantasy roster can be a real challenge. Whether for a season-long investment or just a daily fantasy challenge, it's brain-wracking work to choose the right players, especially with the overabundance of data available from such invaluable sites such as spotrac.com and teamrankings.com, both of which were heavily utilized here.
From a 30,000-foot perspective, the 2025 NFL season sure looks bleak for the Cleveland Browns. Drawing the second most challenging schedule in the league is going to do the Browns no favors with scheduled matchups against juggernauts such as Baltimore, Detroit, and Buffalo.
On top of the imposing opposition, they are currently in the midst of juggling a four-horse quarterback competition. All this uncertainty at the most important position, coupled with their shallow reserve of scoring talent, means that the expectations for this modest roster are embarrassingly low even for a team that only won three games last year.
Set to face so much adversity this year, it would be wise for fantasy managers to steer clear of certain Browns’ players, especially those whose success is tied to the passing game. The data suggests that the Browns will have to resort to running the ball if they want to make headway this year. With their scheduled opponents predicted to surrender only around one passing touchdown per game, the opportunities will be severely limited for anyone catching the ball in a Browns uniform; receivers and tight ends alike.
Added to this, the fact that the Browns can only expect to amass around 217 passing yards per game, means that there really isn’t much upside from a fantasy perspective in picking anyone on the team who isn’t a running back.
As far as quarterbacks, though, it's obvious that they are strictly off limits in full season formats, mainly because there is still zero consensus on who their starter will be. In daily fantasy contests, however, where the risks are lower, it might not be such a bad idea to explore.
Fantasy Owners Should Stay Away from David Njoku
The Browns' receivers are another cohort best left alone. Jerry Jeudy, far and away the team’s best receiver, will likely have to struggle against double coverage, putting a cap on his fantasy potential. Those fantasy points will instead be distributed to Jeudy’s supporting cast of receivers, such as Cedric Tillman and Diontae Johnson, neither of whom can be expected to stack many fantasy points themselves.
So with quarterbacks and receivers crossed off the list of possible fantasy additions, the conversation naturally segues to tight ends. Lacking better options, over-eager fantasy managers might rush to select the Browns’ TE1, David Njoku. This, however, would be a huge mistake that could tank their team.
It's frequently said that in the NFL, and professional sports in general, the best ability is availability. In the case of David Njoku, his availability is something that causes fantasy owners concern, especially if they are considering drafting him in a full-season format. Njoku has already missed 20 games in his eight-year career, and as he gets older, this injury-prone trend he’s displayed is only likely to manifest itself more and more. In fact, ESPN.com has his current status as questionable, a huge uncertainty that fantasy managers should be wary of.
Njoku’s injuries and age have taken a toll on his on-field production, undermining his stat lines. Most notably, Njoku only scored five receiving touchdowns last year while other, more attractive options like Mark Andrews had as many as eleven. A middle ground between these two extremes would see fantasy owners selecting tight ends such as Sam LaPorta or George Kittle, both of whom had eight receiving touchdowns last year and far surpass Njoku’s fantasy potential.
Although they don’t address the sensitive issue outright, the Browns, no doubt, have recognized Njoku’s limitations as well. Knowing that they desperately needed more depth at the tight end position, the Browns invested a third-round pick in this year’s draft to select Harold Fannin Jr., who comes to Cleveland boasting an impressive college resume that saw him lead in both receptions and receiving yards last season.
This year, the Browns will certainly look to put Fannin Jr.’s talents to good use, especially in Kevin Stefanski’s offense. For Njoku, though, this means at the very least that he will have to split the workload with this new addition and possibly even see himself downgraded on the depth chart for the younger, more useful rookie.
In short, while Njoku might miraculously pull together a renaissance reason and prove the numbers wrong, at this point, all signs point to the idea that fantasy football enthusiasts should look elsewhere for tight end talent.