We have all had enough Corona already, but that doesn’t stop the calendar from striking Cinco de Mayo. So get your blenders ready and have a drink along with Baker Mayfield. The Cleveland Browns spent the 2019 offseason making the biggest splash that they could. Baker had shown some promise in his rookie season and it was time to go full throttle in putting pieces around him. They forgot two at least two things in the process: pass protection and a head coach that can coach.Â
The big additions on the offensive side of the ball were Odell Beckham Jr. and Kareem Hunt. Odell should have been a game changer but playing through injuries and mental frustration definitely took it’s toll. As we all know, Kareem Hunt was suspended for the first 8 games of the season and didn’t see the field until week 10. The Browns were good enough on the offensive side of the ball to be competitive in a lot of games, but not good enough to win the games that they should have.Â
Nick Chubb is going 13th off of the board in Bestball 10s while Kareem Hunt is going 82nd. The appeal of Nick Chubb is pretty clear. He touched that ball 334 times last season and gained 1,772 total yards. Chubb only found the end zone 8 times. The Browns just weren’t good at running the ball inside of the red zone in 2019. In fact, Chubb only scored twice after week 6. Chubb finished as the RB8 in PPR leagues in 2019 despite leading the NFL with 17 carries of 15 yards or more.Â
Nick Chubb was a nice fantasy asset and lived up to his ADP purely because of the volume that he received. Although his 576 yards created ranked 3rd, his 0.73 fantasy points per opportunity ranked 82nd in 2019.Â
Although his touches dissipated in weeks 16 and 17, Hunt received double digit opportunities in his first 6 games of 2019. He especially found a home in the passing game catching at least 6 passes in 3 games of his shortened season. He actually did well enough in the second half of the season to finish as RB15 from week 10 through the rest of the season. Nick Chubb was RB14 in that time frame.Â
From week 13 on, Nick Chubb averaged just over 15 carries per game after regularly touching the ball at least 20 times a game before. Now, with some games under Kareem Hunt’s belt in the offense, the touches could go up in 2020. There is no doubt that Nick Chubb is a good running back but there is not enough upside for me to spend the draft capital on him in 2020. I don’t think he’s going to touch the ball over 300 times again, which is where a lot of his value comes from. But, I don’t mind taking a chance on Kareem Hunt in the middle rounds of PPR leagues.Â
