Game Previews: All Fantasy Relevant Players For Week 4

Browns vs. Raiders

Browns

Week 4 is upon us and we finally have Baker Mayfield starting for Cleveland against an atrocious Oakland Raiders defense. Things are looking up for the Browns who just may be good enough to overcome Hue Jackson’s bad coaching. Gregg Williams’ defense has been on fire and who knows if they’ll face much of a challenge. According to getmoresports.com the last QB selected #1 overall to win their first game was David Carr back in 2002, and it is exceedingly rare beyond him. Let’s take a look at what is in store for the Browns heading into this week’s match heading into the Black Hole.

Are the odds really stacked against Mayfield?

In short, maybe. While QB Baker Mayfield has all the makings of a first class QB, he is still a rookie and he does still have Hue Jackson coaching him. My hope is that the Browns have so much talent on both sides of the ball that they will necessarily play beyond their coach’s ability. That was also my hope with QB Tyrod Taylor under center, but he performed woefully below par. Now, with Mayfield getting his first start, he has a pretty easy matchup defensively speaking. That being said, the Raiders are still technically full of NFL level talent and in a world where the Bills beat the pants off the Vikings, anything can happen. Maybe the best news is that the Raiders seem to be having a heck of a time finding an edge rusher according to their coach John Gruden, famous for trading away the best edge rusher in the game. As it stands, Khalil Mack has single-handedly out-performed the entire Raiders defense through three weeks. So the Browns front line will likely have success holding off the Raiders and giving Mayfield plenty of time for plays to develop. If they can’t, he could always do this instead.

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What I’m saying is that I have a high level of confidence that Mayfield will pull out the win this Sunday. In fact, I’ve bet on it in a survivor pool after dodging the Vikes/Bills bullet. The real question is really if Mayfield will be asked to throw any passes should the Browns get down near the goal line or if RB Carlos Hyde will simply have to bully his way in, but maybe he’ll just go the Fitzpatrick route and throw all his touchdowns from the other side of the field. If I had gotten him in my league, I would be starting Mayfield without hesitation.

With the Browns having a dominant defense, will they just run the ball all game in order to control the clock?

That is the question of the week. If Mayfield does not have great stats against OAK, this will be the reason. The Raiders have a defense that gives up a ton of fantasy points to running backs (7th most), and Hyde does get tons of carries. While it is possible that the Browns’ game plan is to go run-heavy, I think the passing game will find enough success that Mayfield will post fairly good stats even in a run-heavy game plan. After all, the Raiders are also terrible against the pass.

Enough with the yakkety-yak, should I start Landry and/or Callaway?

Well, that depends on what your team needs, of course. But more to your point, yes. WR Jarvis Landry is 3rd in the entire NFL in targets and I don’t expect his volume to change much under Mayfield. WR Antonio Callaway had somewhat a case of the dropsies last week, but it will take more than one down game for him to be benched. Callaway has shown that he can burn defenders and get open while Baker has demonstrated the ability to get him the ball. It is only a matter of time until Callaway has a truly big game and that will probably be on Sunday. While I think Callaway is more likely to have a touchdown compared to Landry, it’s not impossible for Landry to run one in and he will likely have receptions and yards enough for owners to be satisfied. Even TE David Njoku has a chance to have a great game. I’m personally playing Njoku in my lineup weekly from here on out and I’m excited to do it.

So… Fire up your Browns Defense?

Absolutely. It’s hard to say which Carr, Cooper, Jordy, or Cook will show up, but all of Oakland’s “playmakers” are suspect at best and the Browns have been great on defense. Marshawn Lynch may have the most opportunity for consistent scoring, but everyone in the passing game has been so up-and-down already and the Browns have enough talent in the secondary to account for pretty much all of them that I don’t suspect the Raiders will score much. Vegas odds have the Raiders as 3-point, but all I have to say is…

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Good luck this Sunday, everyone, Go BROWNS!!!

-Sam Turrubiartes

Raiders

Oakland will play host to Baker Mayfield and the Cleveland Browns. The Browns come into Sunday’s game on a one-game winning “streak” while the Raiders enter with an 0-3 record. The Raiders will have their work cut out for them as they look for their first win since December 3rd of last year. As Oakland looks for their first win of the season, let’s take a look at the fantasy impact of Sunday afternoon’s game.

Derek Carr’s Turnover Problem

Carr is currently setting career highs in completion percentage, yards per attempt, and yards per game, but turnovers have hurt the fifth-year quarterback’s fantasy numbers. Through three games, Carr has thrown five interceptions and only two touchdowns. Carr will face off against a Browns team that has picked off five passes and deflected 18 passes in three games this season. Carr has been accurate this season, but when he makes a mistake, it tends to be a big one. Be cautious this week when choosing to start Carr against a defense that picked Ben Roethlisberger off three times and Sam Darnold twice.

Will Amari Cooper find any consistency?

Fantasy owners everywhere want to know if Amari Cooper will ever develop into the receiver that they want him to be. Cooper caught all ten of his targets two weeks ago against Denver but returned to mediocrity last week when he caught just two passes on five targets. The fourth-year receiver out of Alabama has not put together a good string of performances over the last two years. In the last two seasons, Cooper has had a catch rate of 50 percent or higher in just seven games. Cooper’s solid performance two weeks ago gave Raiders’ fans reason to believe he was returning to form. But moving forward, what reason is there to believe that Cooper will ever be a consistent threat? Well, to start, Cooper is averaging 2.06 yards of target separation this season. Teams are also giving Cooper an average cushion of nearly six yards on his targets. Cooper has also posted a solid 72.2 percent catch rate through three games, which is a step up from a season ago when he caught 50 percent of his targets. As the season progresses, it will be interesting to see if Cooper finds consistency for the first time since 2016.

Marshawn Lynch vs. the Browns Frontline

It’s no mystery that the Browns have developed one of the better defensive lines in the NFL. Behind Myles Garrett and Larry Ojunjobi, the Browns’ defense has allowed 3.7 yards per carry and four rushing touchdowns. It’s also not a mystery that Marshawn Lynch has been one of the most consistent running backs in the NFL over the last two seasons. Lynch leads the Raiders with 170 rushing yards and he has scored a touchdown in each of the first three games of the season. Lynch and the Raiders have already faced off against three teams ranked in the top 12 in rushing defense, so the Browns shouldn’t scare the 11-year veteran.

Final Thoughts and Predictions

I would be careful when choosing to start any Raiders this week against Cleveland. Carr has struggled with interceptions, Cooper has struggled to find consistency, and it is too soon to tell if Jordy Nelson is for real. Here are my final stat predictions for five notable Raiders.

Derek Carr: 27/38, 267 yards, one touchdown, one interception.

Marshawn Lynch: 16 carries, 53 yards, one touchdown

Jordy Nelson: Four catches, 68 yards

Jared Cook: Four catches, 38 yards, one touchdown

Doug Martin: Seven carries, 40 yards.

-Trey Huntsman