Fantasy Football players forgot about this Browns star

With fantasy football season about to kick off in conjunction with the start of the 2023 NFL season, Nick Chubb is again the Cleveland Browns' sole proprietor of fantasy hype. This is completely reasonable, and the four-time Pro Bowler will remain a consistent top-10 running back, if nothing else. However, things might change for Chubb and fantasy football players this year.

Kareem Hunt is no longer in Cleveland, but even with him on the roster last year, Chubb took a career-high 302 carries. Chubb's second-highest total of 298, coming back in 2019, was amassed during a season in which Baker Mayfield tossed 22 touchdowns and a whopping 21 picks. According to history, Chubb sees the ball most when the Browns are unable to move the ball through the air, particularly due to poor and/or anemic quarterback play.

Deshaun Watson is about to be entering his first full season with the Browns, after missing 11 games via suspension last year. The 27-year-old played in the team's last six games, going 3-3 and failing to will the team into the postseason. Watson looked very rusty upon his return, completing just 58.2 percent of his passes to go with seven touchdown passes and five interceptions. Based on that, it is easy to see why the fantasy football community is generally down on the Browns' passing game as a whole.

Watson is an easy bet for a bounce-back candidate, provided that he is surrounded by some elite options on the Browns' offense. Amari Cooper was fantasy football's WR10 last year, but this year he is currently being drafted as WR19. Former New York Jets receiver Elijah Moore (WR54) has become a fantasy football post-hype sleeper, but he does not seem to be primed for an every-down role in the Browns offense. David Njoku has emerged as one of the better value tight ends for players unable to get their hands on elite options like Travis Kelce and Mark Andrews.

One name that is getting no love from fantasy players, though, is none other than last year's WR39: Donovan Peoples-Jones. 'DPJ' is coming off of the best year of his NFL career where he posted personal bests in catches (61), yards (839), and touchdowns (3). It goes without saying that the presences of Chubb, Cooper, and Moore lower Peoples-Jones' ceiling, but Watson has shown in the past that he can consistently support two fantasy-relevant receivers at once.

""[Donovan Peoples-Jones] made big plays in games down the field, catches. He has catch and run ability, someone that the quarterbacks really trust, know where he's going to be. Very friendly target to throw the ball to.""

- Kevin Stefanski, Cleveland Browns

With the Houston Texans, Watson commanded the offense and was able to regularly get the ball to Deandre Hopkins and Will Fuller. No. 3 receivers and tight ends rarely saw the ball, which means bad news for Njoku and Moore. Kevin Stefanski and the Browns want to and are prepared to spread the ball out.

During the 2023 preseason, the Browns used an empty (five-wide) set significantly more than every other team, and in general attempted passes at a much higher rate than they did in the 2022 season (just 55.6 percent). Doubling down on this, Peoples-Jones was targeted by Watson more than any other Brown (31 times) in the six games following his return. The 24-year-old is rostered in just six percent of ESPN's fantasy football leagues, which places him 78th among wide receivers and below the likes of Jameson Williams, Rashee Rice, Isaiah Hodgins, Jalin Hyatt, and Chase Claypool.

Although Peoples-Jones faces a lot of competition for targets and touches, he quickly built a strong rapport with the team's star quarterback at a time when it was needed. It could end up meaning more to Watson and the Browns than to fantasy players, but 'DPJ' deserves more consideration and respect. Stash him before he truly blows up in 2023.