Cleveland Browns tight end Gary Barnidge came into Sunday -- the third week of his eighth season in the NFL -- with 658 career yards and three scores. But Sunday, in the Browns’ 27-20 loss to the Oakland Raiders, Barnidge had a career day, with his first hundred-yard game and his fourth-ever touchdown.
Gary Barnidge has career game; fantasy owners shouldn’t buy in
The Cleveland tight end put up huge numbers Sunday. We break down the fantasy implications.
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Barnidge was targeted 10 times Sunday, catching six of the passes for 105 yards. It was the most targets, receptions and yards in a game in Barnidge’s career, without a close second.
Fantasy impact: Never really thought I’d be writing about Gary Barnidge this season, but here we are. It’s nice for him that he had the best game of his career, but let’s just say it doesn’t seem likely to continue.
No, the biggest takeaway from Barnidge’s day is that you want every single tight end facing the Raiders. Oakland allowed two touchdowns to Tyler Eifert in Week 1 and two to Crockett Gillmore in Week 2 before Barnidge’s one Sunday. That’s five touchdowns to those three tight ends, who have combined for one in the six games they’ve played against teams other than the Raiders.
Going forward, that could mean good things for Martellus Bennet (Week 4), Owen Daniels and/or Virgil Green (Week 5) and Antonio Gates and/or Ladarius Green (Week 7, after Oakland’s bye). Barnidge won’t see much more of a fantasy look than he saw before Sunday’s game.
