Week 1 of the 2025 NFL season is finally here and opening weekend will continue on Sunday with the Cincinnati Bengals visiting the Cleveland Browns for an AFC North showdown at 1 p.m. ET on FOX.
Dylan Sampson start or sit: Week 1 fantasy football advice
We break down the fantasy football outlook of Dylan Sampson ahead of the Browns’ Week 1 opener against the Bengals.
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The Browns had a miserable 3-14 campaign one year ago and there’s not much expectation for them to improve upon that this season. There are questions abound for the offense in particular and one of the pieces that could step up is rookie running back Dylan Sampson. He enters the year with an ADP (average draft position) in the 53-54 range across multiple scoring formats according to FantasyPros, making him a late-round backup option for fantasy managers.
Below, we’ll go over Sampson’s outlook in fantasy football for Week 1.
Fantasy Football analysis: Browns RB Dylan Sampson
Sampson arrives to Cleveland after a three-year college career at Tennessee, breaking out with 1,455 yards and 18 touchdowns last year. That was good enough for him to get selected by the Browns in the fourth run of this year’s draft, following second-round pick Quinshon Judkins. With Judkins only signing his rookie contract this weekend, the door was opened for Sampson to get much-needed reps and he will back up starter Jerome Ford in Week 1.
Start or sit in Week 1 standard/PPR leagues?
Sit. Sampson is expected to handle a change of pace role in Sunday’s opener and will most likely be leaned on in short yardage situations. While there is opportunity for him to break off a few impressive runs against a weak Bengals rush defense, I’d take a wait-and-see approach with the rookie and keep him on the bench.
