The Week 9 matchup between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Cleveland Browns features two teams offering slim pickings in terms of fantasy points. We've got the fantasy projections for you courtesy of numberFire.
Fantasy football projections, Week 9: Buccaneers-Browns featuring Vincent Jackson, Ben Tate and Andrew Hawkins
We break down the Week 9 matchup between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Cleveland Browns.
Maddie Meyer
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Wide receiver Vincent Jackson managed just a single catch in the team's Week 8 loss to the Minnesota Vikings, who have been fairly good at blanketing top receivers this season. Week 9 doesn't make things any easier for the former Pro Bowler, who will likely draw cornerback Joe Haden in coverage. Haden hasn't been as unbeatable this year as he has been in past seasons though, so Jackson could be due for a bounce-back performance just in the nick of time for his fantasy owners.
One name to watch if Jackson doesn’t do well is Austin Seferian-Jenkins. The rookie tight end scored his first NFL touchdown in the team’s loss last week, and although he’ll get flack in the real world for fumbling the ball in overtime of that game, the Buccaneers have a budding young star on their hands. Seferian-Jenkins could be quite the busy safety valve against a Browns defense that ranks in the middle of the pack against fantasy tight ends. It’s worth taking a flier on this guy for Week 9 and the remainder of the season in deeper leagues.
Cleveland Browns
With tight end Jordan Cameron (concussion) already being ruled out for the game against the Bucs, wide receiver Andrew Hawkins is due to get a ton of looks moving forward. He’s the most heavily targeted player on the roster and he will be until Josh Gordon (suspension) returns in Week 12. The Bucs have surprised some teams these year in terms of coming up on the positive side of the final score every once in a while, but they don’t really do anything to scare opponents defensively, which means Hawkins should be in for a big game.
That’s especially true considering running back Ben Tate has been ineffective the last two games. Yes, Tate did score a touchdown last week against the Oakland Raiders, but he only managed 26 yards on 15 carries. He says a lack of running lanes is partially to blame, but no mater what the reasoning is, fantasy owners have to hope he can pick up his yards per carry total against the Bucs.
