The Week 10 matchup between the Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers features the return of a starting quarterback versus an offense that will be missing its own. We’ve got the fantasy projections courtesy of numberFire.
Fantasy football projections, Week 10: Browns-Steelers featuring Gary Barnidge, Antonio Brown and DeAngelo Williams
We break down the Week 10 matchup between the Cleveland Browns and the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Cleveland Browns
Nobody was surprised to find out that the Browns couldn’t do anything to stop the Cincinnati Bengals last week. The Bengals now move to 8-0 and the Browns, well, they move closer to obscurity. Fortunately for fantasy owners of quarterback Josh McCown, there is still value to be had in Cleveland’s offense. He’ll be back in the lineup against the Steelers this week as long as he doesn’t have a setback with his rib injury. Although McCown has always been known as a marginal fantasy option, he’s actually done quite well this year, throwing 11 touchdowns compared to just four interceptions. A matchup in Pittsburgh presents an opportunity to keep a good thing going. Just ask Oakland Raiders quarterback Derek Carr.
Tight end Gary Barnidge should be able to help out his quarterback, just like he has been doing all year long. Last week with Johnny Manziel under center, Barnidge caught just two passes for 35 yards. While normally that would scare fantasy owners who didn’t even know the guy’s name at the start of the season, there’s nothing to worry about in this case. Barnidge scored six times in six games prior to being shut out last week.
Pittsburgh Steelers
There’s a good chance fantasy owners of Antonio Brown were caught yawning going into the late afternoon matchups on the NFL schedule on Sunday. That’s because Brown scorched the Raiders for a career-high 17 catches and 284 receiving yards and likely sealed the deal on some head-to-head fantasy victories early. He did not score a touchdown in the game, but nobody enjoying his fantasy scoring rampage cared. Brown may never repeat those kinds of totals for the rest of his career. At the same time, even with Ben Roethlisberger out one to two weeks thanks to a foot sprain, fantasy owners can rest assured that Brown is more likely to produce with Landry Jones at quarterback than Mike Vick.
Brown’s fantasy production will undoubtedly come back down to earth this week, but on the bright side, teammate and running back DeAngelo Williams should be a top-notch fantasy player regardless. He also had a massive day against the Raiders last week, rushing for 170 yards and two touchdowns. He will almost certainly see at least 20 carries against the Browns, making him a top fantasy running back in the immediate future.
