The Week 3 matchup between the Oakland Raiders and the Cleveland Browns features two historically bad teams coming off victories. We’ve got the fantasy projections courtesy of numberFire.
Fantasy football projections, Week 3: Raiders-Browns featuring Derek Carr, Amari Cooper and Travis Benjamin
We break down the Week 3 matchup between the Oakland Raiders and the Cleveland Browns.
Oakland Raiders
The silver and black found themselves in a shootout against the Baltimore Ravens last week and surprisingly came out on the winning end. Quarterback Derek Carr, who played despite nursing a hand injury, had a lot to do with that. The injury didn’t seem to bother him at all as Carr completed 30 passes for 351 yards and three touchdowns, the most impressive fantasy stat line of his career. Following up that performance against the Browns will be a tall task, no doubt, but it’s good to see he’s realizing his potential this season.
Part of that may have to do with the fact that he’s been working closely with wide receiver Amari Cooper. The two live next door to each other and spent extra time together discussing game plans before taking on the Ravens, and it showed in Week 2. Cooper started the scoring in the game by going 68 yards for touchdown and finished the day with seven catches for 109 yards. He will draw Joe Haden in coverage against Cleveland, but such is life for an emerging top-notch wide receiver.
Cleveland Browns
It remains to be seen whether the last two weeks have been a fluke for wide receiver Travis Benjamin. Despite catching only six passes through two games so far, he has a combined 204 receiving yards and three touchdowns. Benjamin is a boom-or-bust option against the Raiders in Week 3, but so far it’s been all boom, so it might be worth the risk as Josh McCown resumes starting duties for Cleveland.
Fantasy owners who really want to take a gamble can take a look at running back Isaiah Crowell, who carried the ball 15 times for 72 yards and a touchdown against the Tennessee Titans last week. Teammate Duke Johnson got 12 carries, which means that fantasy owners starting either back will have to mull over who gets the bulk of the work in a timeshare scenario. Right now it still looks like Crowell, which makes him a decent option in deeper leagues going into the game against the Raiders.
