After the Cleveland Browns' preseason finale, Head Coach Mike Pettine said that running back Isaiah Crowell has the edge on the starting running back job over Terrance West and Duke Johnson, per beat reporter Mary Kay Cabot.
Isaiah Crowell has the edge on starting job, per report, is a current steal for fantasy owners
Head Coach Mike Pettine shed some clarity to a crowded Cleveland Browns backfield situation. We break down the fantasy implications.
Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
With Johnson ailing from a concussion and with West wrapping up an up-and-down preseason performance, Pettine’s decision doesn’t seem like a far-fetched one. Though Crowell did not distinguish himself much in preseason games this summer, it’s clear he has slowly earned the favor of his coaching staff and will now be in line to receive the bulk of the carries out of the gate.
Fantasy Spin: Predicting how the Browns’ backfield would divide its carries was one of the more frustrating things fantasy owners had to do in 2014, but whichever back carried the load had standalone value from game-to-game. In 2015, there’s at least a little clarity as to who that will be at the season’s inception, although the outlook could get murky once Johnson gets healthy and cuts into the timeshare.
Crowell makes for a middling RB2 option versus the New York Jets in Week 1, but fantasy owners would be getting a steal if they took him at his current eighth-round average draft position.
