Fantasy football projections, Week 14: Bengals-Browns featuring Brandon LaFell, Jeremy Hill, Terrelle Pryor, more

The Week 14 matchup between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Cleveland Browns features two teams playing for pride. We’ve got the fantasy projections courtesy of numberFire.

Wide receiver Brandon LaFell found the end zone for the first time in a month in the team’s Week 13 win over the Philadelphia Eagles. He caught five of seven passes for 95 yards to go with the score. While some may have pegged LaFell as the top outside receiver on the team with A.J. Green sidelined, he hadn’t necessarily translated that title into fantasy success until now. The good news is LaFell did catch four passes for 83 yards and a touchdown against the Browns back in Week 7. Perhaps the Bengals’ de facto No. 1 receiver can find pay dirt for the second week in a row. If he does, it will get him over his projections once again.

Surpassing projected totals is a much different ball game for teammate and running back Jeremy Hill, however. Like LaFell, Hill found the end zone against Philadelphia last week. Unfortunately for fantasy owners, Hill has just 162 yards rushing over the last four games. That’s an average of 40.5 yards per game. It’s not enough for fantasy owners to justify starting him in the playoffs. At the same time, it’s important to consider that only two teams have given up more fantasy points to running backs than Cleveland. Fantasy owners that start Hill will be betting that he can take advantage of the worst team in the NFL this season. Hill will surpass his projections in Week 14 based on the matchup, but owners with more talented options wouldn’t be crazy to defer the starting job to someone else this week.

Terrelle Pryor caught just two passes for 18 yards against the Bengals in Week 7. The good news is he’s established himself as far and away the top option in Cleveland’s offense since then. Pryor is also coming off of back-to-back solid fantasy performances. He caught six of 12 targets for 131 receiving yards against the New York Giants in Week 12. In Week 11, Pryor caught five passes for 97 yards. Now well rested and coming off the bye week, he’ll hopefully continue putting up the points for his fantasy owners. Given the Browns don’t really have much else to offer offensively, it’s likely that the team’s top receiver will continue to outperform his projections.

Pryor could probably use some help from running back Isaiah Crowell on Sunday. Crowell has just 110 yards rushing over the last five games combined. That’s an average of 22 yards per game. Over that same span, Cincinnati has not allowed a single rusher to surpass 87 yards. The Browns have often found themselves playing from behind this season, which necessitates throwing the football more often than not. That does not bode well for Crowell’s owners. He won’t surpass his projections in Week 14, but Crowell can certainly do better than 22 yards per game. He’s also due for a rushing touchdown, given that he hasn’t scored in a month.