Fantasy football projections, Week 16: Chargers-Browns featuring Philip Rivers, Dontrelle Inman, Terrelle Pryor, more

The Week 16 matchup between the San Diego Chargers and the Cleveland Browns features two teams looking towards the 2017 season. We’ve got the fantasy projections courtesy of numberFire.

After finding the end zone in three straight games, wide receiver Dontrelle Inman was held in check against the Oakland Raiders in Week 15. He still put up solid numbers in a losing effort, catching five of eight targets for 68 yards in the game. He’s clearly the Chargers’ best option when it comes to keeping drives alive. Don’t be surprised to see Inman catch five passes and score his fifth touchdown of the season against the Browns on Saturday. That kind of performance will get him well above his projections and warrant putting him in starting lineups.

A solid performance from Inman likely means that quarterback Philip Rivers will also put up fantastic numbers against the Browns. While it is a bit troublesome that Rivers has thrown 14 interceptions in his last 26 quarters, no team has given up more points to fantasy quarterbacks than Cleveland this season. Despite having a somewhat subpar fantasy year by his standards, Rivers should be all over his fantasy projections in this final week. Don’t be surprised if he ends up being a top-five performer thanks to Cleveland’s horrific all around 2016.

Wide receiver Terrelle Pryor clearly has a lot of pride. Despite almost certainly requiring surgery on his finger at the end of the season, Pryor plans to play against the Chargers on Saturday. He wants to help the team avoid a winless season. Unfortunately his willingness to push through pain hasn’t translated into fantasy points the last two weeks. Pryor has just five catches for 22 yards total over that stretch. It’s going to be hard to trust him against the Chargers, but it’s also hard to trust any other receiver on the team. Pryor should do better than the 19 yards he posted last week against the Buffalo Bills. By the same token, it’s important to note that only seven teams have allowed fewer points to wide receivers than the Chargers. Pryor won’t reach his projections in this week’s finals.

Perhaps running back Isaiah Crowell will be more likely to deliver value in this matchup. Crowell only rushed for 28 yards on eight carries last week against Buffalo. The coaching staff admitted during the week that his production is definitely dependent on game flow. Given that the Browns will likely once again find themselves playing from behind, it shouldn’t be a total shock to see Crowell get fewer than 10 carries on Saturday. That’s an occurrence that has happened four times in the last six games. The only positive for Crowell is that San Diego ranks in the bottom third of the NFL in terms of fantasy points conceded to the running back position.