Cleveland Browns @ Cincinnati Bengals Week 18 Game Preview
Jonathan Fuller breaks down the Week 18 matchup between the Cleveland Browns and Cincinnati Bengals from a fantasy football and betting perspective.
Cleveland Browns @ Cincinnati Bengals
The second edition of the Battle of Ohio won’t feature many of the big names that we would have expected coming into the season. Nick Chubb, Joe Burrow, and Deshaun Watson have all been lost for the year, and we won't even have the hottest QB in the league, Joe Flacco, to entertain us as the Browns will be resting their starters.
The Bengals weren’t as successful in rescuing their season after losing their franchise QB, but they proved to be competent with Jake Browning at the helm. He’ll get one more start to prove his status as a high-level backup and earn himself a decent contract somewhere next season.
It’s unclear how many of the Bengals stars will play in this game and for how long. Tee Higgins will be a free agent this offseason, and Joe Mixon might be as well if the Bengals decide to move on, so there is very little upside and a lot of risk to those guys playing in Week 18. Ja’Marr Chase is coming off a shoulder injury and is another candidate to see a reduced workload or even sit the game out entirely if Cincinnati doesn’t want to risk their young star.
We’ll have to monitor the reports leading up to game day, but we could see a lot of Chase Brown, Andrei Iosivas, and other young players that Cincinnati wants to get a look at if their starters do sit.
While that makes things tricky if you are playing DFS or have the unfortunate experience of playing in a fantasy league with a Week 18 championship, it is exciting for dynasty managers who want to get a look at young players at the end of their bench before the offseason.
On the Cleveland side, we haven’t gotten a full list of who will be resting but we do know Jeff Driskel will be starting at QB. Driskel is the fifth different starting QB for the Browns this season, a wild stat for a team that has already clinched a playoff spot.
I’m guessing that Jerome Ford, Amari Cooper, Elijah Moore, and David Njoku will all rest as well, so get ready for names like Cedric Tillman and David Bell to feature prominently for the Cleveland offense.
We can’t really bank on any of the usage stats or unit strengths and weaknesses that we normally would when evaluating a matchup, so if you have a strong opinion on who among these backups is actually good, you could have a nice edge in the DFS streets or with some prop bets.
The Bengals are currently favored by seven points, which is probably due to the fact that Driskel just signed with the Browns, but don’t be surprised if that line narrows in the event that Cincinnati announces some of their starters will be sitting this game out.