Fantasy Football 2017: Do Not Sleep on Kenny Britt
By Dan Thomas
Last season Kenny Britt was an underrated fantasy football contributor. Going into 2017, owners shouldn’t sleep on his potential now that he’s in Cleveland.
It’s understandable why Kenny Britt didn’t exactly get the love he deserved last season. As a team, the Los Angeles Rams were a disaster at 4-12. Their offense finished dead-last in the NFL in yards per game. The team’s most popular fantasy asset, Todd Gurley, busted like a March Madness bracket.
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Even with all of those misfortunes, Britt had himself a solid season. In fact, he had the best season of his eight-year career. He set a career high in receptions (68) and receiving yards (1,002), while his five touchdown receptions was second-most in a season for his career. In the end, he finished as the 27th fantasy football wide receiver (according to ESPN standard scoring).
There was a lot of speculation what team Britt was going to sign with this offseason. Many were hoping for a landing spot that involved a productive offense and a reliable option at the quarterback position. Instead, he signed with the Cleveland Browns.
As expected, many fantasy owners were disappointed. Some may have already written him off for 2017. If you’re a part of that group, you should seriously reconsider throwing in the towel on Britt this fantasy season. Yes, they are a bad team. Yes, they have a futile offense. They also have a young and unproven quarterback running the offense.
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Hold on for a second: Who am I describing? The Los Angeles Rams or the Cleveland Browns?
Well, you can make the case those three statements describe both of those franchises. So why can’t Britt succeed in the Browns offense like he did last season in the Rams offense? The offense in Cleveland will actually be an upgrade compared to what the Rams offense was last season. To begin with, look at the quarterbacks who were slinging the ball around for each team in 2016.
In seven starts last season, Rams rookie quarterback Jared Goff completed 54.6 percent of his passes while throwing five touchdowns and seven interceptions. Across those seven starts, he averaged 156 passing yards per game. Case Kennum managed to start nine games for the Rams last season and he too threw more interceptions (11) than touchdowns (9).
In eight starts last season, Browns rookie quarterback Cody Kessler completed 65.6 percent of his passes while throwing six touchdowns and two interceptions. Across those eight starts, he averaged 171 passing yards per game.
Kessler at this point is expected to be the starter for the Browns and he would immediately be an upgrade over Britt’s quarterback last season. If Kessler isn’t the starter in 2017, I’m not too sure anyone could be any worse than Goff was last season.
In 2016 there were 33 quarterbacks who had at least 200 passing attempts. Out of those 33, Goff finished dead-last in QB Rating (63.6) and his completion percentage was second-to-last.
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This isn’t saying Kessler (or any Browns QB) will be better than Goff in 2017. It is saying there’s a high probability he/they won’t be any worse than what Goff was in 2016. This also isn’t saying the Browns passing offense will be better than the Rams in 2017. What it is saying, there’s a good chance the Browns passing offense will be better than the Rams 2016 passing offense which finished second-to-last in the NFL.
Don’t forget, last year the Browns offense produced a top-20 fantasy wide receiver in Terrelle Pryor. If you want to argue Pryor is bigger, faster and more dynamic than Britt, I won’t stand in your way. What we all can agree on is Pryor saw 29 more targets than Britt did last season but only finished with six more fantasy points. With Pryor no longer in Cleveland, Britt has a good chance of matching the 121 targets he saw a season ago and could possibly see even more.
Another benefit about Britt going to Cleveland, other than a step up in offense, is that the Browns have a worse defense than the Rams. I know that might sound funny at first, but when a team has a bad defense, they give up more points. When they give up more points, the offense is then forced to score more points and that usually results in them throwing the ball more.
Think about the New Orleans Saints. They have been a fantasy juggernaut because their offense can put up points at will. Unfortunately for them, they usually have to score points at will because their defense gives up points at such a high rate. A similar statement could be said about the Atlanta Falcons, Green Bay Packers and Indianapolis Colts last season.
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All three of those defenses finished in the bottom-12 in points allowed last season. They also all had their quarterback and at least one wide receiver both finish inside the top-eight in fantasy.
So why exactly are people down on Britt? Compared to last year, his 2017 team has a better offense, a better quarterback and they’ll throw more. Right now, owners should view Britt as a WR3 with upside. He should be in starting lineups as a FLEX player and/or leagues who start three wide receivers.