The fantasy football playoffs are here as the NFL regular season enters the final month before the postseason. The Cleveland Browns have been eliminated from the playoffs after suffering their 10th loss of the season on the road against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Wide receiver Jerry Jeudy continued his hot streak since Jameis Winston took over as the team’s starting quarterback, leading the team in fantasy scoring last week with 17.4 points. Tight end David Njoku wasn’t far behind him with 17.2 points with his seven receptions for 42 yards and a touchdown.
Jeudy extended his lead as the team’s top scorer for the season with 181.4 points. Both David Njoku and Jamies Winston have over 130 points and wide receiver Elijah Moore is the fourth and last player to have 100 fantasy points this season. The team could get wide receiver Cedric Tillman back this week, as he returned to practice on Wednesday and is still working his way back through the concussion protocol.
Sit 'Em: Jameis Winston
It has been a fun ride with Jameis Winston at quarterback after Deshaun Watson's dreadful play to start the year. But it has been a rollercoaster, and there has been plenty of bad to go with the good. He put up a ton of points last week against the Broncos despite completing less than 60% of his passes. He did that again against the Steelers and didn’t fare so well. Now he is going against a good defense; with the turnovers and erratic accuracy, you should play it safe to start the playoffs and keep Winston out of your starting lineup this week.
Start 'Em: Jerry Jeudy, WR
After the season's slow start, Jerry Jeudy has looked like a number one wide receiver, with Winston as the quarterback. His ability to create separation and yardage after the catch has been fun to watch. It shows why Andrew Berry wanted to get him into town so badly, and when he did, he gave him an extension that looks like a bargain, especially if he kept up this level of play. This week he has a great matchup against the Chief, who have allowed the third most fantasy points to opposing wide receivers this season.
Sit 'Em: Nick Chubb, RB
It continues to be a grind as running back Nick Chubb tries to recapture the success he had before last year’s devastating knee injury. He continues to look better each week, but the explosion and big plays just haven’t been there to this point. In terms of fantasy production, he has been dependent on scoring touchdowns to be relevant, and that is risky, especially in the fantasy playoffs. Touchdowns don’t come often to opposing running backs against the Chief defense, who have only allowed seven total this season.
Start 'Em: Cedric Tillman, WR
This prediction obviously comes with the stipulation that Cedric Tillman is still in concussion protocol and will need to clear that before Sunday’s game. But as I stated earlier, things have been trending in the right direction since he practiced on Wednesday. Weeks 7-9 Tillman was number one in fantasy scorer from the wide receiver position as he started to emerge as a favorite target of Jameis Winston before getting injured a couple of weeks ago against the New Orleans Saints. As I stated earlier, the Chiefs' defense has had a tough time slowing down opposing wide receivers' fantasy production, and if Tillman plays, he is a nice FLEX option this weekend.
Sit 'Em: David Njoku, TE
It has been an up-and-down fantasy season for David Njoku, who has often gotten the targets but hasn’t always been able to haul them in. There have been some bad drops in big moments, but he has gotten enough chances to be fairly fantasy-relevant this year despite missing some time with an injury. It will be hard for him to find the endzone this week; opposing tight ends have scored a total of four touchdowns against Kansas City this year. Njoku will get his chance to perform, but it remains a risky play this week.