Fantasy football season is in the air, and the unique offseason is causing more questions than answers as we enter our fantasy football drafts. Today we focus on Cleveland Browns WR Odell Beckham Jr. and his fantasy football potential this year.
Odell Beckham Jr.’s Fantasy Football ADP
Beckham’s fantasy football average draft position on MyFantasyLeague.com is 35.06 — the 11th-highest for a wide receiver.
Reasons to draft Odell Beckham Jr.
- Despite his week-to-week inconsistency, injuries, and outbursts, Beckham has registered at least 1,000 receiving yards for every season in which he played 12-plus games.
- Even with his moderately down 2019 season, he still showed big playmaking indicators in a busy workload. Beckham ranked third in air yards (1,801) and tied for sixth in target share (25%) among wideouts, according to AirYards.com.
- The Browns’ offense looks primed to change for the better — and at least to get some stability. Out goes head coach Freddie Kitchens’ erratic play calling and designs. Kevin Stefanski arrives as head coach after transforming the Minnesota Vikings’ offense in 2019. There, he relied on the deep prowess of WR Stefon Diggs; expect Beckham, a similarly dangerous downfield weapon, to model that role.
Reasons not to draft Odell Beckham Jr.
- Of course, his 16-game 2019 was his first full season since 2016. An abdomen issue hindered him even as he gutted out last year, and he endured a lower-body injury in each of the previous two seasons: A quadriceps bruise in 2018, and a fractured ankle in 2017.
- QB Baker Mayfield will make or break this offense; he’ll have to at least split the difference between his dazzling 2018 stretch and disappointing 2019 for Beckham to thrive.
- Stefanski’s Vikings ranked as one of the most frequent deployers of 12 personnel (two tight ends), so maybe tight ends Austin Hooper and David Njoku will steal red-zone looks. Jarvis Landry always commands ample targets when healthy. Don’t forget beastly running backs Nick Chubb and reception-inclined Kareem Hunt. The Browns have a lot of mouths to feed on offense.
- His division boasts two of the league’s best defenses (Baltimore Ravens, Pittsburgh Steelers) who’ll account for three of his games in the normal 16-week fantasy season. (Cleveland also plays the Steelers in Week 17, so he gets a slight break.)
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Where should I draft Odell Beckham Jr. in fantasy football drafts?
Though the cost to draft him is steep, Beckham is starkly one of the biggest risk-reward wideouts in fantasy drafts.
Beckham likely won’t see the 150-plus-target days he did with the New York Giants while playing for this Browns squad, which dings him a bit in PPR formats.
In half-point PPR and any league that awards bonuses for distance scoring or big statistical weeks, Beckham gets extra juice because of his big-play potential, and expect Mayfield to take a step forward in his third season.
Beckham’s rank of 11th among wide receiver ADP accurately pegs the right spot to take a chance. He’ll likely fall to Round 3 or 4 on many boards. As long as he’s your WR2, you’ll feel more comfortable with him even if he doesn’t pop off every week.
In best-ball leagues, where you don’t have to set your lineup, he could be a steal at that tag.