Cedric

Tillman

The offseason program, of course, was a long time ago at this point, but Tillman has continued to generate buzz in the early days of Browns camp. Realistically, Tillman is going to have a difficult time making a statistical leap with Amari Cooper, Jerry Jeudy and David Njoku all ahead of him for targets, but Cooper and Jeudy are not long-term solutions. It appears it might behoove Dynasty players to give Tillman one more year on the bench.

The Browns went out and acquired Jeudy from the Broncos earlier this offseason and signed him to a three-year extension soon after. Jeudy has lined up in the slot on 52.5 percent of his snaps during his career and played from the slot on 59.1 percent of his snaps last season. It also sounds like Tillman, a second-year receiver, could be in line for significant snaps this season, but the speedster was targeted on just 11.7 percent of his 358 routes last season. Cooper, Jeudy, and Tillman serving as the Browns’ primary receivers in 11 personnel could leave Elijah Moore on the outside looking in with regards to targets and snaps after he went for 59-640-2 in his first year with the Browns.

Delpit was designated for return earlier this week but won’t be cleared in time for Saturday’s contest. The veteran safety hasn’t played since Week 14’s contest against the Jaguars and will now miss a fifth-consecutive game with the injury. Delpit signed a new deal with the Browns prior to his injury and has totaled 63 tackles, seven TFLs, and one interception in 13 games this season. In addition to Delpit, the Browns also ruled out WR Cedric Tillman (concussion).

Tillman was second on the Browns in receiving in Week 18 but apparently came out of the game with concussion symptoms. Tillman has stepped into a larger role in recent weeks with Amari Cooper battling a heel injury; however, the Browns are unlikely to need to rely on Tillman against the Texans in the playoffs.

It was just the third time all year third-round rookie Tillman produced at least three catches. It came with Amari Cooper resting a heel injury and Elijah Moore trying to shake his concussion heading into the postseason. Unlike David Bell, Tillman should actually see playoff targets, but he will be a poor option in DFS and postseason tournaments.

The rookie was second on the team in targets as his usage in the pass-first Cleveland offense continues to rise. Tillman had seen 15 targets over the past three games after being uninvolved for the season’s first two and a half months. His increase in routes and targets should make Tillman usable in deeper formats next week against the Texans.

Tillman saw additional snaps after Amari Cooper departed with what appeared to be a rib injury early in the fourth quarter. Even so, Tillman remains firmly off fantasy radars with the team now missing its top two quarterbacks.

Goodwin suffered the concussion in the third quarter of the Browns’ win over the Cardinals in Week 9 and he appears to be a longshot to play on Sunday. If he were unable to suit up, that could mean more snaps for Cedric Tillman as the WR3 in Cleveland against Baltimore.

The good news is Tillman played on 74 percent of the Browns’ offensive snaps — a season-high. The bad news is that usage resulted in just one target for the rookie third rounder. An explosive receiver who broke out during his 2021 season at the University of Tennessee, the Browns got Tillman much more involved in the offense after trading Donovan Peoples-Jones to the Lions, but he’s a long way from being fantasy relevant. Fantasy managers looking to stash players in deeper leagues can consider Tillman as a flyer, but targets could be hard to come by in a healthy receiver room.

The third-round rookie is now up to six grabs for 92 yards through the Browns’ first three preseason contests. Cleveland’s top draft choice in a truncated class this spring, Tillman has been turning heads with “wow” plays all training camp. The highlight Thursday evening was a 36-yard grab where he used a double move to obliterate Justin Evans’ coverage before making a catch in tight quarters. A good fit with Deshaun Watson’s deep-game skill-set, Tillman deserves to be kept on watch lists in 12-team re-draft leagues.