Austin Hooper, David Njoku start or sit: Week 12 fantasy football advice

Don’t look now, but Austin Hooper is on the brink of fantasy relevance if he can continue staying on the same page with Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield. In Week 11, Mayfield was reported as playing fairly injured, yet Hooper was his second favorite target with seven targets. Hooper caught four of them and led the team with 53 receiving yards. Hooper also had five targets in Week 10 and found the endzone.

The thing that is tough to deal with when trying to determine the value of Hooper is that the second we say alright go with Hooper, teammate David Njoku is going to have the game of his life. They don’t exactly alternate fantasy-relevant performances, but once every three or four games it is Njoku that slides into the spotlight and Hooper just disappears in the offense. This back and forth is way too unpredictable and you should have a more reliable option available.

Fantasy Football analysis: Browns TEs Austin Hooper, David Njoku

The good news for this tight end duo is that the Browns take on the Baltimore Ravens this week and their defense is giving up the fifth-most fantasy points per game to opposing tight ends. If you HAVE to start one of them, I would go with Hooper just based on recent performance and with Mayfield still banged up. Avoid them if you can. Hopefully, you can sit both tight ends and see what their usage and performance are like in Week 12, and then ramp the productive one up in Week 14 when these two teams meet again.

Fantasy Start/Sit Recommendation

SIT both Hooper and Njoku if you can, START Hooper if you HAVE to pick one.