How good can Crowell be this year?

[Meretc01]

When cleveland having 11 picks in this draft and only using 1 on a running back in the 7th round. they must have extreme confidence in crowell. With the offensive line they just bought it's easily a top 5 line.. what's Crowell floor and ceiling for the 2017 season? I'm thinking rb1 status??

[Valhalla]

I think it's more about the process they are using to build the team. RB takes no time to develop, and they can draft one and have a rookie cheap contract RB when they are competitive. There is little sense (to me anyways) in investing in a RB when, by the time your team will be good, that RB will be coming off the rookie contract and want to be paid.
I think the Browns probably intended on trading up to get Trubisky. The Browns just weren't nutty enough to pay more than the Bears paid, so they missed out on their QB. A one year set-back, as they are set up nicely in next year's draft that is projected to be pretty good for QBs.
I think, had they gotten Trubisky, they would have likely drafted more RB talent to help take some pressure off their developing QB. Since they missed out on him (I presume), they decided (I think appropriately) to invest their picks into positions that often take more time to develop than a RB.

[Jason3123]

Considering he was approximately RB14-15 depending on your scoring, on a team that was tied for last in the NFL in rushing attempts, I'd say he can easily be a top 10 RB in fantasy in 2018.

[Valhalla]

Considering he was approximately RB14-15 depending on your scoring, on a team that was tied for last in the NFL in rushing attempts, I'd say he can easily be a top 10 RB in fantasy in 2018.

Without digging into his numbers, knowing they have added little for competition, this is probably true.

[IBall2]

I think Duke Johnson is a great buy now actually in PPR leagues. He averaged over 4.5 targets per game last year and less than 100 carries but he has a clear roll on the offense and they used a 3rd round pick on him 2 years ago. He only had 1 TD last year so that lowered his numbers but if the Browns are getting better as a team, he will get more opportunities in the redzone (similar can be said about Crowell).

And Duke probably cost half the price of Crowell.

[Meretc01]

I just don't trust the procieved "scat back" as a every down type player.. I think he's a lesser of a gio 2.0.. plus if he does get the rock 220+ times.. You have to worry about his fumbling issues in college.. I know haven't seen them in the pros but it's still something to monitor if that does happen. I like Crowell a lot, I think he helps the browns give the best chance to win..

[JJDubya]

Crowell is a legit talent and has done extremely well in what most would view as a suboptimal situation. I don't recall news as to whether he signed his tender, so unless he and the Browns agree to a contract, he'll be a UFA next year. Thinking that through, if he has a great season (which I think he can behind that line) then he's going to try to get paid what he feels he deserves. In that scenario, I think Cleveland lets him walk because as an analytically-oriented team right now, RB is cheap to replace, so no need to squander resources. I'd value him more if he stayed there because I'm a believer in what they're doing, but in any event I think he is a safe bet to put up RB1 numbers this year.

[theone]

If we examine last season, his end of season totals were a bit misleading. Crowell had a great 4 game stretch to start the season. The next 8 games he maxed out at 63 yards rushing while being held to less than 30 in 6 of those 8 games then finished the season with his best rushing performance in a meaningless week 17 game.

Floor - CLE rescinds the RFA offer Crowell has not signed yet and he looks for work as a backup somewhere.
Ceiling - We see a Jeremy Hill rookie season type of impact.
Expectation - 180-220 carries/ 900-1200 total yards

Bottom Line: Crowell is a solid RB but a replaceable one with no traits that really stand out. If the new OL comes together and plays to the sum of the individuals parts and the Browns get competent QB play, Crowell could be in for a really nice low end RB1 season. If that does not happen and Crowell misses out on some of his career high receiving work from last season, you could easily be looking at a RB3 type season.

[Meretc01]

If we examine last season, his end of season totals were a bit misleading. Crowell had a great 4 game stretch to start the season. The next 8 games he maxed out at 63 yards rushing while being held to less than 30 in 6 of those 8 games then finished the season with his best rushing performance in a meaningless week 17 game.

Floor - CLE rescinds the RFA offer Crowell has not signed yet and he looks for work as a backup somewhere.
Ceiling - We see a Jeremy Hill rookie season type of impact.
Expectation - 180-220 carries/ 900-1200 total yards

Bottom Line: Crowell is a solid RB but a replaceable one with no traits that really stand out. If the new OL comes together and plays to the sum of the individuals parts and the Browns get competent QB play, Crowell could be in for a really nice low end RB1 season. If that does not happen and Crowell misses out on some of his career high receiving work from last season, you could easily be looking at a RB3 type season.

Correct but those stats could be better due to the fact that they lost their center after that 4 game stretch.. which could have played a factor

[thebeast]

I think Duke Johnson is a great buy now actually in PPR leagues. He averaged over 4.5 targets per game last year and less than 100 carries but he has a clear roll on the offense and they used a 3rd round pick on him 2 years ago. He only had 1 TD last year so that lowered his numbers but if the Browns are getting better as a team, he will get more opportunities in the redzone (similar can be said about Crowell).

And Duke probably cost half the price of Crowell.

Crow is stronger and likely faster than Duke. Duke will have a very limited role behind Crow.

[Jason3123]

If we examine last season, his end of season totals were a bit misleading. Crowell had a great 4 game stretch to start the season. The next 8 games he maxed out at 63 yards rushing while being held to less than 30 in 6 of those 8 games then finished the season with his best rushing performance in a meaningless week 17 game.

Floor - CLE rescinds the RFA offer Crowell has not signed yet and he looks for work as a backup somewhere.
Ceiling - We see a Jeremy Hill rookie season type of impact.
Expectation - 180-220 carries/ 900-1200 total yards

Bottom Line: Crowell is a solid RB but a replaceable one with no traits that really stand out. If the new OL comes together and plays to the sum of the individuals parts and the Browns get competent QB play, Crowell could be in for a really nice low end RB1 season. If that does not happen and Crowell misses out on some of his career high receiving work from last season, you could easily be looking at a RB3 type season.

Correct but those stats could be better due to the fact that they lost their center after that 4 game stretch.. which could have played a factor

This goes back to them being last in rushing attempts. He had a good start because they were giving him double digit carries. He averaged 14.8 carries the first 5 games. He averaged 9.1 the next 6 games.

In the 11 games he received double digit carries he averaged 14.4 carries, 79 yards and 0.6 touchdowns. Thats a 229-1266-10 pace over 16 games.

His only flaw last year was volume. They only ran it 380 times in 2015, and it's pretty likely they win only 2-3 games again, so they may not be able to run it 400+ times. But the good news there, is Crowell's floor is still a RB2.

[IBall2]

I think Duke Johnson is a great buy now actually in PPR leagues. He averaged over 4.5 targets per game last year and less than 100 carries but he has a clear roll on the offense and they used a 3rd round pick on him 2 years ago. He only had 1 TD last year so that lowered his numbers but if the Browns are getting better as a team, he will get more opportunities in the redzone (similar can be said about Crowell).

And Duke probably cost half the price of Crowell.

Crow is stronger and likely faster than Duke. Duke will have a very limited role behind Crow.

Yes, he will have a limited workload behind Crowell but I was speaking more in terms of PPR.

Last year in PPR Crowell put up 200 points and Duke put up 150.
Both players got over 50 targets last year, Crowell averaged 8 yards per reception and Duke averaged 9.7 yard per reception.
Both players had good average YPC with Crowell getting 4.8 and Duke getting 4.9
Big difference was Crowell saw 198 carries with 7 TDs and Duke only saw 73 carries with 1 TD.

I guess the point I'm getting at is, they performed almost identically last year (I know I'm only judging off stats) and you can buy Duke for half the price of Crowell and hope that Dukes TD total goes up... You can't expect him to only get 1 TD again this year can you?

[MEuRaH]

I'm probably one of the biggest anti-Crow people on these forums. I said all along that the Browns would draft a RB to compete with him....... I guess I was right?......

Anyway, I still don't believe in him, but if there's no other suitable competition, top 20 is probably a given. I honestly don't see it becoming top 12 or anything. Then again, I'm lower than low on him.

[nathanq42]

Never watched the browns so I can only go off of stats
But he had a 5 ypc (I know it doesn't tell the whole story) but I recall seeing somewhere he played against a lot of stacked boxes (dont quote me on that though) plus the browns line is greatly improved, plus he was top 20 last year with game script going against him every game. I think he could really blow up this yeah if hue can make game competitive and can stick to a run game, not to mention there are more weapons to take the heat off. I'd say he gets 230 for 1200 with 12 TDs and 35 catches for 250

[Cameron Giles]

Nobody's mentioned it, but Crowell hasn't even signed his tender yet. So, technically he could still be traded by the Browns if he's unhappy with his contract.