Fantasy: Gary Barnidge can break Browns’ string of fluky breakouts

Gary Barnidge’s breakout season will go down in the pantheon of against-all-odds gridiron crusades.

It wasn’t quite on the level of 2015 Eric Berry or 2012 Peyton Manning overcoming severe physical obstacles. Barnidge kept a lower profile generally in line with the Cleveland sports scene when LeBron James is not involved and had nothing physically wrong with him prior to 2015.

Although, his Pro-Football-Reference page before last September did look like someone who was either battling myriad injuries or out-kicking his coverage in terms of warranting continual NFL employment.

But Barnidge could well be destined for trivia question glory for years to come. He emerges at age 30 on a particularly bad Browns team, and that’s saying something, with Johnny Manziel spending a lot of time as his quarterback.

Good luck replicating that chain of events, tight end universe.

The obvious question for fantasy owners who either located Barnidge in time to extract value from the previously nondescript tight end, or those who bitterly watched a league rival do this: was this something to be taken seriously for the future? Or was it merely someone being the beneficiary of playing from behind constantly on a team that didn’t have much else to target?

Basically, is Barnidge’s post-breakout future closer to Brandon Myers or Julius Thomas?

You’d think what’s transpiring in Cleveland has to be good news for arguably the most anonymous top-five fantasy tight end ever. Manziel will be gone, and the Browns hired a proven offensive coach in Hue Jackson. Josh Gordon, in theory, should be back as well to draw defenders away from him.

The Browns are certainly buying into this line of thinking, re-signing Barnidge to a contract extension last season.

Cleveland, however, hasn’t been a foreign environment for fantasy breakouts. They just haven’t ended well in Cleveland.

Gordon’s 2013 torpedoing of the league with Brandon Weeden at the controls may have resulted in the most random receiver being named first-team All-Pro this century besides David Boston. Barnidge’s predecessor, Jordan Cameron, also found success that season only to rapidly disappear from the fantasy radar, burning all of those giddy owners who either kept him at low prices or drafted him high the following season. He hasn’t done much in Miami to prove his 2013 wasn’t fluky. Travis Benjamin’s in the same boat after a contract-year emergence.

Jan. 3, 2016 – Cleveland, OH, USA – Cleveland Browns tight end Gary Barnidge side steps Pittsburgh Steelers’ Will Allen after a fourth-quarter catch on Sunday, Jan. 3, 2016, at FirstEnergy Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio (Photo by Phil Masturzo/Zuma Press/Icon Sportswire)

And Trent Richardson had a decent year once. Never forget.

It’s a strange pattern that’s formulated in Northeast Ohio. But unlike the possibly soon-to-be-ex-Brown Benjamin and Gordon, twice suspended and either on the verge of resurfacing in Cleveland or headed for Justin Blackmon-esque ignominy, Barnidge will have a surefire chance at immediately building on his unlikely success.

Only four tight ends surpassed 1,000 yards last season: Rob Gronkowski, Greg Olsen, Delanie Walker and Barnidge (79 catches, 1,043 yards and four TDs with a solid 13.2 yards-per-catch average that eclipsed Walker). Barnidge managed to do so with Manziel and Josh McCown throwing to him, which should count for something.

Jackson’s arrival should also represent good news after what he orchestrated with Tyler Eifert last season. He of a tight end-leading 13 TDs, Eifert was a red zone dynamo for the Bengals in one healthy campaign with Jackson. Now that Jackson likely has a long leash as a head coach, the Browns’ rampant firing spree probably works in his favor at this point, he’ll keep one of the team’s only proven weapons involved.

Carson Wentz or Jared Goff looks like the next Browns signal-caller, which will be an upgrade from Manziel from an accuracy perspective. McCown may also be involved too if the Browns, who may lose two Pro Bowl-caliber linemen in Mitchell Schwartz and Alex Mack in free agency, don’t want to immediately throw their rookie quarterback into a mess.

Although Gordon and a to-be-determined WR2 could vulture some of Barnidge’s targets, the Browns are likely still going to be playing from behind a lot, which should keep their mid-range game moving chains against soft coverage. Only Walker averaged more targets per game than Barnidge’s 7.8 in 2015.

At the same time, Barnidge will be doubted based on his past.

There are plenty of tight ends more athletic, but many — Jared Cook, Kyle Rudolph, Eric Ebron, for example — don’t produce like their measurables suggest they should. Many owners who didn’t watch the Browns play last season (likely a sizable sect of the fantasy realm) may bypass Barnidge in favor of sexier options like Jimmy Graham, Austin Sefarian-Jenkins, injury risk Jordan Reed, etc. Thirty-one-year-old tight ends playing for the Browns just don’t have much appeal when compared to players with perceived higher ceilings.

But going for 1,000 yards in the circumstances Barnidge had shouldn’t be treated like a fluke. His yards could decrease while the TD numbers rise under Jackson.

The Browns are rebuilding and have few blocks at this moment. Drafters should feel comfortable waiting for Barnidge as a result.

The post Fantasy: Gary Barnidge can break Browns’ string of fluky breakouts appeared first on Today's Pigskin.