As we all know, today is the day where legal tampering begins in the NFL and free agents can begin talking to teams. So far, the day has not disappointed with plenty of shocking transactions around the league, including former Atlanta TE Austin Hooper. Hooper and the Cleveland Browns have agreed to a four-year, $44 million contract with $23 million guaranteed, making him the highest paid tight-end in the league (meanwhile George Kittle is licking his chops). Hooper had career highs in catches (75), yards (787) and touchdowns (6) in 2019 and was a vital peace of the Falcons offense.
This is a good move for the Browns, as this adds to their already very talented roster and now have a great tight-end combo of Hooper and David Njoku. While Njoku was extremely disappointing last year playing only four games, this adds stability at the tight-end position. Baker Mayfield was also extremely disappointing last year, thinking he had arrived as a top QB and was talking smack for no reason, and got humbled. Mayfield will have plenty of options in the offense, with Odell Beckham Jr. (looking likely he won’t get traded) and Jarvis Landry out wide, Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt in the backfield, and Hooper and Njoku as the tight-ends. This offense is going to be difficult to defend. On the contrary, are there too many weapons? Mayfield struggled finding Odell and Jarvis on a consistent basis last year, and with this kind of money the Browns are spending, they will have to target Hooper a lot, otherwise what is the point?
In terms of fantasy, Hooper was a top 5 ranked TE last year and probably would have been top 2 or 3 if he had not missed three games due to a sprained MCL. Hooper is leaving Matt Ryan for Baker which is a downgrade for now, but Baker is still developing so time will tell. Also, Matt Ryan and the Falcons offense was built on throwing the football, and did not have much competition for targets besides obviously Julio Jones and Calvin Ridley to a lesser extent. New Cleveland HC Kevin Stefanski likes using two tight-end sets, so he will likely get targets, but there are a lot of weapons on this team and Baker will have to feed them the ball to make them all happy. In my opinion, Hooper’s fantasy value has taken a hit and it will be risky draft pick. He will likely not be a top 5 TE anymore, I would say top 7-8 would be more realistic. He will just not have the same volume of catches/targets like he had in Atlanta, so last year was probably his best case scenario for standard and PPR leagues. Although this is a good move for the Browns and their team, it will be a struggle for him to remain as one of the top fantasy tight-ends this season. Let us know your opinion!