Alright, let’s talk about this Jerome Ford versus Javonte Williams thing I was wrestling with for my fantasy lineup. It’s one of those decisions that just kept nagging at me.
My thought process
So, I first started digging into Jerome Ford. The situation in Cleveland caught my eye right away. With Nick Chubb getting that awful injury, the door swung wide open. I saw Ford getting a ton of carries, which is usually gold in fantasy. That volume is hard to ignore. I watched some highlights, just trying to get a feel for how he looked running the ball. He seemed decent enough, hitting the holes, getting what was blocked.
But then, I started thinking about the Browns’ offense overall. It hasn’t exactly been lighting the world on fire consistently, has it? Sometimes they look great, other times… not so much. And while Ford gets the volume, is he that explosive? I wasn’t totally sold that he’d break off huge runs or be a massive touchdown machine every week. It felt more like a steady, maybe unspectacular, volume play.
Then I shifted my focus over to Javonte Williams. Now, this guy, when he’s healthy, he’s a beast. I remember watching him before the injury, just bouncing off tackles. The talent is obviously there. That’s the big appeal.
The big ‘but’ though, is that knee injury he had. Coming back from something like that takes time. I was looking at his usage, and it felt like the Broncos were easing him back in. He was sharing carries, wasn’t getting a full workload right away. Plus, the Denver offense has had its own struggles. It wasn’t clear if they could sustain drives and give him enough scoring chances, even if he was getting healthier.
Making the Call
So, I had Ford with the guaranteed work but maybe a lower ceiling and on a shaky offense. And I had Williams with the higher potential talent but coming off a major injury, sharing work, and also on a struggling offense. It wasn’t an easy spot.
- Ford: Safer volume, known role for now.
- Williams: Higher talent potential, but injury recovery and shared role were big question marks.
I spent a good while just staring at the matchup info, trying to see if that helped. Sometimes a really soft matchup can make the decision for you, but this week, neither matchup felt like a slam dunk either way.
In the end, I leaned towards Jerome Ford. Why? Mostly because of the guaranteed touches. In fantasy, especially when making a tough call like this, I often default to the guy I know is going to be on the field and getting the ball. Williams’ potential is tempting, very tempting, but the uncertainty around his workload and how explosive he’d be post-injury just felt like too much risk for me this particular time. I’ve been burned before chasing potential over proven usage, and I guess those old lessons stick with you.
Doesn’t mean Williams won’t have the better week, that’s fantasy for you. But based on what I could see and my own gut feeling about the risk, Ford felt like the slightly safer floor play for my team right now. We’ll see how it plays out, always gotta be ready to adjust next week!
