With Will Levis failing to command a legitimate NFL offense (nor support WRs Calvin Ridley and Nick Westbrook-Ikhine as relevant fantasy WRs over the past few games), the move to another quarterback for this week isn’t all that surprising. Levis committed four turnovers in what was a very good matchup on paper against the Bengals in Week 15, and while Mason Rudolph wasn’t named specifically as his usurper, it’s likely safe to assume that he’ll be suiting up on Sunday. He came in and played as well as anyone could hope for him to play, and most importantly, he was able to make the offense look competent. Despite the change, Rudolph should remain on waiver wires for the fantasy football semi-finals, while Ridley is unlikely to receive any type of notable bump in the rankings as a result.
Meanwhile, the more eye-opening news comes out of Cleveland, with the Browns (of course) reportedly benching Jameis Winston in favor of Dorian Thompson-Robinson ahead of an extremely juicy matchup against the Bengals. The report remains unconfirmed as of the writing of this newsletter, so take it with a grain of salt – however, the Orange and Brown Report’s Brad Stainbrook indicated that the change was happening late yesterday morning. DTR didn’t look any better than Winston in his limited action last week against the Chiefs, and there’s a solid chance that if he would struggle through the first half of the game, Winston could very well find his way back under center for part of the game this weekend. Regardless, if Jameis ultimately doesn’t start, it’ll be impossible to have him in lineups in Week 16, and Jerry Jeudy would profile as likely the only receiver to be trusted with any kind of scoring floor.