CLE · QB
Projected Points (PPR)
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Shedeur Sanders holds the top spot on Cleveland's depth chart on paper, but Deshaun Watson sits alongside him and the current snap distribution tells the real story. Through the first two games of 2026, Sanders has played a share of his team's offensive snaps of just 1%, with three pass attempts, three completions, two passing yards, and 0.08 PPR fantasy points across his two games played. That is not a part-time role, that is barely a presence on the field. Compare that to last season, when he started seven of eight games played and carried 60.2% of Cleveland's offensive snaps, throwing 212 times for 1,400 yards on 56.6% completion. The gap between those two stretches is the entire story of his current standing. Last year he was the show. Right now he is watching from the sideline with a clipboard. Harold Fannin Jr. remains the top tight end on Cleveland's depth chart, a receiving option whose value depends entirely on who is throwing him the ball, and right now that quarterback is not Sanders. Until the snap share shifts back in his direction, any value Fannin provides as a pass-catcher is happening without Sanders as the thrower.
The case for Shedeur Sanders starts with the body of work from a season ago. Over seven starts and eight games played, he threw for 1,400 yards and seven touchdowns, ran for 169 yards and a touchdown on twenty-one carries, and produced 94.9 PPR fantasy points, good for 11.9 per game. That per-game number placed him as a streaming option in deeper formats, not a weekly starter, but it proved he could handle snaps as the primary passer and make something of them even while committing ten interceptions. The rushing production matters too: a passer who can add yards and scores with his legs has a built-in floor that pure pocket passers lack, and Sanders showed at least a hint of that over his sample. If an opportunity opens up again, the baseline he set last year is not nothing. The case against him is simply what has happened in the two games played this season. A share of his team's offensive snaps of 1%, three pass attempts total, and 0.08 PPR fantasy points is not a slow start, it is a near-total absence from the offense. His finish among all players at his position, PPR, sits at fifty-six, a sharp fall from the thirty-seventh finish he posted last season. Ten interceptions against seven touchdowns last year also raises a real question about whether his accuracy, measured at a completion percentage of 56.6%, will hold up against competent opposing defenses even if he does reclaim snaps. A completion rate in the mid-fifties with a negative touchdown-to-interception r atio is the profile of a passer still figuring things out, not one who has solved the position. The honest steelman for staying patient is that offenses change quarterbacks for reasons that have nothing to do with ceiling, and a passer who posted 1,400 yards and seven scores in limited action has already shown the tools to produce when given reps. The honest counter is that current usage is the loudest signal available, and 1% of the snaps through two games played is as unambiguous a signal as exists in fantasy. Nobody rosters a player for what he did before the snaps disappeared; they roster him for what happens if the snaps come back, and right now there is no indication that is imminent. Harold Fannin Jr., the top tight end on the depth chart, is a name that will matter again for Sanders owners specifically because Fannin's statistical ceiling is tied to whoever is throwing him passes — if Sanders returns to the field in a meaningful role, Fannin becomes a more interesting source of scoring for him to target.
Leave Shedeur Sanders on the wire in all but the deepest two-quarterback or superflex leagues. A share of his team's offensive snaps of 1% through two games played means he is not a viable starting option in any standard format, regardless of what he did a season ago. Even in deep leagues, he belongs on the bench, not in a starting lineup, until the snap count changes meaningfully. For managers in deep or dynasty formats who already have him rostered, a stash is defensible given last year's per-game average of 11.9 PPR points over a real sample of starts, but do not expect production while he sits behind Deshaun Watson on the depth chart. The shift that would change his value is simple and binary: an increase in his share of the offensive snaps. Until Cleveland hands him meaningful playing time again, his fantasy value is theoretical. Watch the snap count first, not the touchdown total, because the snaps are the leading indicator here. Target Harold Fannin Jr. independently of Sanders' outlook; Fannin's own role does not depend on who is throwing him the ball, but if Sanders does reclaim snaps, Fannin becomes one of the more interesting beneficiaries to watch given his standing on Cleveland's depth chart.
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Shedeur Sanders will start at quarterback against New Orleans. Deshaun Watson is inactive despite clearing concussion protocol.
Nov 8, 1:30 PM ET
Shedeur Sanders has been named Cleveland’s starting quarterback for Week 9. Deshaun Watson returned to practice but remains in the concussion protocol and could be active only as a backup.
Nov 7, 1:20 PM ET
Source:gridironheroics.com