Draft Review: AFC North

Bruce Matson Posted On May 12, 2017

The AFC North is home to some of the top fantasy assets in the NFL. Stars like Antonio Brown, AJ Green, Le’Veon Bell and Ben Roethlisberger have been lighting up leagues for years. The NFL Draft provides the opportunity for teams to replenish their rosters with young talent, and the yearly infusion of youth usually injects a few fantasy stars into the league. Like every year, the AFC North landed a fair number of prominent prospects through the draft. A great exercise to do in the off-season is to comb through the division and analyze how each player fits with their new team.

Cincinnati Bengals

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John Ross, WR Washington (Round 1, Pick 9)

Joe Mixon, RB Oklahoma (Round 2, Pick 48)

Josh Malone, WR Tennessee (Round 4, Pick 128)

Jake Elliott, K Memphis (Round 5, Pick 153)

Brandon Wilson, RB Houston (Round 6, Pick 207)

The Bengals selected John Ross with their first-round pick, ninth overall. Ross is a speedster who ran a 4.22 40-yard dash at the combine and is very good at using his speed to take the top off the defense. His ability to stretch the field will make things easier for AJ Green, allowing him to run underneath routes in the intermediate sectors of the field while facing less double coverage. Separating from defenders will soon get a little bit easier for Green, because defensive backs will need to focus on Ross’s speed when they game plan against the Bengals’ offense.

Even though they knew they were going to get scrutinized in the media, the Cincinnati Bengals drafted Mixon in the second the round. The public relations nightmare didn’t waste any time as almost all sports media outlets played the dreaded video of him striking a girl in a restaurant. The Bengals knew what would happen before they even made the pick and but they pulled the trigger anyway. This means the team highly values Mixon and his skill set as if they didn’t, they would’ve gone in another direction with their draft pick to avoid public scrutiny.

For the Bengals to be able to walk through the fire from this public relations fiasco they must have believed they were getting a top ten caliber player at a reduced cost. With that being said, the team will provide Mixon every opportunity to succeed. He landed in an offensive system that wants to pound the football and use their running backs in the passing game, which is perfect for Mixon, because he’s a very effective receiver out of the backfield. AJ Green, Tyler Eifert and John Ross will keep defenses honest, decreasing the amount of eight-man fronts that he could potentially run against, making it a little bit easier for him to find the creases in the defense.

The fourth round presented an opportunity for the Bengals to draft Josh Malone, an under the radar wide receiver prospect from Tennessee. The wide receiver corps is crowded, so he will have an uphill battle to fight in order to become a fantasy relevant asset. The team also drafted Brandon Wilson with their sixth-round pick. He will be battling for a roster spot in training camp, and like Malone, he will have to fight and claw his way up the latter to even think of becoming fantasy relevant.

Cleveland Browns

David Njoku, TE Miami (Round 1, Pick 29)

DeShone Kizer, QB Notre Dame (Round 2, Pick 52)

Zane Gonzalez, K Arizona State (Round 7, Pick 224)

Matt Dayes, RB N.C. State (Round 7, Pick 252)

The Browns traded into the first round by sending their own second-round pick (33 overall) and their fourth-round pick (108 overall) to the Green Bay Packers for their first-round pick (29 overall) to select Njoku. This means Cleveland was willing to pay an extra premium to get Njoku on their team and believes that his services could help elevate their offense in the future. It’s not a secret that the Browns are trying to infuse their roster with highly athletic prospects through acquiring multiple picks in the draft. With a large amount of draft capital being spent on him, the Browns are definitely going to give him every opportunity to succeed and he should see the field early in his career.

With another second-round pick in the draft, the Browns selected DeShone Kizer, quarterback from Notre Dame. Cleveland presents a great opportunity for Kizer as the team is dedicated to placing talent around him. The team isn’t expected to compete this year, so the franchise should allow him extra time to develop to maximize his potential.

Matt Dayes is going to compete in training camp to be the third running back on the roster. He has some talent and should be able to make the team. He’s worth a stash on your dynasty team, because he could be productive if given the opportunity.

Pittsburgh Steelers

JuJu Smith-Schuster, WR USC (Round 2, Pick 30)

James Conner, RB Pittsburgh (Round 3, Pick 105)

Joshua Dobbs, QB Tennessee (Round 4, Pick 135)

Ben Roethlisberger picked up two new weapons in the draft. JuJu Smith-Schuster is one of the top wide receiver prospects in this draft class, and provides added depth to an already stacked receiving corps. He should eventually work his way to becoming the team’s second receiver, playing on the opposite side of the field of Antonio Brown. The Steelers like to use three and four wide-receiver-sets and Smith-Schuster will help bolster the wide receiver corps during his rookie season.

The team also spent a third-round pick on James Conner, a bonafide between-the-tackles grinder who can help the team on goal line and short-yardage situations. If Le’Veon Bell were to go down with an injury, Conner would be able to step up and take on the workload.

Joshua Dobbs was drafted to be Roethlisberger’s backup and potentially develop into the team’s starting quarterback in a few years if the veteran decides to retire. Dobbs has a very high football IQ and should be able to pick up the ins and outs of the NFL very quickly. If there’s a player that rises up from obscurity to become a fantasy asset in this draft, there’s a good chance it’s Dobbs.

Baltimore Ravens

The Ravens did not draft a single skilled player this year, but they did draft multiple offensive linemen and defensive players. They drafted Nico Siragusa, offensive guard from San Diego State in the fourth-round and Jermaine Eluemunor, offensive guard from Texas A&M in the fifth-round. Both players are developmental prospects who should provide depth for the interior line. There’s a chance that both players could eventually develop into starting guards for the Ravens. The team seems to be dedicated to acquiring the building blocks to build a strong offensive line and hopefully that can correlate into better pass protection and run blocking for the offense in the future.

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Bruce Matson

Contributor at Dynasty League Football

I'm a financial counselor for a hospital in South Central Ohio. I graduated from Muskingum University with a bachelor's in business while minoring in Economics and Accounting. I won my first fantasy football title with Jake Plummer as my quarterback.