Cleveland Browns running back Jerome Ford exited the team’s Week 6 game against the Philadelphia Eagles early in the first quarter with a hamstring strain. He missed the remainder of the game and did not play in Week 7. Is Ford tracking to return for the Browns’ Week 8 divisional showdown with the Baltimore Ravens?
Is Jerome Ford Playing in Week 8?
On the second drive of the Browns’ Week 6 contest, Ford limped off the field after an 11-yard carry. Unfortunately for Cleveland fans and fantasy managers, he did not return.
Ford had two carries for 14 yards at the time of his injury. He was later ruled out with a hamstring injury to open the second half.
Jerome Ford #browns
Limps off the field after this play. Hard to see what happened. Hopefully minor pic.twitter.com/YqAX1vU6YT
— Tom Christ, PT, DPT, OCS, FAAOMPT (@FantasyInjuryT) October 13, 2024
Ford did not practice at all last week and was ruled out on Friday. In what seems to be the new “coachspeak” of the season, he — like many injured players this season — was described as “week-to-week.”
To open Week 8, it was the status quo for Ford. He did not practice on Wednesday.
#Browns pre-practice injury report: pic.twitter.com/UKQ4r6Be5a
— Mary Kay Cabot (@MaryKayCabot) October 23, 2024
While Wednesday practices are largely meaningless, they do matter more when a player missed the previous week.
It’s definitely too early to draw any definitive conclusions regarding Ford’s Week 8 status, but the Wednesday DNP heavily points toward him missing another week.
Fantasy Outlook for Ford and the Browns
Ford entered Week 6 as the Browns’ leading rusher with 250 yards on 48 attempts, good for a 5.2 yards-per-attempt average. However, playing in a struggling offense, he had not scored since the team’s season opener.
Adding to concern surrounding Ford’s future fantasy value is the return of Nick Chubb, who made his season debut last week. While Chubb only played 36% of the snaps, he handled 11 carries and saw three targets. If the Browns’ RB1 is seeing that level of usage on limited snaps in his first game back, it’s only a matter of time before he’s back to being the feature guy.
Ford’s standalone fantasy value should be in the process of waning. Yet, with him injured, it’s now gone. By the time Ford returns, Chubb will have reacclimated himself enough to the point where the former will not be startable.
With that said, fantasy football managers shouldn’t necessarily drop Ford just yet. For starters, you should be able to stash him on IR. Even if you can’t, Ford is not expected to be out for long, as we can tentatively project him to return after the Browns’ Week 10 bye.
When Ford does return, expect him to immediately step into Cleveland’s RB2 role. It wouldn’t be surprising at all if he supplants Pierre Strong Jr. as the primary passing-down back. At worst, though, Ford will remain one of the best handcuffs in the NFL.
If you can’t afford to hold Ford for the next three weeks, that’s completely understandable. But if you can, there’s still value in keeping him stashed on the back of your roster, as no player’s health, especially Chubb’s, is guaranteed.