Fourth & Inches

2026 regular · wk 4 · half ppr · 64 games lined

QB

Deshaun Watson

CLE

QB34 · overall #279 · tier 7 · age 31

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Projected points

138

12.4/gm

Value over replacement

-35

repl 250

Range

101–175

sd 37

Week

12.6

vs PIT

Why this ranking

hand-set 2026-09-03

Cut to QB32 at Matt's direction. Native QB18 on 15.38/g -- ABOVE every season he has played since 2021 and 20% above his own decay-weighted history of 12.85. His actual line since returning: 14.26/g on 6 games, 14.47 on 6, 10.96 on 7, and ZERO games in 2025 after the Achilles. A declining rate on a shrinking sample, and the model reads the thin sample as uncertainty and pulls him UP toward the positional prior, which is how a man who has not played in a year outprojects his own best recent season. Availability is not pricing it either: injury_games_mult is 1.0, so missing an entire season cost him nothing. Both markets have written him off -- no ADP at all and ECR QB32, which is last -- and this lands on ECR. 138.0 over the native 11.1 games is 12.43/g, just under his own weighted history, which is the most that a quarterback coming off two Achilles tears with a rookie behind him should carry. TARGET ADOPTED AT QB35 ON 3 SEP, not re-priced back to QB32. The gap is 8.4 points, which is material by the points test, and it is still not worth serving. He sits at vor -40.2 among draftable quarterbacks running -28 to -52, so QB32 and QB35 are the same thing in a one-QB league: nobody drafts either. And the drift runs the way the argument did -- Sleeper projects 102.06 against this 138.0, so re-pricing UP by 8.4 would move away from the one source that says the cut has not gone far enough. Adopted deliberately rather than silenced: ECR and consensus both say QB32 and are recorded here as disagreeing.

This is a view, not a correction — the model said something different and was overruled. See how it works.

Projected usage

opportunity, before efficiency

Pass attempts / game
26.1
Pass yards / game
170
Pass TD / game
1.09
Carries / game
3.8
Rush yards / game
16
Rush TD / game
0.12
Games projected
11.1
Observed pts/gm (history)
13.1
Games of history
19
Age multiplier
0.974
Usage carryover
0.90

Team context

what scales this projection

Neutral sec / play
33.4
Projected plays / game
61.0
Projected pass rate
58%
OL run block
-1.18
OL pass protection
-1.79
OL continuity
28%
2TE rate
37%
3WR rate
63%
1st-down pass rate
44%
Run friendly
+1.14
Scheme creativity
-0.09
Play action / motion
23% / 44%

Situation

ambiguity widens the projection range

Label
new head coach
Ambiguity score
66
Effective contributors
–
Top player's share
–
New play-caller
yes
Variance multiplier
1.85

Trade window

schedule-driven buy / sell timing

Action
buy low
Window weeks
4-6
Window opponents
PIT,NYJ,BAL
Window matchup
-0.18
Opponents after
TEN,PIT,NO
After matchup
-0.27
Flip edge
+0.08
Buy basis
recent form
Bye week
11
Playoff schedule (15-17)
-0.39

Last season game log

week by week

No 2025-season weekly record for Deshaun Watson — rookies and players who did not record a stat line have none.