Fantasy Football Overvalued, Undervalued – AFC North

Last week I kicked off my fantasy football overvalued and undervalued series with the AFC East. Today, it’s time to take a look at the AFC North. This is the perfect time to re-emphasize that not every team will have true overvalued and undervalued players. Of course, I will do my best to help you identify who is most likely to meet those criteria for the 2026 season.

Fantasy Football Overvalued

Cleveland Browns Wide Receivers

FantasyPros has KC Concepción (WR53), Jerry Jeudy (WR58), and Denzel Boston (WR62) all within the top 62 WRs for 2026. The trouble? We have the exact same QB room for the Browns in 2026 that we had in 2025. You know, 2025, the year Cleveland picked in the top 10. Again. Even more damning? The highest finish for a Cleveland WR in 2025 was Jeudy and his WR70 finish. 

It’s never a good sign when the coach says you have two starting-level QBs, either. So could one of these guys outpace this? Yes. The Cleveland passing game was horrid; it could progress this year. But even so, is it worth spending a roster spot on any of these guys until we see differently? I have to say no.

Rico Dowdle, RB, Pittsburgh Steelers (RB31)

This isn’t so much about Rico Dowdle the player or even his role as he’ll probably get a decent amount of work. The problem with his ranking is that it puts him at 82nd overall, right at the end of the 7th round. That’s ridiculous when you consider FantasyPros is ranking him ahead of Sam LaPorta, Jaxson Dart, and Parker Washington.

Of course, we all have to take players at points that we don’t want. But this is about opportunity cost. The problem isn’t that you take Dowdle; it’s who you’re passing up to take him. I would rather fill out my roster with the aforementioned players than depend on Dowdle as an every-week starter in a start-10 league by leaps and bounds.

Justice Hill, RB, Baltimore Ravens (RB67)

This one is tough. In reality, nobody is overvalued on Baltimore; everyone is pretty evenly valued, as is often the case when it comes to veteran-laden teams like the Ravens. So with that, we come to Justice Hill. Is he overvalued? Probably not, RB67 is “fine” because it’s not like you’re drafting him in anything but deep leagues anyhow.

This is more about the RB position behind Derrick Henry. This is a brand new coaching staff and offense in Baltimore. What’s more, there’s a talented rookie in tow now, Adam Randall. Do I think either will take work from Derrick Henry? Nope. But that’s the point. Don’t leave the draft with either, but monitor them through the first game or two of the season and make them priority waiver wire pickup if necessary.

Tee Higgins, WR, Cincinnati Bengals (WR15)

“Well, if Ja’Marr Chase gets hurt, Tee Higgins is a beast!” That’s true. The ‘but’ in that statement should loom large, though. Because how often is Chase hurt? Aside from 2022, when he played in 12 games, Chase has only missed 1 game/season max in his career. So if you’re baking in that benefit, you’re chasing a narrative that largely doesn’t exist.

Now, the flip side of that. How healthy has Higgins been? In his six-year career, he’s played 15+ games three times and only once in the last three. So essentially a coin flip on whether you’re going to miss a month or more from him. You’re free to do as you like, of course, but taking a guy likely to miss time in the top 20 at the position is too rich for me. 

Fantasy Football Undervalued

Quinshon Judkins, RB, Cleveland Browns (RB22)

Yes, I’m going to talk out of both sides of my mouth when it comes to the Browns. I already said nothing really changed with their QBs, and that’s true. But what did change dramatically is the offensive line, and this is what drives my optimism. Unlike the pass catchers who suffer from lack of consistency and quality at QB, Quinshon Judkins gets that new offensive line. 

Granted, the new line may not be great, but it’s better than what Cleveland rolled out in 2025. That was an old, physically failing line that was a shell of their former selves. So even a minimal improvement would push Judkins up into the mid-RB2 range.

D.K. Metcalf, WR, Pittsburgh Steelers (WR33)

On one hand, I’m not here to sell you on D.K. Metcalf. I don’t really want any part of this Pittsburgh offense led by old man Aaron Rodgers, either. That said, WR33 is disrespectful. Even in the wet fart that was the Arthur Smith offense in Pittsburgh last season, Metcalf managed a respectable WR26 finish in total points and WR24 in points per game. 

We have to figure that the offense will be at least marginally better this year with the return of the West Coast offense that new head coach Mike McCarthy and Rodgers both love. Even if it isn’t, the stink of last year on Metcalf is just a bit too strong.

“Not Zay Flowers or Mark Andrews”, Baltimore Ravens

This is one of those situations where someone will end up playing a lot of snaps and catching a decent number of passes from Lamar Jackson. Right now, enigmatic Rashod Bateman (WR80) is the starter across from Flowers, and Isaiah Likely is in New York with the Giants.

So, could we see one of the rookies, Ja’Kobi Lane (WR110) or Elijah Sarratt (WR93), play a decent-sized role as the season goes along? Absolutely. Will that matter beyond WR4 or WR5 status? That much I’m skeptical about, but they should still solidly outperform their ranking.

Ghost of Tyler Boyd, Cincinnati Bengals

The Bengals have one of the best funnel offenses in the NFL, with essentially all of the offensive output flowing through Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, and Chase Brown. Wonderful to target for fantasy. But that means aside from injury, there’s really no room for them or other players to be undervalued. And even in the case of injury, what can happen is that the offense just becomes even more … funnelled? 

We’ve been waiting years for Mike Gesicki and Andrei Iosivas to do something in the post-Tyler Boyd era. What we should take away from the last two years is that we likely won’t see the offense expand beyond the usual suspects even if an injury takes one of the main cogs out.