The Browns stopped Denzel Boston‘s draft slide, selecting him with the No. 39 overall pick in the second round of the 2026 NFL Draft.
Let's look at the fantasy football outlook for Boston in Cleveland, both for seasonal leagues and Dynasty formats.
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Denzel Boston Fantasy Value With the Cleveland Browns
The Browns were likely picking between KC Concepcion and Boston when on the clock at No. 24 overall, so getting both of them has to feel like a coup.
Unfortunately, though, that good fortune for Cleveland is bad news for the immediate fantasy value of the two rookie receivers.
In addition to those draft picks, the Browns also have second-year tight end Harold Fannin Jr, who was first among all qualified tight ends in target rate per route as a rookie.
Cleveland also still has Jerry Jeudy on the roster, though his immediate future with the team has to be in question following this draft.
The Browns can save nearly $7 million against the cap by trading Jeudy after June 1.
The biggest issue for all the pass catchers is the quarterback situation.
Cleveland quarterbacks combined for the worst passer rating in the NFL last season (71.8).
Their passers completed a league-low 58.2% of their passes for 6.0 yards per pass attempt (31st), a 3.2% touchdown rate (30th), a league-high 3.5% interception rate, and took a sack on 8.1% of their dropbacks (25th).
The depth chart does not look any better heading into 2026, with Shedeur Sanders, Dillon Gabriel, and, shockingly, Deshaun Watson competing for the starting job.
The last time we saw Watson play in 2024, he completed 63.4% of his passes (29th) for 5.3 yards per pass attempt (44th), a 2.3% touchdown rate (42nd), and a league-high 13.3% sack rate.
Ultimately, then, this is a rough landing spot for Boston both from a redraft and Dynasty perspective, especially when considering he did not get first-round draft capital and was not even the first receiver off the board on Day 2.
Denzel Boston's Fantasy Scouting Report
Rich Hribar wrote a comprehensive fantasy profile for Boston before the 2026 NFL Draft:
Boston is coming off back-to-back seasons at Washington where he caught over 60 passes for 800 yards with 9 and 11 touchdowns.
That is following the NFL talent purge at Washington when their entire passing game (and Ryan Grubb) entered the league after their stellar run in 2023.
Boston then stepped into a larger role in the offense, which had poor quarterback play in 2024, but he posted 1.86 yards per route run with 9 touchdowns.
With a true sophomore quarterback this past season taking over, Boston had the best season of his career, posting 2.44 yards per route run with 11 scores.
He produced a first down or touchdown on 13.6% of his routes in 2025, which was second in this class.
51.6% of his targets resulted in a first down or touchdown (4th).
We have covered several hybrid receivers so far who are either already playing multiple receiver positions or have the potential to unlock that in the NFL.
Boston takes some more squinting in that area and is our first body receiver.
At 6-foot-4 and 212 pounds, he was used as a primary X receiver in college, playing out wide on 84.4% of his career snaps.
Boston averaged 14.4 air yards per target, which was WR8 in this class.
A pro for him in his role is that he was excellent in the run game, posting the highest run-blocking grade in this class of receivers.
He will be on the field in condensed sets and can make an impact in the red zone.
The potential rub is that he is entering the league at a time when the vertical X has lost some luster in combating the shell game of the Vic Fangio-led defensive era.
The players who have succeeded under that archetype have had a significant boost from their top-down offenses while playing with elite, versatile pass catchers.
This is what unlocked George Pickens last season and has worked for Tee Higgins, as well.
Courtland Sutton has had a turbulent ride to this point for gamers, but that is more in the bull case of outcomes for comparables.
This has also impacted some of the front-end wideouts in this archetype, who have had better collegiate resumes than Boston.
Both Marvin Harrison Jr. and Tetairoa McMillan were top-10 picks from this archetype.
They each produced solid counting lines as rookies, but both faced limitations for consistent fantasy production due to quarterback play, scheme, and deployment.
We want our guys to get some free squares and move around the formation.
Through two years, Harrison has played 80% of his snaps out wide with 1.6% of his targets at or behind the line of scrimmage.
As a rookie, McMillan was out wide for 85% of his snaps with a 1.6% target rate at the line of scrimmage.
I do not believe Boston is as clean as Harrison or McMillan entering the NFL, but I do believe the comparisons to Keon Coleman are misguided.
Coleman was a player who struggled to create anything on his own, posting poor metrics against man coverage (1.82 yards per route) and 1.58 yards per route when he did get opportunities from the slot in his final season.
Boston only moonlighted in the slot for 65 routes in 2025, but he at least exploited those limited opportunities for 3.71 yards per route.
Against man coverage, he won much more than Coleman did, posting 2.66 yards per route (WR13 in this class).
When Coleman entered the NFL, he had clear separation issues.
34.5% of his targets were contested catches in his final season, the highest rate of that draft class.
Only 13.7% of Boston’s targets were contested targets (36th in this class), which is a far cry from what you hear about him being clunky or a poor separator.
For a player with his target tree and target depth, that is a great number.
Boston is a more versatile player than he is given credit for, and I would love to see him get more “power slot” snaps in the NFL.
That said, I especially believed that about McMillan, and we saw his rookie-season usage be limited.
Boston still takes a step of faith in landing in a spot that does not throw him solely out on an island without targets near the line of scrimmage.
If he does end up in one of those situations, gamers need him attached to a strong offensive environment with a quarterback who excels at throwing that menu of targets (apologies to Kyler Murray and Bryce Young).
In contrast, he may outright need to be paired with a receiver who occupies defensive attention across the formation.
