• Fannin Jr. played 72% of the offensive snaps against the Bengals: His diverse snap count usage mirrored that of his days at Bowling Green.

• Cleveland could lean more into two-tight end sets with Fannin and David Njoku this season: As the Browns’ offense searches for production out of its pass catchers, the team’s bigger bodies up the middle could be the answer.

• Unlock your edge with PFF+: Access Premium Stats, dominate fantasy with in-season tools and projections and make smarter bets with the new PFF Player Prop Tool.

Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes

Cleveland Browns fans are likely still licking their wounds from a win that never was, but probably should have been, against the Cincinnati Bengals. Fortunately for the Bengals, that’s not how it works. And for the Browns, there were still silver linings, specifically in how their rookies played.

All of the talk this offseason surrounding Cleveland’s rookie draft class centered on quarterbacks Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders. There was plenty to discuss about their draft positions and their playing time in training camp and the preseason. But while those two didn’t log a snap in Cleveland’s first game, rookies like Carson Schwesinger, Dylan Sampson and Harold Fannin Jr. were standouts.

Schwesinger led the way in terms of PFF overall grade (90.0), recording a 70.9 PFF run-defense grade, a 76.0 PFF pass-rush grade and an 83.8 PFF coverage grade. He was all over the place, playing fast and getting around the ball consistently.

On the other side of the ball, running back Dylan Sampson was hardly mentioned as the headlines focused on Quinshon Judkins‘ legal situation and lack of a signed contract. With Judkins missing all that practice time this summer, it was Sampson who got the lion’s share of the touches in Week 1. The Browns struggled to run the ball in general, and Sampson gained just 29 rushing yards on 10 carries, but he caught all eight of his targets for 64 receiving yards on his way to a 92.4 PFF receiving grade. 

Then, there was tight end Harold Fannin Jr. Fannin’s PFF grades from Week 1 don’t necessarily stand out. He recorded a 55.9 PFF overall grade with a 60.4 PFF receiving grade, a 59.4 PFF rushing grade, a 66.3 PFF pass-blocking grade and a 54.6 PFF run-blocking grade.

When you take into account that the grade of an average player who simply does their job — limited, if any, positive or negative impact — comes in around 60.0 for a full game, it’s a fine first performance. But Fannin’s usage was most encouraging.

Open Fannin’s Profile

Fannin was one of the best offensive players in the country for two straight seasons at Bowling Green. In 2023, he recorded a 90.7 PFF receiving grade, and in 2024, he led the country with a 96.4 PFF receiving grade. He was labeled as a tight end, but Bowling Green used him everywhere. He logged inline snaps as a true tight end and saw time in the slot, as an outside receiver, as a running back or fullback and even as a wildcat quarterback.

Bowling Green aimed to get him in advantageous yards-after-the-catch situations through that versatility. In 2023, 406 of his 623 receiving yards came after the catch, and in 2024, 873 of his 1,555 yards arrived with the ball in his hands. He was such a Swiss Army knife in college, and while I could see his yards-after-the-catch athleticism, I just wasn’t sure an NFL team was going to give him that kind of freedom to be a jack-of-all-trades weapon.

The early signs say otherwise. The Browns handed him 72% of the team’s offensive snaps and 35% of the special teams snaps in Week 1. He logged 29 snaps as an inline tight end, 17 in the slot, seven as an outside receiver, three in the backfield as a fullback and even one at wildcat quarterback, where he gained three yards on a first-and-10 situation.

Fellow Browns tight end David Njoku still played more snaps than Fannin, but we knew that would be the case. The question was simply how creative Cleveland’s coaching staff would be to try to get him on the field.

It’s a small sample size, but the early indications say the Browns will be very willing to get creative with one of college football’s most unique offensive playmakers over the past two years.