Denzel Boston — Week 2: Boston Goes Fifty-Five to Tie It
2026 NFL Season · Half-PPR Scoring · Monday, Sep 21
Boston caught five of seven targets for 95 yards and a touchdown, the most receiving yards by any player in the game. The touchdown was a 55-yard catch-and-run on a throw that traveled 13 yards in the air, with 1:33 left in the third quarter and Cleveland down 16–9; he added a nine-yard conversion on third and three on the winning drive, in a 23–19 win over the Buccaneers.
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16 to nine, Buccaneers, a minute 33 left in the third quarter, first and 10 at the Cleveland 45, one snap after a face-mask penalty. Deshaun Watson threw short over the middle, 13 yards in the air, and Denzel Boston took it the rest of the way, 55 yards for the touchdown. +5.2 expected points added — expected points added is what a play was worth given down, distance and field position — the biggest run or pass of the day for either team by that measure. It was also worth 18.7 points of win probability, the chance of winning the game after the play against before it: Cleveland went from about 24 percent to about 43, and the extra point tied the game at 16.
The line: seven targets, five catches, 95 yards, one touchdown, three first downs, +7.0 expected points on his targets. The yards and the expected points were both the most of any receiver on either team. 60 air yards, 50 after the catch. The catches: eight on second and 19 late in the first quarter; 15 on first and 10 from the Cleveland 41 in the third; the 55; nine on third and three at the Tampa Bay 49 with six 48 left, Browns down 19 to 16, out of bounds at the 40, worth 9.0 points of win probability; and eight on second and 10 to the Tampa Bay 17, the snap before the winning touchdown. The incompletions were his first target, first and 19, short right, and third and six at the Tampa Bay 16 with three 54 left in the third, deep left, a defender credited with the breakup. Cleveland kicked a field goal after that one. Two targets before halftime, five after.
Seven targets led the Browns, ahead of six each for KC Concepcion and Harold Fannin, and five of Watson's 21 second-half throws went to him. Two third-down targets, one conversion.
Back in June the preview's read on Boston was a six-four second-round pick with a contested-catch, red-zone profile, and a bet on the gap between spring buzz and a late price. Week 1 ran that profile backwards: the one red-zone throw his way fell incomplete, and the touchdown came from 46 yards out with the game decided. Sunday did it again, with one difference. The one throw to him inside the 20 was the incompletion at the 16, and the touchdown came from 55 out, but this one tied a game Cleveland went on to win. Two games: 11 targets, seven catches, a hundred 54 yards, two touchdowns. Whether the red-zone role is his is still open after two weeks. That he is getting the ball is not. Cleveland is home to the Panthers on Sunday the 20-seventh.
_Data via nflverse._
When Denzel Boston's week moves the numbers, you'll know — every episode, in one weekly email.
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