Cleveland NFL weather report: What it means for fantasy football and betting in Week 16

Week 16 is here and it's going to be cold and windy across many NFL games. The worst appears to be the game between the Browns and Saints this Saturday at 1 pm EST in Cleveland. This is a weekend to be cognizant of the weather in all open air stadiums, as a cold front will have pushed down into Texas by the time games kick off on Saturday.

Weather needs to be extreme to truly impact games, but when deciding between two players who you like equally in fantasy football, it might be a helpful tie breaker. What we really don't want to see is 20 mph or higher wind speeds. Rain can cause problems, but unless it is a combination of high winds and rain, we usually don't want to downgrade our fantasy football players too much. When it comes to betting, that impact comes primarily on the point total more than the spread or winners and losers.

Helpful weather resources include National Weather Service and Dark Sky, among others.

Weather for Browns vs. Saints in Week 16

Cold weather is not enjoyable to play in, no matter how “tough” a player is, but teams can put up good fantasy points and real points in cold weather, but mix together wind, cold and precipitation and you've got a mess in Cleveland this Saturday.

The current forecast has a high of just 14 degrees, a 40% chance of snow, sustained wind speeds around 20-30 mph and gusts over 40 mph. Unless these wind speeds somehow come down (they usually don't), this game is going to be tough for offenses.

Fantasy/betting implications

Kickers are out of the question for fantasy and quarterbacks and wide receivers are super iffy with sustained winds into the 30s. The total is currently down to 32.5 at DraftKings Sportsbook, which is historically low and the lowest on the slate and it appears to be for good reason.

  
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