The Good

It’s hard to believe the running back Nick Chubb is still often overlooked as one of the league’s best. It may be due to his quiet personality and business-like work ethic. You don’t hear much from Chubb off the field but on it, he is wrecking ball terrorizing defenses. Chubb is coming off his best year in Cleveland where he ran for 1,525 yards and 13 total touchdowns. Even with Watson back, Chubb is the focal point of the Browns offense and he keeps improving every year. In a year where the running back position is front in center, Chubb has shown he is worth every penny of his $36.6 million dollar contract.

The Bad

Former Dallas Cowboys receiver Amari Cooper was brought in by Cleveland last year to be their #1. For the most part, Cooper impressed and was able to play in all 17 games for the Browns. Cooper needed more help this offseason and the Browns decided to take a flyer on Elijah Moore. Moore flamed out of New York after two disappointing seasons with the Jets. He will now be expected to produce in a large role for Cleveland but there a plenty of question marks on if he can.

Outside of Cooper and Moore the Browns will hope for more improvement from Donovan Peoples-Jones next season. Peoples-Jones had a career-high 839 receiving yards last year for the Browns. Still, I would’ve liked to see the Browns address the wide receiver position more last offseason. As a whole, this group is still below average and will need big years from Moore and Peoples-Jones to be competitive.

The Prediction

This is a make-or-break year for head coach Kevin Stefanski. He was recently listed on our coaches on the hot seat feature going into next season. It really all comes down to how Deshaun Watson performs in year 2. If he can recapture his old form the Browns will be competitive. I just don’t think we will see that version of Watson going forward.

2023 Record: 5-12 (4th in the Division)

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Baltimore Ravens: WR Odell Beckham (ADP 162.4)

Odell Beckham finally has a home and it is in Baltimore. The WR got a contract of up to $15M per year after missing the entire 2022 season recuperating from injury. Now, he gets his wish as he goes to Baltimore and play with Lamar Jackson who got the bag as well. Even if they are known to be a run-first offense, the increase in weapons will make Lamar throw the ball more. One of the lucky recipients will be OBJ, who has an ADP of 162.4. Hopefully, OBJ can quiet the haters and have a comeback season.

Cincinnati Bengals: TE Irv Smith (ADP 197)

The Bengals are starting another TE with the addition of Irv Smith from the Minnesota Vikings. Irv had battle injuries the past few years but was more healthy last season. He enters a situation where he’ll be the TE 1 and can catch passes from Joe Burrow. Hayden Hurst had a good season last year with Joe Burrow and Irv can do the same. Look for him to be a threat in the redzone.

Cleveland Browns: WR Donovan Peoples-Jones (ADP 154.9)

The addition of Deshaun Watson to the team will push Cleveland to throw more passes in their offense. WR 1 Amari Cooper will get his share but another WR to look out for is Donovan Peoples-Jones. He has grown immensely ever since his rookie season. Now, he feels due for a breakout season. He ended the season with 61 receptions for 839 yards and three TDs. Look for a career year next season and establish his presence in Cleveland.

Pittsburgh Steelers: TE Pat Freiermuth (ADP 89.9)

My favorite pickup from last year’s draft is due for another great season. Pat Freiermuth, the Steelers TE, looks to build on a great season for Pittsburgh. He ended the year in the top eight among all TEs and he provides value in the middle rounds. He caught 63 passes for 732 yards and two TDs. Look for more TDs next season as he tries to lead the Steelers’ offense.

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By: Ivan Mulinder

The Cleveland Browns have had a very good postseason on offense, adding QB Deshaun Watson and WR Amari Cooper in free agency and drafting WR David Bell, K Cade York, RB Jerome Ford & WR Michael Woods II. Watson and Cooper upgrade the Offense in key positions and David Bell is known to have been a big Draft target of HC Kevin Stefanski who believes he is a special talent. However, given the current roster the Browns WR2 is currently Donovan Peoples-Jones, who hasn’t put up WR2 statistics to date, so why haven’t the Browns added another veteran wide receiver in free agency? Assuming they don’t add a veteran this can only be for a few key reasons:

David Njoku

Njoku has just signed a 4 year contract extension worth $56.75 million with $28 million guaranteed making him the 5th highest-paid TE in the NFL. The Browns clearly intend to utilize him a lot more than they have in the past. So far he has recorded only 15 touchdowns and 1,754 yards since 2017 which isn’t spectacular. Amongst TEs he was only 24th in receptions last year. He does have the potential to be great with yards per reception over 11+ for the last 3 seasons and a very good catch % of 67.9% last season, with a PFF receiving grade of 70.0. Given his lack of significant production so far the Browns must be planning to target Njoku a lot more in 2022 and expect a big improvement in his numbers. The scheme the Browns run certainly will suit Njoku and with a 6.4 frame, he will make an excellent Red Zone threat. With Harrison Bryant as TE2, the Browns have a very good backup, as last season he gained 11.1 yards per target, 233 yards, and had a catch % of 75%. The Browns Tight End Room could and must be used more effectively in 2022.

Running Game

The Browns have arguably the best RB Room in the NFL with Nick Chubb, Kareem Hunt, D’Ernest Johnson, Demetric Felton, and Jerome Ford. Not all of these will make the 53-man roster, and personally, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a trade before the start of the season, but these RBs are sitting behind one of the best Offensive Lines in the NFL, if not the No.1 OL in the NFL. Chubb has run for 1000+ yards a season for the last 3 years, with an average per run of 5.3 yards and an average per game of 83 yards with 36 touchdowns. Kareem Hunt averaged 4.9 yards per carry last season with 28 career touchdowns. Hunt is also a receiving threat with 7.9 yards per reception and a catch % of 81%. D’Ernest Johnson really proved his rushing threat last season when Hunt was injured notching up 5.3 yards per carry and 534 yards. The Browns are a running threat and really need to utilize this weapon if they aren’t going to invest further in the Wide Receiver Room. Sometimes it’s seemed to Browns fans that Stefanski has been too quick to drop the run game, so this must become a more consistent and persistent staple of the Browns attack next season.

The Wide Receiver Room

The Browns Front Office may actually believe the Wide Receiver Room is good enough. Amari Cooper is a clear WR1 and acknowledged as one of the best route runners in the NFL. He will be targeted the most and will be expected to put up big numbers. In 2021 he made 865 yards, with 12.7 yards per reception and 8 touchdowns, but he was under-utilized with only 68 receptions so expect these numbers to be much higher next season. Last season Donovan Peoples-Jones got 3 touchdowns, 597 yards, 17.6 yards per reception, with 34 receptions, but was only targeted 58 times. As WR2 these targets and receptions will increase so you can realistically expect his touchdowns and yardage to increase too. Maybe the Cooper-DPJ 1 & 2 isn’t such a bad idea after all? If David Bell is as good as the Browns Front Office believes him to be and with Schwartz 4.27 40 yard speed running around the edge and Isaiah Weston developing into the athletic freak his data suggests he’s going to be, the Browns could have a very young and very athletic Wide Receiver Room.

A lot of if’s there but, it’s the Browns coaches who are watching the development of these players and it could be that what they are seeing convinces them that they have enough, combined with their tight ends and running backs, to be a very dangerous offensive threat next season with Deshaun Watson at the helm.

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By: Ivan Mulinder

The Cleveland Browns have upgraded their offense over the off-season at quarterback and at wide receiver bringing in Deshaun Watson and Amari Cooper. I still believe they need to add another veteran wide receiver threat if the Browns are going to challenge the Chiefs, Bills and Bengals for the AFC Championship. What if they don’t add another quality wide receiver to their roster and run with who they have already, what will that mean to their chances of winning the AFC North and challenging for the AFC Championship? If this scenario plays out the Browns will need two players on offense to really step up and have a breakout season:

David Njoku

David Njoku was drafted in 2017 in Round 1 with pick 29. He’s 6.4, 246lbs, and ran the 40 in 4.64. His best 3 seasons have been in 2018, 2020, and 2021 where he’s played in the majority of the games. His stats are fairly consistent scoring 4 touchdowns in 2018 & 2021, with 631 receiving yards in 2018 and 475 receiving yards in 2021. His catch % has been between 65%-67% in all of these seasons and his yards per return have been between 11-13 each season. His PFF receiving grades were 65.3 in 2018, 64.1 in 2020, and 70.0 in 2021. David Njoku is a good player, but with Amari Cooper being the only great proven wide receiver talent on the team, and with the Browns often regarded as a tight end favored team, he’s going to need to take a greater load of the team’s yardage and red zone touchdowns. He was 12th in tight end touchdowns last season, but he needs to move into the top 5. Travis Kelce ranked 1st with 9 touchdowns and was second in receiving yards with 1,125 way ahead of Njoku’s 475. The Browns need to do a better job at scheming for Njoku as his catch % was actually better than Kelce’s last season so a lot is resting on this position and this player.

Donovan Peoples-Jones

There is arguably an even greater pressure on DPJ to step up. Currently, he is the Browns WR2 behind Amari Cooper so if the Browns Front Office don’t bring in another wide receiver they must have a lot of faith in him. The stats are mixed. On the positive side, PFF graded him 73.1 in receiving in 2020 although this went down to 67.0 last season. In 2021 he had 597 receiving yards on 34 receptions with 58 targets and 17.6 yards per return. He had 3 touchdowns and a catch % of 58.6%. He’s a Round 6 drafted wide receiver picked at 187, but he was badly trained and under-utilized at Michigan which is likely why he fell so far. He has a lot of potentials, but he’s really going to need to step and improve drastically if he’s going to have the production the Browns need out of their WR2 to be very successful in 2022.

The Browns have just re-signed their right defensive end, Jadeveon Clowney, on a 1 year $11 million deal. This is excellent news for the Browns as it means they just need to add a run stopper in their defensive tackle room to make their defense truly elite. PFF had Clowney with 11 sacks last season, a 62.8 run defense grade, and a 69.1 pass rush grade. He’s a crucial player to the Browns defensive line and relieves the pressure on Chase Winovich to be that DE2 opposite, Garrett. Chase Winovich had his best form in 2020 with 5.5 sacks, 6 tackles for loss and 12 quarterback hits so if he can improve upon this their DE Room will be very impressive. The Browns need their Linebackers to take the next step up and there is one player in particular they will be hoping to see make great strides forward.

Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah

JOK fell to the Browns in the 2020 Draft in Round 2 at pick 52. He’s 6.2, 215lbs, and fly’s around the field stopping the run. Per PFF, his run defense grade was 78.7 last season with an overall grade of 76.5. In 14 games he made 3 sacks, had 2 forced fumbles (5th), 3 tackles for loss, 4 quarterback hits, and 49 solo tackles (50th). He achieved these stats as a rookie player, so if he gets better in year 2 the Browns will have an excellent second line of defense in front of their already outstanding defensive backs.

If Njoku, DPJ, and JOK all have big seasons in 2022 then the Browns could catapult themselves into the AFC Championship talk, especially if they add a run-stopping defensive tackle and a veteran wide receiver.

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By: Chinmay Kulkarni

The Browns are built to run the ball down opponents’ throats. Having a running back by committee approach – a format teams are embracing around the NFL – Kareem Hunt and Nick Chubb form one of the scariest running duo in the league behind one of the most dominant offensive lines in the league. The leader of the offense, Baker Mayfield, has therefore been the target of criticism of the blamestream boomer media that believe that the quarterback should be always at the helm of the team. Though Baker may not have the stats as some of the S-tier quarterbacks in the league, he is still serviceable enough with a good receiving core to throw the ball to.

The Odell saga with the Cleveland Browns has come to an unsurprising, screeching halt. The All-pro wide receiver has been a common sighting on injury reports since last year, a time when other wide receivers and pass-catching backs were able to thrive in Cleveland. With OBJ leaving for the Los Angeles Rams to form a top-3 WR trio with Cooper Kupp and Robert Woods, the Rams seem to be trending in the positive direction, while the Browns may have taken a step back towards making a playoff push in a tough AFC.

Donovan Peoples-Jones seems to be the most likely breakout star resulting from the OBJ trade. The Michigan star WR was always overshadowed by the duo of OBJ and Jarvis Landry but now looks to be the WR2 in the Browns scheme. The chemistry behind the Landry-Mayfield connection is without a doubt, garnering 29 targets throughout the season, only ranking below OBJ and Austin Hooper. The problem with the WR connections as a whole, however, always seems to stem from Baker. Expectations on the Browns to make a deep playoff push always start a comparison between playoff lock QBs, and Mayfield, ranks middle of the pack in QBR, lower than the Bradys and the Staffords of the world.

Mayfield however absolutely LOVES to take shots down the field, ranking in the top-10 for QBs that take shots 50+ yards downfield. DPJ, with his apparent speed, fits excellently into this mold and should project to get more targets and catches as the Browns face COVID problems at RB. Baker also has a 158 passer rating when targeting DPJ, but we all know that may have come from the hail mary against the Arizona Cardinals. OBJ also has garnered the most number of targets on the Browns, and some of those future targets will definitely be going to DPJ.

The news for DPJ and the entire Browns WR core should get even better in the coming weeks. The Browns play the Patriots in Week 10, a middle-of-the-pack defense against WRs, and the Lions in Week 11, which has been the floormat of the NFL under Dan Campbell. Nick Chubb contracting COVID will likely promote throwing the ball downfield as well, something that bodes well soon.

So, while Donovan Peoples-Jones will likely be looking at a large step up in production, he is likely a decent flex play for week 10. And though the Browns TE group may look a piece of the action as well, we should likely be seeing more shots down field as the Browns struggle to make a playoff push, and may be playing from behind against a tough upcoming AFC North slate.

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