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Cleveland Browns training camp 2017: Wide receiver preview
Updated July 23, 2017

The Browns finished tied for second-fewest touchdown catches in the NFL with 15, and did little to upgrade the position. They essentially swapped out Terrelle Pryor for Kenny Britt, replacing one 1,000-yard receiver for another. They also banked on 2016 No. 15 overall pick Corey Coleman staying healthy this season and other second-year wideouts such as Ricardo Louis stepping up.

They passed on opportunities to add other veteran receivers such as former first-rounder Jeremy Maclin, who signed with the Ravens, but would’ve been open to a visit to Cleveland.

The Browns might have to keep their eyes open for other quality veterans to shake loose, and they could have a decision to make on former Pro Bowler Josh Gordon in September.

In the meantime, the Browns will have to think globally about their “pass-catchers’’ and not just their receivers. Hue Jackson will have to plan his passing attack around his wideouts, his top two tight ends in Seth DeValve and David Njoku, and his all-purpose back in Duke Johnson, who has been lining up as a slot receiver and could replace Andrew Hawkins in that role this season.

Here’s a look at a position with some of the most question marks heading into camp:


Corey Coleman

Coleman missed six games in 2016 after breaking his hand in practice before game three, and never really caught back up. In his 10 starts, he caught 33 passes for 413 yards and 3 TDs. Coleman never had more than 5 receptions in a game and averaged only 3.3. Late in the season, he lamented the quality of his targets.

The marquee “X’’ receiver, Coleman worked hard in the offseason to learn to use the whole field and exploit the route tree. But he went down midway through organized team activities with a pulled hamstring and tweaked shoulder, and sat out the rest of spring practices and the mandatory minicamp in June. Now, the Browns will have to be careful with Coleman in camp — and likely beyond — to keep him healthy.

Coleman’s blazing speed is his calling card, especially at his size (5-11, 185). Jackson has called for Coleman to make a big jump, and a No. 15 overall pick should be approaching the Pro Bowl by year two.

“The way he understands the offense now is so much better than he did last year when he first came in and we all know that Corey had a long way to go,’’ said receivers coach Al Saunders. “He had a long way to go based on the college offense that he ran and the limited exposure he had to route adjustments and the different route trees, but he's come a long way and he's just got to be able to stay healthy and be available.’’


Kenny Britt

Britt, the first-round pick of the Titans in 2009, replaces Pryor, who had 1,000 yards in his first season as a wide receiver. Britt had his first 1,000-yard season too, in his eighth NFL season. Britt was one of the lone bright spots on a horrible Rams offense in 2016, catching five of their league-low 14 passing TDs (one fewer than the Browns and Texans). But according to Next Gen Stats, Britt ranked eighth in the NFL in making contested catches against tight coverage. All told, his stats were very similar to Pryor’s: 68 catches for 1,002 yards and 5 TDs compared to 77/1,007/4 for Pryor.

Still, receivers coach Al Saunders lamented the loss of Pryor, whom he converted into a wideout and made into a 1,000-yard receiver in his first year — despite four different quarterbacks.

“Kenny brings the size,’’ said Saunders at minicamp. “He's probably a little more physical than Terrelle is and Terrelle was learning how to play the position. Kenny brings an experience level to us that we don't have in that room. They're both great to work with but Kenny's just a different kind of a player and we'll see when we get into uniforms and playing against people how you would compare those two. But we're going to miss Terrelle and we're glad to have Kenny here. It would be nice to have both of them.’’


Ricardo Louis

Louis, the Browns’ 2016 fourth-round pick out of Auburn, barely saw the field as a rookie and was limited to 18 catches for 205 yards. But he worked his tail off in the offseason to change that, and stood out in spring practices, especially with Coleman down.

“You look at Ricardo now and he's playing with so much more confidence,’’ said Saunders. “He's catching the ball really well, he's running fast and here's a guy, once again, that was a quarterback all the way through high school. He goes to college, they make him a wide receiver and he played very minimally at Auburn. I think he only caught 29 balls there in his career, so he's in a tremendous developmental stage. But he’s made great strides, I'm really proud of him.’’

Louis (6-2, 215) is so confident in his improvement that he’s not conceding the starting jobs to anyone.

“Definitely, I have a chance,’’ he said. “We’re all competing to get on the field on play. Nobody has a legit spot right now. Nobody’s No. 1, nobody’s No. 2. Right now we’re just all competing to see who can do things the best.’’


Rashard Higgins

Higgins, the 2016 fifth-round pick out of Colorado State, caught only six passes for for 77 yards as a rookie and was used very little — after predicting a 7 TD campaign. He also made strides in the offseason, but not as many as Louis. If Higgins is to challenge for playing time, he’ll have to step it up in camp and stand out more than he did in the spring.


Duke Johnson

This isn’t a mistake. Johnson belongs here in the wide receiver preview, because he’s more of a pass-catcher than a runner. Johnson is the leading candidate to replace Andrew Hawkins as the Browns’ No. 1 slot receiver this season, and has a good chance to land the job. Johnson has lined up and caught passes all over including out of the backfield and split wide. He’s averaged 57 catches in his first two seasons, and will probably have at least that many this season. The Browns’ third-round pick in 2017, Johnson ran the ball only 73 times last season, down from 104 as a rookie. He averaged a superb 4.9 yards per carry, but it remains to be seen if he’ll get more carries, especially with his anticipated new role this season.


Jordan Payton

Payton, the Browns’ 2016 fifth-round pick last year out of UCLA, was mostly inactive last season and then suspended the final four games of the season for violating the NFL’s policy on performance-enhancing drugs. Payton, who caught only one pass for three yards last season, has a lot to prove this camp, including that he deserves a roster spot.


Ranell Hall

Like last offseason, Hall stood out in spring practices with some tough catches and displayed NFL potential. Originally signed by the Bucs as an undrafted free agent out of the University of Central Florida in 2015, the Browns plucked him off Tampa’s practice squad in December of that year. Hall (6-0, 200) was a surprise candidate to make the team last season, but broke his fibula in the preseason opener and sat out the year. “He's come back and you would never know he's had any injury,” Saunders said. “He's better than he was when he got hurt. We're excited about the competition he's providing to all of those guys.”

If Hall keeps up this way, he’ll give some of the 2016 draft picks a run for their money.


Josh Gordon

Gordon can apply again for reinstatement to the NFL in September, and if Roger Goodell lets him back in the league, the Browns will have to make a decision. Do they welcome him back and see how it goes? Try to trade him? It will likely depend on how Jackson feels about him when they meet. The Pro Bowler has some allies in the building, including consultant Jim Brown. If he’s truly adhered to his program for a year since going to rehab, it’s worth a shot.


Josh Boyce, James Wright and Other Contenders

The Browns have a group of hopefuls that include Mario Alford, Josh Boyce, Jordan Leslie, Richard Mullaney, and James Wright. Wright, a seventh-round pick of the Bengals in 2014, spent that season with Jackson, but tore a knee ligament in 2014 and missed the rest of that year and all of the next. Last season, he caught 13 passes for 106 yards. Boyce, originally a fourth round pick of the Patriots in 2014, was signed to the Browns practice squad in September and then re-signed in January.


Projected Starters

Corey Coleman and Kenny Britt, signed to a four-year free agent deal worth $32.5 million, are slated to start, with Coleman at the X, or split end position, and Britt at the Z, or tight end side. Duke Johnson is a top contender to replace Andrew Hawkins in the slot. Ricardo Louis will also get playing time if he continues to perform like he did in spring practices.



I'll be honest, I'm pretty pessimistic about our WRs. Last year was basically a waste for Coleman. The other rookies (Higgins, Louis, and Payton) didn't show much, if anything IMO. Britt is underwhelming to me, but I know some are higher on him. Devalve (who isn't listed here) might be a surprise ... and we need Njoku to be a good threat IMO.

There aren't many WR corps in the league that are worse than ours in my mind.

That group would change dramatically if Gordon were what he could be...one guy...one stud...and that group looks better in a hurry. Oh well.

I would start Crow and Duke, Njoku and Devalve with Britt being the only receiver out there. At this point, I have more faith in Gordon becoming clean, showing up setting the world on fire than any of our receivers not named Britt of even being a decent 3rd or 4th receiver.

I realize that our 1st year WR's didn't show much last season but how could they learn and get better when we had SIX QB's shuffling in and out of the lineup? They couldn't learn and could never get any type of rhythm in that situation. Hopefully this year with one guy throwing them the ball they can make some progress.

Let's hope our QBs stay healthy. Let's also hope the WRs do show progress. We desperately need ONE of them to pan out

Man, that is one pathetic group of receivers. I don't think we have one guy who is a good route runner.

Blah!

I agree...succeeding in that environment would be tough for experienced WRs. It's reasonable to expect them to be better but unknown if that will be good enough. It's also the second year in the system...so that should help too.

Funny, Saunders says TP going to the pro bowl after one single season playing the WR position, and he says this about our first round, supposed top WR:

"... but he's come a long way and he's just got to be able to stay healthy and be available."

It's getting to the point when I even see Coleman's name mentioned, I just think injury and sideline activities because he's always in the "being babied because he's fragile" mode.

There's nothing about our WR group to smile about.

Well to be fair Vers, if we still had Pryor we still wouldn't have a route runner out of the group besides Duke lol. Only man I ever saw in a quick slant and manage to lose yardage.

I didn't even mention Pryor, Mourg...........so, I'm not sure what you are talking about?

j/c:

Regarding the article, I don't necessarily like how they equate the lack of WR touchdown to having bad receivers in the first sentence. QB play (or lack thereof) has more to do with it, IMO.

Also, "they passed" on Maclin is a bit much. Firstly, I'm glad they didn't sign him, but reports said the Browns were interested, so it's may not be that the Browns truly "passed" on Maclin. Maybe he didn't want to come here. It goes both ways.

Admittedly, after those two comments, I stopped reading the article. Quickly glancing that they broke each guy down, I didn't feel it necessary to go any further, because the most fall into the same category...... We simply don't know enough.

Generally speaking, it is a very common trend to call the WR corp one of the worst in the league. And frankly, it very well could be. Nothing but young guys, little experience, no consistent performances-- all outside of Britt. I choose to use the word "unproven". Unproven can still end up meaning bad but it doesn't equate to a defined projection of what this group of guys can do. We'll see this year. All I know is that we've ruled out guys early on and they end doing quite well for us.

I like that the article included Duke Johnson. I think we see a ton of him lined up there. I'd include DeValve as well, but we'll see.

The other thing that concerns me is that we are going to start a qb [no matter which of the 3] who doesn't have a ton of experience and success in the league.

Surrounding a young qb w/such a dreadful group of WRs seems short-sighted and irresponsible to me. It's tough when you don't have WRs who run good routes, understand hot reads, make sight adjustments, finds the holes in the zone coverages, etc.

It puts a lot of pressure on your qb when you don't have guys who really know what they are doing.

i'll admit that I NEVER liked the Coleman pick. He may not be a bust ... but it's trending that way. His injuries and lack of polish as a WR are very concerning

Let's be honest
The Browns WRS aren't good.
None of the Browns WR have a history of dominating at any level for more than a yr
Ricardo Louis wasn't even a top.5 WR in the SEC
He ran either a go route or simple bubble screens at Auburn
Corey Coleman thrived at Baylor for one year
But what's the track record of Baylor WRS in the NFL of late? Kendall Wright ....
Kenny Britt has been so up.and down his whole career
He's a 1st RD failure basically
James Wright played behind better WRS at LSU for a reason

How many Browns WRs could start for the 3 other AFC North teams?
None.
The Browns haven't Had a really solid core since Edwards Jurevicus and Winslow .....10 years ago.
It's group that the last 2 regimes have failed to invest
Game changers in.

I think it is wide open for a few of these guys.

Now we find out if any are ready to step up and take charge.



I think both Lewis and Hall will make a big move.

We'll be fine. Some of these guys will emerge and become bonafide NFL WR's. This is the season for extreme optimism and I'm jumping on board.

While I recognize our receiving corps proved nothing last season, I don't assume that means they have nothing to offer. Last season was bad all the way around for a variety of reasons.

I also don't assume that glowing reviews from off-season work outs means they are going to suddenly become viable offensive weapons.

I will come into this season with an open mind. I hope that 1 or 2 of last years rookies shows enough improvement to prove out as NFL WR. If we get competent QB play and improved OL play, I see no reason that some of these guys can't prove themselves more useful than they were last year.

This is something that we've all learned since 99 unfortunately. If you'd read stuff in July/August, you'd assume we were a playoff team. We'll see what happens when they take the field.

You draw some zaney conclusions.

In the past you didn't like that we didn't develop players. Now that we are trying to do that, you don't like that.

Louis, my surprise pick of the year.

if you're correct I'll give ya a dollar Cal

lol

I hate to even bring it up, but I think Gordon will be eligible for reinstatement very soon.

Only to get suspended... again.

Who cares...

I dunno. I don't think we can count on Gordon for anything.


Not that I don't want him here. Just that we can't plan on him to be available.


If he can play, wonderful. If not, that's okay too.

An accrued season on the cheap. After that we can tender him and either A) Get something for him or B) Keep him on the team one more year for cheap.



But either way, I don't think we can count on Josh for anything. He's not the meat and potatoes of anything. More like, the gummy bears added to your sundae. He's not the cherry, nuts, whipped cream, or hot fudge. Just a bonus. And that's what we have to view him as


EDIT: I think the FO knows this. I mean, Sashi Brown has been here a few years. He knows Josh Gordon.........

in regards to Coleman ... two things that bothered me from day one:

1. his soft tissue injury history
2. his lack of route running in college

tough to think he'll be a good pro IMO

Exactly. In all fairness, how can we judge our WR's from last season when we had 6 different QB's shuffling in and out of the lineup? I'm not saying they are all going to be all pros but there is no way they could learn a system or gain any continuity under those circumstances. In reality, they pretty much are starting from square one this year. We really should judge them from right now and hope just one QB will be throwing to them when the season starts. That would be novel for us wouldn't it?

Square one? They have had the playbook for over a year. They've done reps practicing the routes they're supposed to do. They've been coached by the same WR coach, and they're in the same system.


I agree that we shouldn't hold last year against them, but holding them to the same expectations we would hold them as rookies is a bit much IMO

That sounds good, but how do you explain all the success that Pryor had w/the very same qbs?

I feel it's square one especially if our starting QB is Brock or DK. Even if it's Cody he may be a little different from last season, hopefully better, because he has more experience and really didn't throw much to these guys last season. I'm sure there will be a lot of reps in TC. Pryor had success because he was targeted more and let's face it, was simply better than the rest of our WR's. Hopefully a couple of the young guys will step up.

Pryor was a starter. The other rooks we had barely got any PT.

Yes and I should have added that he had been here longer and did have more experience.

Not sure if there is a way to embed twitter links or not, but I'm excited for our young guys.

Twitter Link - Hollywood Footwork

I know that you don't like objectivity, but I was responding to this quote: