Jun 16, 2015; Berea, OH, USA; Cleveland Browns wide receiver Dwayne Bowe (80) runs as Cleveland Browns defensive back Ibraheim Campbell (30) defends during minicamp at the Cleveland Browns practice facility. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
The Cleveland Browns had, if we’re being kind here, an unheralded group of wide receivers in 2014.
Much to the consternation of some fans and media members, who continue to beat the drum for a “big-name wide receiver,” the Browns took the field for 16 weeks with a group of receivers that were small in stature and just as short in name recognition.
The situation will be similar in 2015 (although the Browns did get bigger at the wide receiver position) as general manager Ray Farmer continued to build the team from the inside out, with a focus on building a dominant defense complimented by a ball-controlling offense.
The biggest difference between this year and 2014 is that the Browns know for certain that they will not have the services of Josh Gordon, who is serving an indefinite suspension for continued violations of the NFL’s substance abuse policies.
“There’s pressure on all of us, which is a good thing. We still have a lot to prove. That’s a good situation to be in. Once the season rolls around, we’ll have to keep this going.” – Andrew Hawkins
As talented as he can be, Gordon’s return to the field last season helped to disrupt what the Browns had going on offense through the season’s first 10 games, as former offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan and former quarterback Brian Hoyer tried to hard to incorporate Gordon back into the offense.
While it wasn’t all his fault, obviously, it is also not a coincidence that the Browns went just 1-5 once Gordon returned to the lineup.
Looking ahead to 2015, while the Browns are going to do everything in their power to, in head coach Mike Pettine’s word, “de-emphasize” the importance of the quarterback position, they still need to pass the ball from time to time, so we need to determine who will be on the receiving end of Josh McCown’s passes come the fall.
The Browns currently have 14 players listed as wide receivers on the roster (in alphabetical order): Travis Benjamin, Dwayne Bowe, Kevin Cone, Taylor Gabriel, Gordon, Brian Hartline, Andrew Hawkins, Darius Jennings, Josh Lenz, Vince Mayle, Marlon Moore, Terrelle Pryor, Rodney Smith and Shane Wynn.
We already know that Gordon won’t be playing this fall, so that leaves 13 players fighting for a roster spot. Last year the Browns kept five wide receivers, but looking at the list of players we wouldn’t be surprised if they up that number to six this year.
So who will it be?
Next: The Big 3
Nov 16, 2014; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Browns wide receiver Andrew Hawkins (16) scores a touchdown during the second quarter against the Houston Texans at FirstEnergy Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
Because of match-ups, game situations and sub-packages, the idea of naming “starters” has become somewhat antiquated, but it is safe to say that Bowe, Hartline and Hawkins will be the top three receivers on the team.
The Browns brought in both Bowe and Hartline via free agency from Kansas City and Miami, respectively. Both receivers have seen their numbers decline in recent years, which goes a long way toward explaining why they were available as free agents.
Bowe has surpassed 1,000 receiving yards three times in his career, but has only gone over 800 yards once in his past three seasons. (And the one time he did that, in 2012, it was just by a single yard.) And after scoring 15 touchdowns in 2010, Bowe has only had 13 touchdown receptions total in the past four years combined.
Hartline saw a similar decline last year. After posting consecutive 1,000-yard receiving seasons in 2012 and 2013, Hartline saw his targets cut in half and totaled just 474 receiving yards.
There are extenuating circumstances at play here, however, as Bowe was hampered by playing with quarterback Alex Smith in Kansas City (although with McCown and Johnny Manziel manning the position for the Browns, that may not be a good argument), while Hartline’s production was impacted by the arrival of Mike Wallace and the inability by the Dolphins to protect quarterback Ryan Tannehill, who was sacked 46 times. (By comparison, the Browns only allowed 31 sacks in 2014.)
As for Hawkins, he may once again be the team’s best receiver this year. Hawkins was a productive player even though he was forced to play outside the slot position too often in 2014, as 44 of his 63 receptions went for first downs and his 364 yards after the catch were 16th best among wide receivers. (Ahead of such “big-name receivers” as Dez Bryant, Sammy Watkins and A.J. Green.)
Bowe, Hartline and Hawkins may not be the second coming of Webster Slaughter, Reggie Langhorne and Brian Brennan, but they are the type of veteran receivers who, if they can hold onto the ball and keep the chains moving when called upon, can be an asset to the offense.
After the top three, things get a bit more interesting.
Next: The Second Level
Nov 2, 2014; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Browns wide receiver Taylor Gabriel (18) scores a touchdown during the fourth quarter against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at FirstEnergy Stadium. The Browns beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 22-17. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
Taylor Gabriel seems to be a lock for a roster spot after catching 36 passes for 621 yards and ranking third in the NFL in average yards per catch, 17.3, as an undrafted free agent.
There is also the fact that the Browns took every opportunity during Organized Team Activities and the veteran minicamp to talk up Gabriel.
“Taylor Gabriel is (a) guy that’s handle himself really well. He was a guy that was essentially an undrafted free agent a year ago and played, I think, overachieved from what we thought we were going to get from them last year,” Pettine told the team’s website. “He’s taken that next step. He’s among our better receivers out there. There’s a trust factor with the quarterbacks. If you ask the defensive guys whose difficult to cover, his name usually pops up in the first one or two names.”
Judging from those comments alone, it seems safe to say that Gabriel will be on the sidelines when the Browns open the season against the New York Jets.
Not quite as secure is Travis Benjamin, despite the fact that the third-year receiver led the Browns in receiving touchdowns last year. (Although he only needed three of them and he had all of those by Week 4.)
Benjamin’s biggest contribution to the Browns used to be as a punt returner. Prior to injuring his knee after eight games of the 2013 season, Benjamin had averaged 16.24 yards per return and scored two touchdowns. But he struggled so much last season that the Browns eventually gave his punt return job to Jim Leonhard.
The Browns have publicly expressed confidence in Benjamin, but the reality is that they also drafted Duke Johnson and Charles Gaines, who have the ability to return punts, so we have to wonder what they think of Benjamin privately.
In his defense, Benjamin did suffer a significant knee injury, one that unless you are Adrian Peterson, takes a player a full year to recover from. Now that he is entering his second season post-injury, Benjamin should show enough to earn a roster spot.
The final spot should go to rookie Vince Mayle, provided he can recover from his thumb injury in time to make an impact during training camp.
While Pettine showed last year that he won’t play someone just because they are a draft pick, or for that matter, where they were drafted, but all six of the team’s selections from 2014 saw action last season, so unless his thumb holds him back, it’s hard to see Mayle not making the roster.
The 6-foot-2, 224-pound Mayle joins Bowe (6-foot-2, 221 pounds) and Hartline (6-foot-2, 200 pounds) to give McCown the type of big targets that can withstand the pounding of the AFC North Division.
Mayle also clearly knows how to catch the ball, as evidenced by his school-record 106 receptions (good for fourth in the nation) and 1,483 receiving yards (fifth best in the nation), last season with Washington State. Some of those numbers are a product of the Cougars’ pass-first offense, but you don’t catch that many passes by accident.
The potential that Mayle possesses, along with his NFL size, should earn him the final roster spot among the wide receivers.
Next: The Enigma
May 26, 2015; Cincinnati, OH, USA; Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Terrelle Pryor (3) during OTAs at Paul Brown Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports
The Browns made headlines when they claimed former quarterback Terrelle Pryor off of waivers with the intent of accommodating Pryor’s wishes to now become a wide receiver.
Because Pryor played at Ohio State, many Browns fans have mistakenly decided that, of course, Pryor can make the transition to the position at the game’s highest level despite never having played wide receiver. The only thing that matters is that he is a former Buckeye, so let’s not quibble over details, shall we?
But the details are important and, luckily, the coaching staff is paid to quibble about them.
The one example that we’ve seen repeatedly to support Pryor is former Browns’ player Josh Cribbs. But while Cribbs probably got more out of his talent than anyone who has suited up for the Browns since the team returned to the NFL in 1999, the comparison falls apart once you get past both players being college quarterbacks.
“I don’t know how to catch. I don’t know how to run the ball as a running back. I’ve been a quarterback my whole life.” – Terrelle Pryor
Cribbs worked on becoming an NFL receiver from the moment he entered the league and it wasn’t until his fifth season that he saw the field on a consistent basis at the position. His best season came in 2011 – his seventh in the league — and even then he only caught 41 passes for 518 yards.
Pryor is trying to make the position switch at the age of 27, so even if he follows Cribbs’ career path (and there is no reason to think Pryor’s ceiling is any higher than Cribbs’), he’l be 34 by the time he figures things out.
Take geography out of the equation — does that really sound like plan that is going to work out?
And let’s not even get started on the notion that the Browns have secretly brought in Pryor to compete for the backup quarterback position.
As for the rest of the players, Marlon Moore made his presence felt on special teams last season, so that looks to be his best avenue to a roster spot this year, and rookie Shane Wynn is intriguing enough (and fits in, size-wise, with Hawkins, Gabriel and Benjamin) that he could be in contention for a spot on the team’s practice squad.
Other than that, the odds don’t favor anyone else on the list.
Next: What Does It All Mean?
May 26, 2015; Berea, OH, USA; Cleveland Browns wide receiver Vince Mayle (85) and wide receiver Dwayne Bowe (80) during organized team activities at the Cleveland Browns training facility. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
The Browns are not going to be a team that makes the weekly highlight reels with their passing game this fall, but that doesn’t mean that doom and gloom is waiting around the corner.
The receivers all bring something to the table, making the position solid as a group.
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“The thing I do like about it is each guy is not the same guy,” offensive coordinator John DeFilippo told the team’s website. “Even though Taylor Gabriel and Andrew Hawkins are smaller receivers, they do have two different skill sets. (Dwayne) Bowe and (Brian) Hartline are bigger guys. I think it’d be much more of an issue if you had all small guys or all big guys. I think you can still find places on the field for those guys and putting them in situations to where they can succeed in the things that they do well.
“We don’t need a bunch of one-trick pony receivers, and we don’t have that. I thought we did a great job of going out and adding some diversity to that room in body types, the different types of routes we’ll have those guys in for. Again, that’s going to be a good problem to have to figure out the competition. That’s what (Mike) Pettine has talked about and how he wants to build this team is through competition. It’ll be really interesting to watch those guys throughout training camp.”
This year’s wide receivers may not be better than last year’s group, but they should be just as good, which may be good enough for this year.
Who do you think will make the final roster at wide receiver?