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Can Ricardo Louis turn his confidence into production?

By Thomas Moore

Nov 27, 2016; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Browns wide receiver Ricardo Louis (80) before the game between the Cleveland Browns and the New York Giants at FirstEnergy Stadium. The Giants won 27-13. Mandatory Credit: Scott R. Galvin-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 27, 2016; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Browns wide receiver Ricardo Louis (80) before the game between the Cleveland Browns and the New York Giants at FirstEnergy Stadium. The Giants won 27-13. Mandatory Credit: Scott R. Galvin-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Cleveland Browns will need their second-year wide receivers to step up this season, and Ricardo Louis has the confidence that he is up to the challenge.

There are some corners of Browns nation that continue to fret because the team did not “do something” about the wide receiver position during the 2017 NFL Draft.

That, of course, ignores that the Browns signed wide receiver Kenny Britt (68 receptions, 1,002 yards and five touchdowns) as a free agent from the Los Angeles Rams. Britt matched the production of the departed Terrelle Pryor (77-1,007-4) while playing with a quarterback situation every bit as bad as what we witnessed in Cleveland. (Britt doesn’t have the luxury of having played at Ohio State, sadly.)

It also overlooks the addition of rookie tight end David Njoku who, while not a wide receiver, has the potential to have a major impact on the offense.

Finally, it fails to acknowledge the possibility that any of the wide receivers drafted in 2016 will make any progress this season.

Head coach Hue Jackson has already challenged Corey Coleman to step up his game and claim the No. 1 wide receiver spot. If healthy, and if Jackson sticks to his plan to be a run-first offense, Coleman should be able to live up to his first-round status.

Of the rest, the player who may be ready to take a step forward is Ricardo Louis, who the Browns selected in the fourth round after he had 98 receptions for 1,338 yards and eight touchdowns in four years at Auburn.

Related: Browns need to work this summer to develop wide receivers

While there are some who have their doubts about the wide receivers, Louis is not one of them, according to clevelandbrowns.com:

"“I would just let them know that we are working. Every single day we are working to get better. That is the big question — who is going to be the No. 1, No. 2? Right now, that isn’t even in our mindset. Our mindset is just to get better going into this break after minicamp and just to continue to work on things that we feel like we need to and take that next step."

"“I’m just a lot more confident in knowing what I have and command of the offense. I know the offense a lot more now than I did last year so once I hear the play and I know exactly what to do, I can play even faster because the DB doesn’t know what I am going to do so they can’t stop me.”"

After Coleman, who finished with 33 receptions for 413 yards, Louis was the “best” of the rookie wide receivers as he caught 18 passes for 205. Not the type of numbers that would necessarily fuel such talk, but having confidence is not something that should be held against Louis.

Next: Dawg Pound Daily Podcast: Episode 11

And if he can turn that confidence into production? Well, then those naysayers may come to realize that the Browns did “something” about the wide receiver position after all.

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