Browns would be daft to move on from Corey Coleman
By Thomas Moore
The Cleveland Browns need playmakers at wide receiver, which is why the idea of letting Corey Coleman go is ridiculous.
Cleveland Browns wide receiver Corey Coleman has become a player that some people love to hate.
A first-round selection in the 2016 NFL Draft and a part of the trade that moved the No. 2 overall selection to the Philadelphia Eagles, Coleman has had a rough start to his NFL career. Coleman has been hampered by the play of the Browns quarterbacks and, to hear some tell it, he is “injury prone” because he has suffered a broken hand in each of his first two seasons, resulting in him missing 13 combined games.
That has led to at least one Browns beat writer, sorry “analyst,” to opine that the club is ready to move on from Coleman:
.@TonyGrossi: "There's a chance the Browns try to move on from Corey Coleman...There's a lot of frustration in the organization about him."
— Aaron Goldhammer (@HammerNation19) February 19, 2018
Sure, the Browns have been known to cut ties with first-round draft picks in the past, but those players were not producing on the field.
But that is not the case with Coleman.
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His stat line after two season may look a bit pedestrian – 56 receptions for 718 yards and five touchdowns — but throw a little context into the discussion and things start to look a little bit differently.
Coleman was one of four wide receivers selected in the opening round in 2016 and the other three players have put up the following numbers:
- Will Fuller in 24 games with the Houston Texans: 75 receptions, 1,058 yards and nine touchdowns — although seven of those touchdowns came last season on just 28 receptions, a ratio that is unsustainable.
- Laquon Treadwell in 25 games with the Minnesota Vikings: 21 receptions for 215 yards and zero touchdowns.
- Josh Doctson in 18 games with the Washington Redskins: 37 receptions for 568 yards and six touchdowns — although, like Fuller, all six of those touchdowns came this past season on just 35 receptions. Again, a ratio that is likely not sustainable.
If you take Coleman’s numbers and average them out over 24 games he comes in at 71 receptions for 718 yards and five touchdowns — very close to the production that Fuller has put up with the Texans.
It is also worth noting that Fuller’s seven touchdown receptions all came while playing with quarterback Deshaun Watson. Once Watson went down with a season-ending knee injury, Fuller’s numbers went into the tank.
Coleman has had his problems, and unfortunately his drop in the season finale against the Pittsburgh Steelers is the lasting image many people have of him, but he has not been helped by the quarterbacks that head coach Hue Jackson has rolled out the past two years.
Given a better quarterback situation this fall, along with a much-better offensive coordinator situation with Todd Haley, and Coleman has a real opportunity to make a difference on the field.
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The Browns have been quick to move on from first-round draft picks in recent years with good cause.
But the idea of moving on from Coleman after just two seasons is simply ridiculous.