Cleveland Browns: Interest in Dez may have waned with WR’s emerging

The Cleveland Browns were openly discussing the possibility of bringing in Dez Bryant, but the emergence of their young wide receivers could have altered their potential interest.

After the Cleveland Browns learned they were not going to have Josh Gordon with the team during the beginning of training camp – and potentially longer – general manager John Dorsey made it known to the media that they were discussing bringing in free agent wide receiver Dez Bryant.

If the Browns were to bring in Bryant, he would have competed to be one of the top two receivers in the absence of Gordon.

On Friday, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network said that the Browns and Bryant were working on potentially bringing him in for a visit.

But Monday has come and gone, and there is more news that Bryant and the Browns are not a match instead of him being in Cleveland for a visit. Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports said Cleveland may not be the spot for Bryant to land.

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There are a few possibilities as to why there are such differing reports in a matter of days. One of them is that the Gordon absence is not as significant as it came off when he first made the announcement.

There have been pictures shared on social media from a few different people that shows Gordon working out in Gainesville, Florida. The fact that he is still training could show that Gordon did not want to deal with the Hard Knocks cameras with the amount of history he has.

Gordon would likely be one of the heavily covered subjects by the HBO cameras. It may be in his best interest and the organization’s best interest if Gordon was away from the cameras for as long as possible.

If that is the case, there is no need to bring in a player like Bryant that would want to be one of the team’s top receivers. If there is no concern that Gordon is going to miss any of the season, he would be able to slide back into his starting role.

But one of the other possibilities the Browns do not have as much interest in Bryant as they did a few days ago is that they are seeing an emergence from their young wide receivers.

Of the young receivers, the three players that have stood out are Corey Coleman, Antonio Callaway, and Rashard Higgins. Coleman and Callaway have received reps with the first-team offense in Gordon’s absence, and both are taking advantage of it. And Higgins is taking advantage of having Baker Mayfield being the quarterback of the second-team offense.

Coleman has shown the potential during camp that the Browns hoped they would see when they drafted him in the first-round of the 2016 NFL Draft. Browns coaches were saying that he had a lot to prove this year, and head coach Hue Jackson has liked what he has seen from Coleman so far.

Callaway is showing that he has the raw talent that could turn him into a very good wide receiver. Despite not playing a game last season, he is showing that he still has talent and is making plays. If he continues to play well during training camp, he could slide into having a big role in the offense this season.

Higgins has been one of the biggest surprises of camp thus far. He had a strong finish to the 2017 season, and seems to have carried that momentum into training camp. He has developed a good chemistry with Mayfield and the two have been making regular connections throughout camp.

With the strong performances from those three receivers, the Browns front office may not feel the need to bring in a player like Bryant. There are a lot of concerns with Bryant, and bringing him in with a young team would not be the best fit.

Having the young receivers emerge during the beginning of camp is a great sign for the Browns offense. Besides Gordon and Jarvis Landry, there were a lot of questions if there could be another receiver that would step up. But the Browns may have a choice of young receivers to be a big part of the offense this season.