The Cleveland Browns most improved player no one is talking about
By Mitch Zoloty
The Cleveland Browns have been a significantly better team this season than last. That is mostly due to the many off season additions the team made, but one player from the 0-16 Browns has made significant improvements to his game this season.
Rashard “Hollywood” Higgins has been silently great for the Cleveland Browns this season. The 5th round pick from the 2016 NFL draft has missed a few games this season due to injury but that hasn’t hindered his improvements. To see this improvement, you just have to take a look at his stats.
2017 Rashard Higgins: 15 games played, 27 catches, 312 yards, 11.6 yards per reception, 2 touchdowns, 2 catches per game, 20.8 yards per game, 54% of targets caught
2018 Rashard Higgins: 7 games played, 20 catches, 291 yards, 14.6 yards per reception, 2 touchdowns, 3 catches per game, 41.6 yards per game, 71.4% of targets caught
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Just looking at these numbers Higgins has improved in almost every category. In nearly half the amount of games played Higgins is seven catches away from last seasons total. He’s 21 yards away from last seasons total amount of receiving yards.
His yards per reception has gone up a whopping three yards from last season, which is the most of any Browns player with more than 10 catches. Hollywood’s two touchdowns match his total from last season. Rashard is catching one more pass per game and has doubled the amount of yards per game he has from last season.
Last, but certainly not least, his percentage of targets caught has gone up an incredible 17.4 percent. A 71.4 percent catch rate should be a huge sign to offensive coordinator Freddie Kitchens that Higgins deserves a bigger part in this offense. That catch percentage is 2nd on the team, only behind Duke Johnson Jr, who is catching 78.6 percent of his targets.
The Browns would be smart this week to try to utilize Higgins as the receiver to start opposite of Jarvis Landry. Currently that position is taken up by Antonio Callaway. Higgins is outperforming Callaway in almost every category besides catches and total yards but Callaway has had a few more games to take the lead in those volume statistics.
Another interesting statistic that Higgins can tout is that the Browns this season have not won a game without him on the field. The Browns are 3-3-1 with Higgins and 0-3 without him. Cleveland is 2-1 in their last three games that Higgins has played in, those two wins being against the Ravens and the Falcons. Higgins scored his two touchdowns in both of those games.
It would be smart for the Browns to give Higgins a bigger role in the offense for the rest of the season to see if he can be the coveted No. 2 wide receiver the team has been looking for. If Higgins can explode onto the scene by continuing his current numbers at a higher volume of targets the Browns wide receiver problem could be taken care of without the draft or free agency.
Next. Week 12 prediction Browns vs Bengals. dark
The Browns would still be smart to go out and get another receiver but if Higgins can emerge as the number two option for Baker then the first round pick or bulk of the cap space to fix other holes on the Browns roster, like offensive tackle and getting another defensive tackle.