Biggest winners and losers from 2019 Cleveland Browns OTA’s

Winner: Wide Receiver Rashard Higgins

The Cleveland Browns were without most of their top wide receivers during OTA’s, forcing quarterback Baker Mayfield to work with the wide receivers lower on the depth chart. With new offensive concepts being installed, it would have been good for Mayfield to have his top receivers on the field.

Beckham was obviously not with the team for almost the entirety of the OTA’s, Jarvis Landry was dealing with a minor injury that kept him out of some of the practices, and Antonio Callaway had oddly spotty attendance during OTA’s. Without those three, the player that stepped up into the No. 1 receiver role was Rashard Higgins.

Without the other top receivers on the roster, Higgins was able to continually build onto his strong chemistry with Mayfield. After spending most of last offseason working on the same offensive unit, the two quickly started to work well together.

That carried into the regular season as Higgins had a career year after Mayfield took over as the starting quarterback. In 13 games last season, Higgins caught 39 passes for 572 yards and four touchdowns.

With some new concepts in the offense, there are going to be differences in the progressions for Mayfield compared to last year. And without his top receivers on the field, Mayfield was able to work on the new passing concepts with Higgins.

Higgins will be battling for the third receiver spot with Callaway during training camp. But as Callaway missed practices during OTA’s, Higgins was there and worked with Mayfield. As the offseason program continues, Higgins will have the upper hand of being the third receiver and getting more playing time than Callaway.