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4 freakishly athletic Cleveland Browns players you might not know about

By Elliot Kennel

EAST RUTHERFORD, NEW JERSEY - SEPTEMBER 16: Wide Receiver KhaDarel Hodge #12 of the Cleveland Browns watches the play against the New York Jets in the first half at MetLife Stadium on September 16, 2019 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Photo by Al Pereira/Getty Images).
EAST RUTHERFORD, NEW JERSEY - SEPTEMBER 16: Wide Receiver KhaDarel Hodge #12 of the Cleveland Browns watches the play against the New York Jets in the first half at MetLife Stadium on September 16, 2019 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Photo by Al Pereira/Getty Images). /
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INDIANAPOLIS, IN – FEBRUARY 27: Wide receiver Donovan Peoples-Jones of Michigan prepares to run the 40-yard dash during the NFL Scouting Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium on February 27, 2020 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
INDIANAPOLIS, IN – FEBRUARY 27: Wide receiver Donovan Peoples-Jones of Michigan prepares to run the 40-yard dash during the NFL Scouting Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium on February 27, 2020 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /

The Peoples-Jones choice

We don’t know yet if Donovan Peoples-Jones can play pro football, but he’s an incredible athlete. I wrote an opinion piece a while back that the Browns should look for receivers with great hands rather than great speed, because quarterback Baker Mayfield is the guy who can throw an accurate ball into a tight window and doesn’t need the receiver to get “college open.” Rashard Higgins, or at least the 2018 version of Higgins, is a case in point. Mayfield could throw the ball in a location that only Higgins had a chance to catch it.

Peoples-Jones is kind of the opposite of Higgins, in that DPJ is going to get open, but it remains to be seen whether he has the knack for grabbing footballs thrown in strange places while in heavy traffic.

However, when you get to the sixth round of the draft, you have to break a few rules and go with outstanding talent. Peoples-Jones is an outstanding talent. First of all he is fast, blasting through the 40-yard dash in 4.48 seconds at the Combine. He’s also explosive with a 1.59 second 10-yard split. But what is really astounding is that he had a 44.5-inch vertical jump, which is one of the best ever, and tops within the Browns organization.

Not only that, but he has decent size for a wide receiver at 6-foot-2 and 208 pounds.

According to mgoblue.com, at Cass High in Detroit, he was the all-city champion in the 100-meter sprint and All-State in the 4×100-meter relay.  He also pulled down a 3.9-grade point average. The son of a medical doctor, he’s no dummy.

Nevertheless, he didn’t reach his full potential at Michigan. In three years, he played in 37 yards, with 103 receptions and 1327 yards and 14 touchdowns. That’s good, but not as great as Michigan fans were expecting.

Browns fans should not hold it against him that he played for a rival Big 10 school rather than Ohio State. Jeepers creepers, the Browns are not so good that they can turn up their noses on a major university in a Power Five conference. We didn’t have a problem with Leroy Hoard or Tom Darden.

Anyway, we might as well bet against Jim Harbaugh. Perhaps the Browns can succeed where Harbaugh did not. Maybe Kevin Stefanski and Alex Van Pelt can get him going, and if not, maybe that is a sign that he is playing the wrong position. Not everybody has the hands to be a wide receiver. If that turns out to be the case, let’s send him over to Joe Woods and see if he might be a defensive back.

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