Do the Cleveland Browns know what they have in Rashard Higgins?

Rashard Higgins’ triumph and tragedy in 2020

Yet again Rashard Higgins came off the garbage heap to establish himself as a star receiver. Again he put up numbers that on a per-snap basis are very comparable to Jarvis Landry’s numbers.

Landry had 699 snaps and 850 yards from scrimmage, or 1.216 TYFS/snap; versus 1.193 for Higgins. Landry’s catch percentage was 71.3, Higgins’ was 71.2. Obviously, most observers would say Landry was the go-to guy who drew the top cover corner, especially in the absence of OBJ. But let’s not get carried away and argue that Higgins is just as good as Landry.

However, it is fair to say that Higgins more than held up his end of the bargain for the Cleveland Browns. His contract was at the NFL minimum, while Jarvis Landry’s salary was one of the highest on the team.

Can we agree that coaching may have had something to do with it? Maybe Kevin Stefanski and Alex Van Pelt were just a little bit better at getting good performances from Higgins than Freddie Kitchens and Todd Monken.

However, the play that Higgins will be remembered for was a scoring attempt against the Chiefs, in which he extended his arm to put the ball over the goal line. Kansas City Chiefs Daniel Sorenson made a great play, turning his helmet invisible for a split second so that it could not be seen by the officials and ramming Higgins on the side of the helmet, causing a fumble, which saved a touchdown and gave the Chiefs the ball, saving their season so that they could make complete fools of themselves in the Super Bowl.

There are different ways to look at the play. First of all, the officials blew the call. There’s no polite way to say it. However, despite how cool that play looks for the fans, that is not the right play.

According to no less of an authority than Devin McCourty, twin brother of ex-Brown Jason McCourty, that play results in an automatic benching from Bill Belichick. It’s too risky. Even though in this case it was not the fault of Higgins, it is always a high-risk play and can lead to the touchback.

This is the kind of high effort play that a losing team appreciates because of the hustle, but a winning football team cannot afford to make. This play may haunt the team all off-season. Yes, you may blame it on the official if you want to, but it was definitely not the right play.

Was it bad enough that the Browns will move on from Higgins? Probably not. But there will be a meeting about it in training camp.

Higgins will get an offer from Andrew Berry. But this season, with a decreased salary cap and a glut of free agents on the market, there is no need to be in a rush to throw money at free agents. Very likely Higgins is due for a hefty pay raise and will be back with the Browns for another season in 2021.