Cleveland Browns: Aggressively early look at 53-man 2021 roster
By Greg Newland
Wide Receiver
Another position that will be completely up in the air is the wide receiver room. With a run-heavy offense, it is hard to think they will have more than six active receivers each week, but will they have a focus on a kick return specialist as well?
The four easy ones for me are Odell Beckham, Jarvis Landry, Rashard Higgins, and Donovan Peoples-Jones. Those are the four players with the most experience and played most of the snaps in 2020.
KhaDarel Hodge appears to be the fifth active receiver in my opinion. He started seeing more and more snaps at wide receiver last year because of his height, and he is a tremendous special teams’ guy. I don’t expect him to have a ton of catches in 2021 but will make the team and be active for his role on kick coverage.
The last guy I see being active is rookie third-round pick, Anthony Schwartz. I don’t expect him to be the return specialist, but he has the burner speed for the deep ball and can be a part of most gadget plays that involve getting around the corner. Berry didn’t waste a third-round pick to not give him at least a year to show what he can do.
If the Browns carry two quarterbacks, one spot you could see the additional player is wide receiver. A guy like JoJo Natson could make the roster. With Schwartz on the team, his demand is far less, but I wouldn’t be shocked to see him at least on the practice squad.
This means guys like Derrick Willies, Alexander Hollins, and Ryan Switzer are likely on the outside looking in on making the active roster.