5 Early Cleveland Browns 2022 free agent targets

2. Chris Godwin, Wide Receiver

Right now, the Cleveland Browns have one of the highest-paid wide receiver corps in the NFL. Most of that money, however, could come off the books this next offseason if they so desire.

Both Jarvis Landry and Odell Beckham — who make roughly $30 million between them — have outs in their contracts. They will also both be 30-years old and OBJ is coming off a torn ACL after spending several seasons dealing with nagging injuries.

If general manager Andrew Berry did elect to move on from one, or both, he could look to free agency in 2022 to stay competitive at the position while also getting younger. If that’s the route he does go, there could be two very talented options — Chris Godwin from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers or Michael Gallup from the Dallas Cowboys.

Both players will be 26-years old next season and could each hit the open market. But if we had to choose one of the two, Godwin feels like the player with the most upside.

In four seasons with Tampa Bay, he has 244 receptions for 3,540 yards and 24 touchdowns. He’s done that even with players such as Mike Evans and O.J. Howard eating up targets and last season Rob Gronkowski and Antonio Brown also came into the fold.

Godwin was hit with the franchise tag this season and using that on him again in 2022 would be incredibly pricey. Still, the Bucs could lock him up long-term and all indications suggest they will try and do just that.

But if he does get free, he would be an excellent fit to help Baker Mayfield continue to move the chains for this young offense.