3 things that must change for the Cleveland Browns to contend in 2021
By Sam Penix
2. The receivers and tight ends must produce to their pay
The Browns have an expensive offense. The most expensive, in fact. They lead the NFL in 2021 cap dollars devoted to offense by over $15 million. Only three teams pay their wide receivers more, and just two have more expensive tight ends. No one can argue that Cleveland got anywhere near that level of return on investment last season, and that absolutely must change.
Jarvis Landry is the league’s most expensive slot receiver and costs more than DeAndre Hopkins, Michael Thomas, Tyler Lockett, Stefon Diggs, Adam Thielen, and Robert Woods, just to name a few.
Odell Beckham Jr. has not statistically been himself since 2016. The Browns made Austin Hooper the highest-paid TE in history last offseason and he had an incredibly disappointing season, dropping passes and falling over immediately after catching them.
Baker Mayfield had an elite second half of the season in spite of his targets, not because of them. The WR room will continue to be terraformed, as rookie Anthony Schwartz is only the beginning.
The bottom line is that the receivers and tight ends in 2020 did not provide anywhere close to $56 million of production. You can bet that the WR room will be much cheaper in 2022, but in the meantime, everyone has to perform better.