Cleveland Browns: 4 scapegoats if things go south in 2021

3. Jarvis Landry, Wide Receiver

First thing is first when it comes to Jarvis Landry — he has been a wonderful player for the Cleveland Browns since coming over in 2018. In three seasons, he has 236 receptions for 2,990 yards and three touchdowns. He’s also been a leader who played in every game other than Week 16 of 2020 when he was on the COVID reserve list after being in close contact with someone who had the virus.

In addition to his on-field contributions, Landry is a great role model. He started a foundation that anyone should be proud to be associated with and is a class-act.

All of that being said, his fit with this current roster is somewhat questionable. Landry is a slot receiver who operates close to the line of scrimmage in the way a tight end does but he happens to be on a team that uses two tight ends often. That means he’s not stretching the field the way wideouts are supposed to in Kevin Stefanski’s offense but instead works in much the same way they ask Austin Hooper and David Njoku to work.

Landry’s inability to get deep was on display in the loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in the Divisional Round when he had just 20 yards on seven catches against a middle of the pack secondary. When Cleveland was within strikng distance late, they ended up killing the clock for the Chiefs with no one picking up chunks of yardage.

The hope now is that Odell Beckham, Jr. returning from a torn ACL — and the addition of rookie Anthony Schwartz — will be enough to open the offense back up. However, they might not have done enough to re-tool the receiving corps in large part due to the presence of OBJ and Landry. In fact, Cleveland had a shot at a game-changer in Radhod Bateman but elected to pass on him and now, they will have to face him twice a season with Baltimore.

Perhaps the offense will be fine, but if they continue to struggle to create separation, someone such as Landry could end up taking the fall.