Baker Mayfield: 4 Browns who must step up in absence
By Greg Newland
No. 2 – Donovan Peoples-Jones
After completely dominating training camp and preseason, Donovan Peoples-Jones somewhat cooled off to start the season. In the first five weeks, he had only four receptions for 57 yards total, well below the production we had seen from him.
The good news, in the last two games he has 11 targets, nine catches, 171 yards receiving, and two touchdowns. These are stats much closer to what Browns fans were expecting from him.
With belief that OBJ is very 50/50 on playing Thursday and a backup quarterback, DPJ needs to be on top of his game. He is a big target who also has speed, so not only will he need to make a few contested catches, Keenum may also need him to help stretch the defense and take some pressure off the short routes.
DPJ and Mayfield seemed to have strong chemistry, so it’s tough to say how in sync he and Keenum will be, but don’t be surprised to see Stefanski force-feed DPJ on a couple of plays early in the game just to try and get him involved.
It’s a tough situation to be in, but the second-year player may quickly become the most talented receiver on the roster and will need to step up in a big way. I would like to see an eight or nine-target game for DPJ, totaling seven catches for 75-plus yards and a touchdown.