5 Cleveland Browns players to be fired up for in 2022
By Randy Gurzi
2. Cleveland Browns WR, Donovan Peoples-Jones
Another player who was brought in ahead of the 2020 season and started to really flash his potential this year was wide receiver Donovan Peoples-Jones. Taken in Round 6 out of Michigan, he had 304 yards and two touchdowns on 14 receptions.
Then in 2021, he moved into a more prominent role as he had nine starts in 14 games played. DPJ also led the team with 597 receiving yards on just 34 receptions — with three touchdowns. He was also the leader in yards per reception for the Browns with 17.6.
His best performance was in Week 6 when Cleveland fell to the Arizona Cardinals 37-14. It was an ugly game for them overall but DPJ had 101 yards and two touchdowns on four receptions, providing the only spark of the game for that team.
Having said all that, there’s a lot to clean up for Peoples-Jones. As good as he was at times, he also would go stretches where he wasn’t very effective. That’s not all on him, however, as the entire offense had that same issue. But when they were humming, Peoples-Jones was a major reason why.
Looking ahead to 2022, Peoples-Jones should be able to take another step forward and provided Baker Mayfield gets healthy, and the offense gets back on track, he could be inching closer to his first career 1,000-yard season.