4 ways the Cleveland Browns offense can improve in 2022

No. 3: Threaten the defense with speed

Speed kills in the NFL.

Last year, the Browns learned this the hard way when they had a serious lack of this on offense. While Donovan Peoples-Jones helped in this area with an average of 17.6 yards per catch, many of the other pass-catchers performed better within five yards of the line of scrimmage.

Jarvis Landry, Austin Hooper, and Rashard Higgins all pretty much occupied the same area and when Odell Beckham, Jr. left and they were unable to get more from rookie Anthony Schwartz, the field seemed to shrink.

Without being able to threaten deep, defenders crowded the line of scrimmage, which also slowed down the rushing attack.

Understanding this, Andrew Berry went out and added more playmakers. The biggest is Amari Cooper who can threaten at all three levels. Not only will his presence open things up for DPJ, but it could help push Schwartz along in his progression.

There have been calls to move on from Schwartz, but this front office added him just one year ago in Round 3, with the understanding that he was young and would need time. Rather than giving up on him, Kevin Stefanski and his staff need to figure out how to get him involved — even if it’s as simple as running the jet sweep or a decoy on a fake sweep. Just the fact that his track-star speed is on the field makes the defense respect it.

Another player who can do this is Jakeem Grant. The free agent addition will be their primary return man, but he too can be used in a similar role to make the defense stay honest.

Whatever the plan is, the Browns need to get more speed on offense and keep the safeties backed up. If they do, good things will happen.