The Jarvis Landry homecoming hasn’t gone as planned

When Jarvis Landry signed with his hometown New Orleans Saints, he was hoping to revitalize his career, but those plans have not gone well. 

When Andrew Berry elected to not pay Jarvis Landry the nearly $16 million in the offseason, that spelled that the wideout had played his last game in brown and orange. This left many fans upset, as he became a beloved member of the franchise, but it was the right call.

Landry signed a one-year, $6 million deal with the New Orleans Saints back in May, setting up a homecoming of sorts, as he’s a New Orleans native and played his college ball at LSU. Well, homecoming has been ruined as Landry has missed the last four games and is questionable to play on Monday night against the Ravens due to an ankle injury he suffered in Week 4.

In the four games he played this season, Landry caught 15 of 21 targets for 168 yards but hasn’t found the endzone. Most of that damage was done in Week 1 against the Falcons when he caught seven passes for 125 yards. Eight catches for 43 yards is what followed in the next three games, all of which the Saints lost.

In four seasons with the Browns, Landry caught 288 passes for 3,560 yards and 15 touchdowns. He also rushed for four scores and threw a touchdown dime to his best friend, and also former Browns receiver, Odell Beckham Jr. He made the Pro Bowl in his first two years in Clevland, but his production severely dropped in the following two seasons.

At the time of the decision to pick up the option, Landry was set to be one of the highest-paid receivers in the league, that is, of course, before the wide receiver money boom in the NFL. Landry will turn 30 later this month, and with his injuries racking up, it was a no-brainer for Berry to not pick up that option. It worked out for the Browns as they fleeced the Dallas Cowboys by getting Amari Cooper for a mere fifth-round pick.

Landry will go down as one of the most loved Browns players of this generation, due in large part to his infectious leadership and his now infamous “Hard Knocks” speech. Some will look at the early season struggles of Cleveland this year and think that the team should’ve kept Landry after all due to his leadership, but in reality, the team had one winning season in the four years Landry was here.

The homecoming was a feel-good story for Landry, but it has not gone as planned, especially with him being paired with Michael Thomas (who is now on IR) and rookie Chris Olave. The Saints were hoping to be in win-now mode, but instead, they sit at 3-5. So much for a culture change.