The NFL trade deadline fell the week after the Cleveland Browns’ bye this season, and general manager Andrew Berry reportedly used that time to try and address one of the most glaring issues on the current roster.
Cleveland’s annual game of musical chairs at the quarterback position has obviously held the team back. But you could argue the team’s offseason plan at wide receiver set this 2025 team up for failure from the jump.
Jerry Jeudy had a nice statistical season for the Browns in 2024, but he’s never been a true No. 1 receiver. His 90 catches and 1,229 yards were both career highs last year, but so was his volume; Jeudy’s 145 targets ranked ninth in the NFL, and he was the lone player in the top-10 to finish outside the 100-catch benchmark.
The Browns’ top receiving group of Jeudy, undrafted rookie Isaiah Bond, and third-year depth piece Cedric Tillman put the offense in an impossible situation, regardless of the quarterback’s age or experience level. Harold Fannin Jr. looks like a star in the making, but when a rookie tight end is your No. 1 option in the passing game by a wide margin, you have serious issues.
Even with his team firmly in the tank at 2-6, Berry reportedly tried to swing a trade with the Indianapolis Colts for Adonai Mitchell. They were outbid by the New York Jets in a package that included franchise cornerback Sauce Gardner, but the Browns’ motivation to tweak the roster where it needs help the most was clearly there.
You could make the case, though, that they targeted the wrong young Colts wide receiver, and a second chance could be looming at the start of the 2026 league year.
Alec Pierce could be the answer to Cleveland’s wide receiver problems
After these final four weeks of the 2025 regular season are complete, Berry’s to-do list will be massive. Evaluating the quarterback situation with Shedeur Sanders, Deshaun Watson and a possible 2026 draft selection is obviously at the top, along with finding help at offensive tackle, guard and center.
But the Browns can’t afford to kick the can down the road at wide receiver, even with 10 projected selections in April’s draft. They’ll need to scrounge up whatever salary cap space they can muster and make a move in free agency — and a budding star from the AFC South should be firmly on their radar.
Alec Pierce, a second-round selection by the Colts in 2022, is scheduled to hit free agency as one of the top wide receivers available. He’ll be costly, but he’s a downfield, contested-catch machine who’s improved every facet of his game in a contract year.
The stat that should pop to Browns fans is Pierce’s average yards per catch. He’s only played in 11 games this season due to injuries, but he has 38 receptions for 769 yards — an NFL-leading average of 20.2. If Cleveland’s front office does indeed see enough improvement from Sanders down the stretch to keep him in their plans for 2026, Pierce’s big play ability fits Sanders’ skillset to a tee.
Again, Pierce is going to have a market, which some analysts believe could push the average annual value on his next deal up close to $20 million. The Browns will have to perform some salary cap gymnastics and roster moves to create the space necessary for such a move.
But enough’s enough. Unless Cleveland can guarantee itself a big-time talent like Ohio State’s Carnell Tate in the 2026 NFL Draft — spoiler alert: It can’t — there should motivation around building a more professional wide receiver room for whoever’s playing under center next year.