Cleveland Browns 2023 Roster: 3 Big Surprises

We are officially under a month away from seeing the Cleveland Browns open the preseason in Canton, OH, and the anticipation is growing quickly. The Guardians are in first place, but baseball just doesn’t cure the sports itch like the NFL. It’s wild, I prefer preseason football over playoff baseball any day of the week.

Optional offseason workouts have already begun, but the real work won’t start until the end of July when rookies report on July 19th to training camp. So far all we are hearing is how great Deshaun Watson looks after struggling slightly last year, but there are still many questions to be answered. 

The Browns have a new face on defense in Jim Schwartz, Kevin Stefanski has said he wants to re-tool the offense to fit Watson, and a new special teams coach in Bubba Ventrone. With a major upgrade in the coaching staff and roster, here are three players that could be in for surprise seasons in 2023.

Cleveland Browns Surprise No. 3 – Elijah Moore

When Elijah Moore was drafted by the New York Jets in 2021 with the 34th overall pick. At that time many predicted Moore would be the rookie of the year with his incredible athleticism and ball-tracking skills. 

In two seasons Moore had 80 catches for just under 1,000 yards and six touchdowns. He showed flashes of greatness in his rookie season, but never seemed to be able to get the ball in his hands. With a catch percentage of just over 56 percent, New York just never worked.

Moore will have a strong duo ahead of him with Amari Cooper and Donovan Peoples-Jones, not to mention David Njoku at tight end who can also draw a lot of attention. I see Moore being a guy that draws a lot of single coverage and breaks free on crossing routes.

Assuming that Watson has enough time to read the defense, look for Moore to have an outstanding year with 800 plus receiving yards and a lot of creative touches on end-around and other gadget plays.