The Cleveland Browns have an impressive, albeit top-heavy, group of playmakers at running back, wide receiver, and tight end.
Nick Chubb is arguably the game’s best running back, and the Browns learned what life is like without him after he went down for the season with a knee injury in Week 2.
Amari Cooper posted his second-consecutive 1,000-yard season last year, and the third most receiving yards in franchise history for a single season. But the remaining group of wide receivers around him all still have something to prove at the NFL level.
David Njoku just missed the first 1,000-yard receiving season of his career in 2023, and he continues to ascend the franchise’s record book in career receiving yards and receptions. After him? Well, it is a group of players who make the wide receiver room look positively stellar in comparison.
That brings us to ESPN’s Bill Barnwell and his (paywalled) annual ranking of each team’s wide receiver, tight end, and running back talent for the upcoming season. Using criteria featuring a mix of expected on-field performance for 2024, injury history, a system giving more weight to wide receivers, and considering each team’s top five contributors, Barnwell ended up with a ranking that has the San Francisco 49ers leading the field, and the Los Angeles Chargers bringing up the year.
As for the Browns, they drop eight spots from last season to end up at No. 20:
How many times will teams give up on Amari Cooper before they learn? He was brilliant last season, racking up 1,250 receiving yards despite facing the second-toughest expected catch rate of any regular wideout. He would have posted even gaudier numbers if not for a heel injury that cost him the final two games, just after an 11-catch, 265-yard performance in a win over the Texans. With David Njoku adding 882 receiving yards in his best pro season, the Browns can feel good about their top two pass catchers.
Everything else is a question mark. Nick Chubb is coming off a serious ACL injury, and while he was able to return and become a spectacularly efficient back after tearing up his knee at Georgia, it’s tough to assume he’ll bounce back to being the league’s best pure runner at 28. Jerome Ford wasn’t good in his absence, albeit behind an injury-riddled offensive line. Elijah Moore didn’t do much after being acquired from the Jets. While Cleveland signaled its need for a No. 2 wideout by trading for Jerry Jeudy, the former first-rounder has put together only one above-average NFL season when he approached 1,000 yards in 2022. There’s major upside here if everyone is healthy and lives up to expectations, but it would be a surprise if any of the top playmakers on this roster played a full 17 games.
At first glance, Browns fans will likely be a bit miffed at the low ranking, although there is some comfort to be found in the Pittsburgh Steelers being ranked at No. 27.
But the reality is that no one knows yet when Chubb will return this fall and how close he will be to his old self. And as talented as Cooper and Njoku are, there are so many questions surrounding everyone else at those positions that it would only take an injury to potentially derail the group.
The bright side is that it is only one analyst’s opinion. And it is a long season filled with the unexpected, so the Jerry Jeudy trade may turn out better than even the Browns expect, or the running back group may collectively put together another season that is solid enough, if not spectacular, to get the job done.
