Browns Thin at Wide Receiver Behind Banged Up Amari Cooper
Wide receiver Elijah Moore of the Cleveland Browns.
Diggs may well prove to be too expensive and/or complicated of an option in Cleveland, particularly because he will also cost draft capital to acquire. But whether the Browns choose to pursue a big-name player like Diggs or not, the team must address its wide receiver room ahead of the 2024 campaign.
Elijah Moore (543 yards on the year) is the only wideout other than Cooper with more than 108 receiving yards in 2023. Rookie Cedric Tillman owns third-place with the aforementioned 108 yards, while the departed Donovan Peoples-Jones put up 97 before heading to the Detroit Lions and second-year pass-catcher David Bell has 86 yards to his name, per ESPN.
Running back Jerome Ford is producing solidly from the backfield with 227 receiving yards, while tight end David Njoku is on pace for a career-high in receiving with 600 yards through 13 games. But Cleveland’s pass attack needs more of a downfield presence, and Moore, Ford and Njoku aren’t the guys who can consistently provide that. Cooper is that player when healthy, but if he leaves next offseason that element of the Browns’ offense will depart with him.
The 2024 NFL Draft is an option, but rookies are a scary bet to make when a team needs them to be premier performers right from the jump. Furthermore, the Browns won’t pick until the second-round, which means the top handful of wide receivers will already be off the board.
As such, a trade or free agency are Cleveland’s best bets, and a proven option acquired through either pathway isn’t going to be cheap.
Max Dible covers the Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings, Chicago Bears, Cleveland Browns and Golden State Warriors for Heavy.com. He covered local and statewide news as a reporter for West Hawaii Today and served as news director for BigIslandNow.com and Pacific Media Group’s family of Big Island radio stations before joining Heavy. More about Max Dible.
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