Cleveland Browns 2017 Season Preview: Wide Receivers & Tight Ends

By Katelin Marshall, @KatelinKnowsCLE

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The Cleveland Browns Wide Receiver and Tight End position are the weakest part of the team this season. There are a lot of young guys the Browns are counting on to contribute this season, headlined by first round picks Corey Coleman and David Njoku. 


Wide Receivers

The Browns kind of let receiver Terrelle Pryor leave in the off-season. We might never truly know what happened but it seemed like Pryor wanted more money and was willing to bet on himself for one year. The Browns on the other hand balked on Pryor and signed Veteran Kenny Britt instead to replace Pryor. Britt is the lone veteran of the group (so far). As of right now the other Browns receivers are second year players: Corey Coleman, Ricardo Lewis, and Rashard Higgins. Outside of those four no one is a lock to make the team. 

Jordan Payton played most of his snaps on special teams last season and was busted for PEDs last season resulting in a four game suspension. Payton has played a number of snaps this preseason including catching DeShone Kizer's game winning touchdown pass vs the Saints. 

Mario Alford is another guy who might make the team. But it won't necessarily be as a wide receiver. Alford did a solid job as a returner last season after the Browns struggled to find someone who could return kicks and punts. Alford's job as a kick returner might be numbered with the emergence of Jabrill Peppers as a kick and punt returner.

Jordan Leslie has made a pretty nice impact during training camp and throughout the preseason. He's an undrafted free agent out of BYU. It should be interesting to see what the Browns think of him. He probably won't see a lot of snaps vs Tampa, but in the fourth preseason game, Leslie should be given an opportunity to show the Browns who he is. 


Wide Receiver Overview: The Browns will no doubt be active when teams cut down to the 53-man rosters. They are first in the waiver order and should add a veteran receiver during cut downs for week one. They need it badly. If not, it might me a long year for rookie quarterback DeShone Kizer. The receivers need to prove who they are and they will be given ample opportunity to do so.



Tight Ends

The Browns will be running with three tight ends this season. First round pick David Njoku, second year pro Seth DeValve, and Randall Telfer...yes Telfer is still on the Browns. With the pick of Njoku the Browns released pro bowl tight end Gary Barnidge, continuing the youth movement in Berea.

With the offense centered around the running game, Telfer will see an increase in his snap count because his strength is in the run blocking game. Its that simple. He's not in there for his two career catches for a total of four yards. 

David Njoku should be exciting to watch. He will lineup in his normal tight end position but he should see time in the slot and on the outside. Njoku is a freak athlete and Hue Jackson, I'm sure, has a large amount of formations to get Njoku in favorable matchups. It shouldn't surprise anyone if the Browns use a lot of two tight end sets this season. 

Seth DeValve will enter the season with the most career catches by a tight end on the Browns roster...with 10. DeValve is more like Njoku, in the sense of, he is a pass catching tight end who can play on the outside. The two tight end sets with Njoku and DeValve give the Browns two big bodied targets in the red zone and on third down. 


Tight End Overview: This position doesn't worry me as much as the receivers. But if the receivers struggle the tight ends will need to be Kizer's security blanket this season. And with the Athleticism the tight ends have we shouldn't be surprised when Kizer starts throwing deep-balls to Njoku and DeValve.