One thing the Cleveland Browns have attempted to solve over the last few years is to get an exceptional kick returner on the roster. It’s not like Browns GM Andrew Berry hasn’t tried to solve this spot. He really has.
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Since Berry took over the job in 2020 of formulating the roster, he has signed JoJo Natson (2020), Jaelen Darden and Chester Rogers (2022), and James Proche (2023-2024). The coaching staff has also assigned Donovan Peoples-Jones
and Demetric Felton to return punts, while Jerome Ford and Pierre Strong were picked for kickoff return. In addition, Jakeem Grant was signed but, in two seasons, never played.
Natson was signed away from the Los Angeles Rams, but only returned kicks in three games for Cleveland in 2020 after suffering a torn ACL in Week 3, which landed him on IR for the remainder of the season.
Grant was an electric returner from the Chicago Bears, and Berry snatched him up and inked him to a three-year deal for 2022 when it was clear that Natson was having health issues. Before the first game, Grant injured his Achilles tendon in a practice session and was gone for the year. In the following training camp, he ruptured his patellar tendon and was then placed on season-ending IR and lost for another season. He never played a down for the Browns.
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For 2024, Berry signed Nyheim Hines away from the Buffalo Bills, knowing full well that Hines was recovering from a jet ski accident. The result was that he, too, never played a down for Cleveland.
What is surprising is how the Browns are jinxed with their returners. The elite ones, anyway. The franchise has had great returners in the past, such as Josh Cribbs, who holds the record for most career kickoff returns for touchdowns in the NFL with eight. Bobby Mitchell was a teammate of Jim Brown and was an excellent returner.
What about Eric Metcalf and Travis Benjamin? Gerald McNeil ring a bell? Dino Hall or Flea Roberts?
Which brings us to this year’s attempt at solving the returner position. Hopefully, this one will stick: DeAndre Carter.
As a Browns fan, do we know anything about this new guy? Maybe we should.
Beginnings
Carter (5-8”, 190 pounds) has the size for a returner. He also has the speed, being timed at 4.4 in the 40 prior to the 2015 NFL draft. He grew up in Fremont, California, located about halfway between Oakland and San Jose. He attended Washington High School.
Living so close to Oakland and San Francisco, people in the area were either Oakland Raiders fans or followers of the San Francisco 49ers. Carter grew up the lone 49ers fan in a staunch Raiders household, as his father was a Raiders season ticket holder.
At Washington High School, he played receiver and was the kickoff and punt returner. In his senior year, he caught 69 passes for 1,093 yards with 15 touchdowns. Carter was named First Team All-East Bay and Third Team All-State at receiver, and Second Team All-State as a return man.
He then accepted a scholarship from Sacramento State University, which is just a two-hour drive north of Fremont. It was his only offer.
Instead of being redshirted in his freshman year, Sac State put him to work at receiver with 12 receptions for 161 yards. He also returned eight kickoffs with a 21.25 yards per kick average. The following season, Carter played in all 10 games, recording 32 receptions for 344 yards and four touchdowns. He returned seven kickoffs with a 28.6 average with a long of 66 yards and returned six punts for 56 yards.
Carter’s junior year is where he blossomed. He had an alternative reason.
His 17-year-old brother, Kaylan, suffered cardiac arrest at a weightlifting session with his team. Kaylan’s heart stopped for 30 minutes before paramedics could start it again. He was eventually put into a medically induced coma with the hope that his oxygen-deprived organs could recover.
The Carter family realized that Kaylan was not going to survive the trauma from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, and they made the difficult decision to remove him from life support.
Before DeAndre said goodbye to Kaylan in the hospital, he made a promise to pursue and make a career in the NFL, which was both brothers’ dream for each other.
Carter finished his junior year as a changed athlete and sparked a determination inside of him because of his brother’s passing. He had 64 catches for 934 yards and had 14 touchdown receptions, plus returned three kickoffs. He was voted the team’s Offensive MVP and selected First Team All-Big Sky.
His number increased dramatically in his senior season. He caught 99 balls for 1,321 yards and scored 17 touchdowns. All three of these categories set new school single-season records. Carter did not return any kickoffs, but had four punt returns for 69 yards, a 17.3 yards per return average, and returned one punt for a touchdown. He was named team co-captain and voted First Team All-Big Sky, plus garnered All-America honors. He then got an invitation to play in the NFLPA Bowl.
Carter was named the 2014 FCS Wide Receiver of the Year and a finalist for the Walter Payton Award, given annually to the most outstanding player in the FCS. He led the FCS in total touchdowns that season and was ranked second in receptions per game.
As a return man, his college career included 18 kickoff returns and 10 punts.
His X handle is @DCarter_2, while his Instagram is @dcarter_dr3am.
The long and continuing NFL journey
Despite a very good senior effort, Carter was not selected in the 2015 NFL draft. There were those who questioned his high numbers in a lesser conference where he rarely saw any good competition at cornerback.
He chose the Baltimore Ravens as an undrafted rookie free agent and went down to the wire with Kaelin Clay for the team’s kick returner. Carter made it to the final cutdown and was waived. He was then signed to the Raiders practice squad, followed by being on the practice squad of the New England Patriots.
After being waived by the Patriots in 2016, he had some extra time waiting for his agent’s phone to call with another offer. He became a substitute teacher at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School in Hayward, California. The principal allowed him the flexibility to leave and fly somewhere with his latest tryout.
At the next training camp, the story was the same, just with a different club. Carter had a good camp but was released on the final cutdown, then was out of football in 2016. During the next two seasons, he was in and out of being on the practice squad of his childhood team, the 49ers.
In 2018, he played in seven games for the Philadelphia Eagles and Houston Texans predominantly as a kickoff returner. He then spent stints with the Chicago Bears, Washington, Los Angeles Chargers, the Raiders again, the Bears again, and then recently signed a one-year deal with the Browns on March 19, 2025.
In all of his change of address labels in the league, Carter has 128 kickoff returns for 2,966 yards, a 23.2 yards per return average, one touchdown, and a long of 101 yards. He had 147 punt returns for 1,447 yards with a 9.8 yards per return average, zero touchdowns, and a long of 42 yards.
For what it’s worth, Carter, age 32, is an experienced NFL punt and kickoff returner. He isn’t the flash-and-dash specimen like Jakeem Grant was or the juking ability of Metcalf back in the day.
But Coach Bubba Ventrone really likes Carter’s work ethic and abilities. That comes from the coach whose job it is to choose who will ultimately be back there, ready to return kickoffs and punts.
In this year’s training camp, the Browns had quite a few guys returning both kickoffs and punts, such as Kaden Davis, Luke Floriea, Trayveon Williams, and Gage Larvadain. Carter had the most experience and patience in live situations.
Carter also offers an option at receiver. In the NFL so far, he has 34 receptions for 386 yards, which isn’t a lot, but his college numbers were very strong. What he has accomplished is to establish himself as a reliable punt and kick returner over the past three seasons.
This dude can ball. He just needs to play a full year of not getting hurt like the rest of the returners Berry has employed.
And allow Carter a shot to continue his promise to his brother, Kaylan.
