The Cleveland Browns have been dealing with issues at wide receiver all season.
Jerry Jeudy, the presumptive No. 1 wide receiver, has been struggling to find any consistency. A year after catching 90 passes
and posting the first 1,000-yard season of his career, Jeudy is currently on pace to finish with just 48 receptions and 546 yards.
The rest of the inexperienced group, which includes Isaiah Bond, Gage Larvadain, Malachi Corley, and Jamari Thrash, have combined for just 25 receptions and 269 yards.
If you need an example of how wide receivers can help a quarterback, look no further than the Cincinnati Bengals and Joe Flacco.
In four starts with the Browns to open the season, Flacco completed just 58.1 percent of his throws, for 815 yards, two touchdowns, and six interceptions. But in his four starts since being traded to the Bengals, and throwing to Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, Flacco is completing 64.7 percent of his passes, for 1,254 yards, 11 touchdowns, and two interceptions.
Just ignore that the Bengals are 1-3 with Flacco as the starter, the same record the Browns were with Flacco, because that ruins the narrative.
As the Browns open the practice week, they received a little bit of good news as the team has designated wide receiver Cedric Tillman to return to practice. The move opens the 21-day window for the Browns to activate Tillman to the roster or leave him on injured reserve for the rest of the season.
Tillman has spent the past five games on the injured reserve list after suffering a hamstring injury against the Detroit Lions in Week 4.
While he is not a star, getting Tillman back on the field can only help. In four games this season, he may only have 11 receptions for 106 yards, but his two touchdown receptions are the most by a Cleveland wide receiver and tied for the team lead with tight ends Harold Fannin Jr. and David Njoku.
In a corresponding roster move, the Browns released safety Damontae Kazee.
Cleveland signed the veteran Kazee as a free agent in May. Kazee is in his ninth season in the NFL after being selected in the 5th round of the 2017 NFL draft by the Atlanta Falcons. After completing his rookie contract with the Falcons, Kazee spent one year with the Dallas Cowboys before the last three with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Kazee appeared in four games this season with the Browns, playing 11 snaps on defense and 37 snaps on special teams.
