Truth be told, I didn’t even realize this, but I was recently informed that the Cleveland Browns have the best group of wide receivers. Not in the AFC North, but in the National Football League. So says one of the Browns’ wide receivers, anyway, at least one of whom believes he is the best wide receiver in the league. Likely, more than one of them believe that of themselves.
The one making the claim that the Browns have the best wide receivers in the league, though, is one who has barely played in the league in several years, that being Josh Gordon, a second-round pick in the 2012 supplemental draft who has spent more games on the suspended list than the active roster.
He did break out in his second season with a first-team All-Pro campaign in 2013, leading the league in receiving yards despite being suspended for the first two games. He is the reason Antonio Brown hasn’t been first-team All-Pro for five consecutive years.
“I think we’re the best receiving corps in the league, in my opinion, already just based off of talent alone”, Gordon told reporters on Tuesday at the outset of minicamp. “So, you put in the playbook and some guys that are hungry enough to go do it, and hopefully, we go out there and show and prove that. That’s just my opinion, but we’re not short on talent at the wide receiver position at all”.
Gordon was finally removed from the suspended list late last season, having last played a regular season game in 2014. He started five games, catching 18 passes for 335 yards and one touchdown. He had 87 receptions for 1646 yards and nine touchdowns in that 2013 season. In 40 career games, he has caught 179 passes for 3089 yards and 15 touchdowns.
‘Flash’ will not be going it alone, of course. Working with him will be Jarvis Landry, for whom the Browns traded this offseason before giving him a long-term contract. When asked about Gordon’s comments about Cleveland having the most talented group of wide receivers in the league, he said, “he ain’t lying”.
Landry has previously expressed his belief that he is, in fact, the best wide receiver in the NFL. He is the first player in NFL history to record 400 or more receptions in his first four NFL seasons. And he also believes that he has more to work with from the quarterback position in Cleveland than he did in Miami.
Aside from Gordon and Landry, the Browns also have on the roster former first-round pick Corey Coleman, who is still admittedly working up to living up to his potential. They also signed Jeff Janis, drafted Antonio Callaway, and have others like Ricardo Louis and Rashard Higgins on the team.
