Elijah Moore has one catch for six yards for the Cleveland Browns so far this preseason. They are really excited about him. Acquired via trade earlier this offseason, Moore is expected to be their number two wide receiver alongside Amari Cooper, and they are figuring out all the various different ways they can use him—albeit on just eight preseason snaps played thus far through two games.
“I’m sure it’s been well reported that we want to use the kid in a bunch of different ways”, Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski recently said of Moore, via the team’s website. “Teams know that we’ll hand it to him, that we’ll throw it to him. As you know, there’s no shortage of plays. There’s a thousand things you can do with versatile football players”.
A 2021 second-round draft pick by the New York Jets, Moore grew discontent with his former employers and they were happy to trade him when the Browns offered fair compensation for an asset they were underutilizing. In 731 snaps last season, he only saw 65 targets, catching 37 for 446 yards and one touchdown. He had better numbers as a rookie, including six total scores.
New York did not use him creatively in the ways the Browns are hoping to, with Stefanski agreeing that comparisons to Percy Harvin might be fair. Stefanski had the opportunity to coach Harvin while they were in Minnesota together, along with some other members of their current staff he brought over.
“When you have guys, it’s the classic, the more you can do. And I think for us, we’re early on in being around Elijah, so what is fun is there’s no shortage of what he can do”, he said, “You can put a lot on his plate. So that’s the fun part for us in trying to just make ourselves difficult to defend from the defense”.
It hasn’t been very fun for those on the outside looking in yet since he has only played eight snaps in the preseason, though of the eight, two were out of the backfield, two out wide, and four in the slot. Did I mention that he had an 18-yard rush?
Still, as Stefanski said, the Browns are still in the process of figuring things out, not just with Moore and where he fits into the offense and what they can ask him to do, but also more broadly with how this offense is going to look as a whole.
This is the first full offseason they have had to prepare with QB Deshaun Watson—at least the first where he would actually be permitted to play at the start of the season. While he was around the team last year at this time of year, Cleveland knew he would not take the field for months while serving a suspension.
Back in May, Moore said of the opportunity to play with Watson, “I can’t ask for nothing better”. Likewise, Watson expressed gratitude that Moore was able to escape the “toxic environment” he found himself in with the Jets. “I’ve got to make sure that he’s mentally straight”. Time will tell if theirs is a match made in heaven.
