'Job No. 1... must be to find a [Ja'Marr] Chase or a Davante Adams or a Justin Jefferson for Mayfield, who hasn’t had a bona fide deep threat since Odell Beckham Jr. bolted midseason,' writes Mary Kay Cabot.
CLEVELAND, Ohio — With the Browns prepared to move forward with Baker Mayfield as their starting quarterback for 2022, as sources have told cleveland.com, they have plenty of work to do around him to get this 26th-ranked passing game up to speed.
For comparison’s sake, Jarvis Landry caught his second TD pass of the season during the game, a 26-yarder from Keenum. No other Browns wide receiver has more than three, and David Njoku leads team with four. All told, the Browns had two more TD receptions as a team than Chase did heading into the game.
The corps just wasn’t up to par this season, and must improve in a big way for Mayfield to succeed. Rashard Higgins, who sat out Sunday with an illness, seems like he’s worn out his red carpet here and probably won’t be back for a fifth season. That could always change, because he always seems to survive, but being a healthy scratch in the first game against the Ravens Nov. 28 wasn’t a good sign.
As for the tight ends, the Browns will try to re-sign David Njoku, who’s playing out his fifth-year option. In addition to leading the Browns in TD receptions, he was their best blocking tight end, and will mostly likely agree to a multi-year contract.estimates his market value at $6.9 million a year, which is a reasonable salary for a player of his caliber.