Cleveland BrownsOur read
Written Oct 17, from his facts through last season
Zero touchdowns through five games, on 29 targets and 18 catches, is the fact that decides this case. He is at 6.4 a game when our preseason pace had him at 8.9, and the gap is almost all scoring. The targets are coming. The points are not.
There is a real receiver in here somewhere. He is running 3.4 yards of separation on average, WR7 among 57 tracked receivers over weeks 1 to 4 of 2026, and 11% of CLE's red-zone carries and targets puts him WR29 among 64. But the air yards say 17% of his team's total, WR54 in that same group, so the looks are short, and he is losing 0.3 yards a catch over expectation after them. Short targets plus no run after the catch is a bad recipe for a rookie who needs everything to break right.
The setup is not helping. A new head coach in Todd Monken and a new play caller in Travis Switzer, Jerry Jeudy holding the top line, and a bye in week 11 of 2026 still ahead. He has not missed a game, and there is no injury designation, so the games are there. The production is what has to arrive. We had him at 134 points for the season and WR57 on our board, and he is running behind that. Our move: hold him in deeper leagues where the rookie upside still means something, but bench him now, and do not start him until a touchdown shows up.