CLEVELAND, Ohio — Three weeks into the season, and the Browns offense has yet to display what it was advertised to be.
The offensive line is in shambles while dealing with injuries, and there hasn’t been a cohesive connection between quarterback Deshaun Watson and the receiving corps.
The performance of the wide receivers should benefit off better quarterback play, but are they doing their part in keeping the offense moving forward?
Is it that Watson misses a wide open man running across the middle, or are his targets not as open as we think at first glance?
To get a better picture of the overall receiving performance so far, we’ll examine the main targets in Amari Cooper, Jerry Jeudy and Elijah Moore.
We’ll examine the created separation, contested catches, and how their current rankings compare to last season.
Separation
Amari Cooper
Cooper has always had a reputation for being one of the most technically sound players in his position. Through the first three weeks of this season though, Cooper has an average separation of 2.7 yards from the nearest defender at the time of the catch, per Next Gen Stats.
The first couple weeks, where he dropped four passes, was also a period in which conversation spurred if he was getting much separation from the opposing defenders. He also has a 6.9-yard average cushion this season at the time of the snap.
However, Cooper hasn’t been one who’s needed much separation for the production.
In 2023, Cooper tied for third lowest average separation (2.2) among qualifying receivers and tight ends. But this was also the same season Cooper finished 10th in receiving yards (1,250) and had five touchdowns to show for it.
Is it a matter of needing more separation, or just making the catches?
Jerry Jeudy
Jeudy currently has an average separation of 2.3, which ranks toward the bottom of the rankings.
What’s interesting is his average cushion, which is the distance in yards between him and the opposing defender, is 6.3; that ranking sits in the middle among wide receivers and tight ends.
Jeudy actually created more average separation in 2023 (3.6), which means this season implies either the defender lays back to stay safe if Jeudy goes deep, or Jeudy isn’t taking advantage of the cushion in yards and creating much separation elsewhere.
Elijah Moore
Moore currently ranks 16th among receivers and tight ends in average separation (3.8), with an average cushion of 7.8. That separation is almost the same as his 2023 total of 3.7, which tied for 11th.
But even with the separation made, Moore just hasn’t been one for targets this season. In fact, he was used more in pre-snap motion in Week 3 (five times) compared to actual targets he had (three).
So it’s a matter of being seen after creating separation.
Contested Catches
The job as a wide receiver is to catch every pass within your peripheral, including those that are contested. To best dive into this statistical category, we’ll turn to Pro Football Focus and its count of contested catches.
Amari Cooper
So far in 2024, Cooper has been one of the best at catching contested targets. He’s caught four of his six contested targets so far, and caught all three targets in the Week 3 loss to the Giants.
His four contested catches tie for third among qualifying receivers, while his six contested targets tie for seventh with numerous receivers, per PFF. What’s also impressive is two of his catches were caught 20 or more yards downfield
Then again, Cooper has usually been one of the better players within catching contested passes. Looking back at the last few seasons, Cooper has caught anywhere from 50%-60% of his contested targets between 2020-23.
By the end of the 2023 regular season, Cooper was fourth in contest catches (15) and tied for seventh in contested targets (29). This converted a 51.7% contested catch rate, which finished 24th, per PFF.
Between 10-19 yards downfield, Cooper caught six of his 11 contested targets. He also caught all four of his contested targets when 20 or more yards downfield.
The Browns infamously started four different quarterbacks over the course of the season, so he’d have to adjust to catching passes thrown differently by each of them. Nine of Cooper’s 29 contested targets came after Week 10.
Jerry Jeudy
Jeudy hasn’t been very productive when it comes to making contested catches throughout his young career.
Through three games in 2024, Jeudy has only caught one of his four contested targets, which converts to a 25% contested catch rating, per PFF. Three of those targets have come 10-19 yards downfield, which is also where he made his only contested reception this season.
It’s been a trend that only Jeudy can improve in.
Back in 2023, Jeudy had 13 contested targets and only caught three, converting to a 23.1% contested catch rate, which ranked 93rd, per PFF.
What’s also interesting is of his three catches, he caught one in each field range; one caught 0-9 yards downfield, one caught 10-19 yards downfield, and one caught 20 or more yards downfield.
However, six of his contested targets came on deep routes, and five came 10-19 yards downfield. This shows room to improve in making deep catches that are contested.
Elijah Moore
Through 2024, Moore has caught one of his three contested targets. The one catch came on a deep target, while he didn’t catch either of the two contested targets between 10-19 yards.
Though this is Moore’s fourth season in the NFL, his contested catch targets and catches have been up and down by each year.
His 2021 rookie year came with 10 contested targets, only catching four. He saw a decrease in targets (six) in 2022, only catching one. His first season in Cleveland in 2023, Moore had 11 contested targets, only catching four.
Going forward, it’d be a matter of making each contested target count for Moore.
Looking Forward
At some point, things have to click for this Browns offense.
A better blocking performance is needed from the offensive line, and Watson has to be on point. But it’ll take meeting in the middle from them all as well.
Because Cooper has proven he doesn’t need much separation to be productive, and Moore has created enough separation, but Jeudy can still improve in that area.
As for catching contested passes, Cooper is the best in this area, while Moore and Jeudy have to do better.
