Cleveland Browns need to keep the WRs on track

The Cleveland Browns‘ comeback win on Sunday against Carolina overshadowed a relatively poor day for the wide receivers.

Cleveland’s “big 3” of Jerry Jeudy (zero targets), Denzel Boston (four targets), and KC Concepcion (nine targets) were targeted a total of 13 times, but only pulled in four receptions for 50 yards and no touchdowns.

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While some of that can be attributed to quarterback Deshaun Watson misfiring on some passes, most notably to Concepcion, it will be difficult to win without more production from the position.

Head coach Todd Monken was asked about the situation on Tuesday, primarily the adjustment that rookies have to make at the NFL level, and said the bumps are to be expected and have nothing to do with the talent or work habits of either rookie receiver:

“First of all, you talk about two young men that are diligent, highly intelligent; it’s important to them to get it right. And at times we forget that they’ve played three games in the NFL, because we want to move them around; we want to find different spots we can play them, right? And at times it’s counterproductive, because we just haven’t gotten through all of the nuances that go with each spot, whether you’re inside or you’re outside, or whether you’re in the boundary or to the field, what looks you get on a given week.

“And that’s some of the struggles we’re having offensively with so many young players, whether it’s a tight end or running back or O-line, you’ve got so many things that come up where you’re like, ‘OK, there’s not as much to really refer back to from an experience standpoint.’ And those aren’t excuses; we’ve got to be cleaner, we’ve got to play a lot better, got to coach it better. But those guys are constantly on top of their stuff, and you can see it, and that’s a real credit to them at a young age. And they’ve got a lot of reps doing it, but they’re only going to continue to get better and better and better once they play extended plays and extended games.”

It is not all on the receivers, of course, as the offensive line needs to give the quarterback time to throw and the quarterback has to deliver a catchable pass, something that Watson struggled with for much of the game against the Panthers.