Cleveland Browns: Is Trading Jarvis Landry the Right Move?

In the most Cleveland Browns move every, the team has granted veteran WR Jarvis Landry permission to seek a trade. While the team has struggled in the passing game and leaned heavily on the run, they’re supposed to be getting better not staying the same. Yes, they did just trade for a star receiver in Amari Cooper but take a step back and look at the team as a whole.

First thing’s first, even if Cooper is an upgrade over their current roster of talent, is he going to fix the Browns’ troubles alone? Last year they had an explosive receiver in Odell Beckham Jr. paired with Jarvis Landry and Cleveland still struggled. They’d go on to trade the disgruntled OBJ who would go on to thrive with the Los Angeles Rams, winning a Super Bowl with the team. Despite his struggles in Cleveland Odell still proved he has something in the tank after leaving both the struggling Giants and Browns teams.

Now the team is looking to move on from Jarvis Landry as well. It seems like Cleveland is hitching their wagon heavily to Baker Mayfield as their guy. His consistency has fallen off and injuries have set him back, but that’s not a reason to give up on him. He was the shining star of the Dolphins’ offense during his time in Miami. He brought explosiveness to the Cleveland Browns and everyone saw how vocal he was on their season of Hard Knocks. If healthy, he can still be an asset to whatever team he lands with, but Cleveland should do whatever they can to make it right with Landy.

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With his ability to get open in the short field, Jarvis Landry should be the perfect solution to Baker’s struggles. He might not catch 100 passes a year anymore but he should be their go-to guy on the short game. Yes, his injuries are a concern, but guys who get hit over the middle always get banged up along the way. Look at Rob Gronkowski as an example. He’s one of the biggest guys on the field but has a history of injures taking as many hits as he does in the open field. That’s on the Cleveland Browns to fix. Jerry Rice played into his 40s with teams that utilized him properly. Rice had the same ability to get open but later in his career, he became more of a sideline receiver. If Landry is having injury concerns, limit the amount of open field/full-speed collisions he has to take, especially with a quarterback who doesn’t always make the best throws.

If you’re the Cleveland Browns, you can point the finger at whoever you want and say they’re the problem. Unfortunately, what you can’t do is bring guys in who are going to have the same struggles. Bringing in Amari Cooper just replaces Odell Beckham Jr. If they bring in another WR, he’s just going to replace Jarvis Landry. At this point, they’re just making unilateral moves to try and compensate for the struggles of Baker Mayfield. So while they may be getting rid of disgruntled or injury-prone stars, they’re not really upgrading at a talent level.

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What the Browns should be doing is finding a way to keep someone like Jarvis Landry to pair with Amari Cooper and going out and getting another explosive talent. Couple that with a solid draft pick to fill in should Landry’s injures become an issue again. However, the more weapons on the field at the same time for Mayfield the better. Rebuilding the entire receiving unit shouldn’t be a priority. Instead, they should be looking to strengthen it by adding more talent. Maybe they’ll continue their run-first approach this season. Unfortunately for them, it doesn’t keep up with the high-powered offenses not on in their division, but the rest of the AFC either.