Landry wants to remain a Brown, but likely not at the $15.8 million he's due.
The Cleveland Browns were a mess in 2021. Baker Mayfield injured his non-throwing shoulder two games into the season and never fully recovered. Odell Beckham Jr., frustrated with his targets, effectively pushed his way off the roster. The team fell to 8-9 after starting the year with playoff aspirations and gave way to plenty of “same old Browns” takes.
That doesn’t matter to veteran wide receiver Jarvis Landry. He wants to stay in Cleveland, but also acknowledged he may not be the arbiter of that decision this offseason.
Landry is coming off a disappointing campaign in which injuries limited him to just 570 receiving yards in 12 games. While he still led the team with 52 receptions, the five-time Pro Bowler saw his yards per target drop from 8.3 to 6.6 while posting a career-worst 59.7 percent catch rate.
Landry believes he can be part of a championship team somewhere and would prefer it be the city he’s called home the last four seasons. He’ll carry the Browns’ second-largest salary cap hit of 2022 into the upcoming season at nearly $16.4 million — behind only Baker Mayfield. Releasing or trading him would wipe all but $1.5 million from the team’s books.
That leaves Cleveland with a decision to make about the final year of the five-season, $75 million deal he signed back in 2018. The Browns are estimated to have more than $23.5 million in salary cap space this spring, 12th-most in the NFL per Over the Cap. Releasing Landry would add to that war chest but also take away a proven veteran at a position of need. Aside from Landry, the only other wideouts currently under contract are Donovan Peoples-Jones, Anthony Schwartz, and WR/RB Demetric Felton.
He didn’t play like a $16 million man in 2021. While he’s always been utilized as a reliable short-range target, his 5.7 yard average catch depth was the lowest of his career as a Brown last season. That figure was more appropriate for the league’s tight ends rather than shifty slot wideouts. His 3.0 yards of separation per target was the second-lowest number of his tenure in Cleveland.
Landry attributes some of that slowdown due to injuries that plagued him all season.
The most likely outcome is a reworked contract that reduces Landry’s salary and converts some of the cash he was due, but not guaranteed, into incentives. The veteran wideout has plenty to prove and the Browns could absolutely use a player who had only two drops in 2021 to help them figure out whether Mayfield can be their franchise quarterback. More importantly, he wants to stay in Cleveland even after the optimism of 2020’s playoff run wore off.
Now the Browns need to figure out whether they want him and, if they do, how much they’re willing to pay for his services. Landry appears willing to meet them halfway after a disappointing season. Now the two sides have to work out an agreement before free agency gets underway in hopes of prolonging their relationship into a fifth year.
