The Cleveland Browns suffered a huge blow as wide receiver Jarvis Landry recently went down with an MCL sprain in their Week 2 tilt against the Houston Texans. He was eventually moved to the injured reserve list which means that he is bound to miss at least the next three games on their schedule.
Without Landry on the field, Baker Mayfield will have to shoulder a heavier load as he tries to orchestrate their offense without one of his top weapons starting Week 3 when they host the Chicago Bears. In recent years, the five-time Pro Bowler has always been a consistent contributor for the Browns and his looming absence will surely be felt by the team.
With their receiving rotation running thin, Kevin Stefanski will definitely need his other pass-catchers to elevate their game and find a way to contribute on offense amidst Landry's absence.
Here are two Browns receivers who should step up and fill the void left by Landry in their coming games:
Browns Receivers
Donovan Peoples-Jones
Last season, a rookie in Donovan Peoples-Jones landed with the Browns and had to play behind the likes of Landry and Odell Beckham Jr. along with their other prolific weapons on offense.
However, he was still able to carve a role for himself and make an impact on the team despite playing limited snaps off the bench. He eventually finished his first year in the NFL with 304 yards on 14 receptions to go with two touchdowns in 12 appearances.
Heading to his sophomore year, everyone expected the Michigan product to have an elevated role and have better contributions for the receiving unit in 2021. However, he is currently having a slow start to the season as he merely tallied two catches for 18 yards in the first two games of their campaign.
Despite his current struggles, the season is still young and all is not yet lost on Donovan Peoples-Jones. He can still turn things around and Landry's absence may just pave the way for him to find his groove and have a better level of production for the Browns moving forward.
Odell Beckham Jr.
The short time that Odell Beckham Jr. has spent in Cleveland has not been pretty thus far. He missed a huge chunk of last season after he went down with a torn ACL injury in Week 7 against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Beckham Jr. eventually ended his 2020 campaign with a total of 319 yards on 23 catches and three touchdowns in seven appearances for the Browns. Due to his extended absence, he failed to exceed the 1,000 receiving yard mark for the second time in his career and missed out on contributing to the team's playoff run last season.
Certainly enough, it wasn't the level of performance that Cleveland would want to get from one of the most talented players on its roster. After a long year, Beckham Jr. has already recovered but he has yet to suit up for the Browns this season.
Luckily for the team, he is currently looking to return to full play in the near future with their Week 3 tilt penciled in as a potential return date for the LSU talent, as per Bleacher Report. Ultimately, the star wide receiver has yet to fully make his mark with the Browns but the injury situation of Landry may just present him with a good opportunity to bounce back stronger this season.
If Odell Beckham Jr. manages to get back to being a major threat on offense then the team will surely be in a great position to win their games even without Jarvis Landry on the field.
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