The Cleveland Browns desperately need a star wide receiver to emerge to help get their offense back on track after two years of utter futility. Luckily, rookie KC Concepcion shows all the signs of potentially being that guy and the fans will finally get a chance to see what he’s made of as he and the Browns get ready for a tough Week 1 matchup against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday.
Concepcion has been generating a lot of buzz throughout camp and preseason due to showing off the skill set of a potential do-it-all No. 1 option right away within this offense. The 21-year-old projects as a great fit alongside Jerry Jeudy and Denzel Boston and is an ideal archetype to thrive in Todd Monken’s offense, just like Zay Flowers did immediately upon being drafted by the Baltimore Ravens.
Coincidentally, NFL Films Senior Producer Greg Cosell feels the same way. During a recent episode of Cleveland Browns Daily, Cosell said Flowers is the first comparison he thought of when he watched Concepcion’s college tape due to his explosiveness and versatility.
“I love [KC] Concepcion coming out of college. He was one of my top receivers, particularly for today’s NFL, the way they move receivers around. The player I compared him to, that I immediately thought of when I was watching him, was Zay Flowers. I think you’ll see a lot of that kind of deployment where Concepcion is moved around. He’s a three-level guy. He’s terrific run-after-catch. He’s got explosiveness to be vertical. He can run all those routes that require running away from defenders—crossers, overs, posts. I think he can be a really valuable piece of this offense,” Cosell said.
Concepcion will likely see a lot of reps out of the slot, but that doesn’t mean he won’t emerge as the go-to option right away. It’s going to largely come down to what kind of chemistry he has with Deshaun Watson, and there’s no way of knowing how they’ll mesh until Sunday.
Watson may favor Jerry Jeudy early on since he is the only receiver on the depth chart who he has experience throwing the ball to. However, if Jeudy comes out of the gate dropping passes like he did last season, the rookies could step into more prominent roles early on.
It’s exciting for the Browns to have a weapon like this. It has been a while since the fans have been able to get excited about a young receiver quite like this, and hopefully he shows exactly why he has been getting so much hype on Sunday.
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