This offseason, Cleveland wide receiver Amari Cooper staged his first contract holdout of his career as he sought a pay increase and a multi-year deal to remain with the Browns beyond the 2024 season.
Cooper eventually agreed to a restructured contract that included a bump in pay, but the team declined to extend Cooper beyond 2024.
Analysts believed one knock the organization had against Cooper was his age as he turned 30 years old this summer.
The purported thinking behind the franchise’s decision to not extend the veteran receiver was Cooper might have lost a step heading into the 2024 campaign.
Apparently, it’s not just Cooper who has potentially lost a step.
Analyst Mike “McNuggets” Lucas shared on X “some eye-opening numbers” describing how slow the Browns’ wide receiver corps has been during the team’s first three games.
“If you think the Browns offense looks slow, you’re 100% right,” Lucas wrote, captioning a picture of the stats he shared from multiple sources.
some eye opening numbers about the #Browns WRs from The Athletic/TruMedia/NGS.
If you think the Browns offense looks slow, you’re 100% right. pic.twitter.com/0VgHIggcb7
— Mikey McNuggets (@MikeLucasTV) September 23, 2024
According to Next Gen Stats, the Browns wide receivers had averaged a max route speed of 13.6 miles per hour in 2024, the third-slowest speed of any receiving corps in the NFL.
Lucas also shared that the Browns have averaged only 2.8 yards of separation from their nearest defender on targets, a stat that ranked 26th in the league.
The other two stats consisted of receptions above expectations and maximum speed the wide receivers met on throws beyond 20 yards, two metrics that the Browns ranked 31st and 32nd in, respectively.
With six more teams remaining to play in Week 3, the stats Lucas shared were good through the Sunday Night matchup between Kansas City and Atlanta.
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