The Cleveland Browns may not have won many games this season, but there’s hope for the future. This rookie class has turned plenty of heads since the start of the season, and they should bring the team back to contention sooner rather than later.
That’s why it’s so hard to pick one of the rookies as the best one.
With that in mind, team analyst Terry Pluto dug deep into the tape and the numbers to make his conclusion, and he chose Harold Fannin Jr.
“The Browns’ best rookie is … Fannin, maybe? He is on pace to break the team’s rookie record of 66 receptions. That’s by Kevin Johnson in 1999. That also was the first year of expansion and he was catching passes for Tim Couch. Fannin has 59 catches. He is the only other Browns rookie tight end besides Ozzie Newsome to have a 100-yard receiving game,” Pluto wrote.
The rookie tight end out of Bowling Green hasn’t missed a beat since he made it to the pros. He continues to be the same YAC machine he was in college, and he’s making defenders miss with his crafty moves and solid route-running.
Standing out from the rest of the pack this season is no minor thing. We’re talking about a draft class that also features the likes of Carson Schwesinger, who, at the time of writing, is the odds-on favorite to win Defensive Rookie of the Year honors.
There’s also Quinshon Judkins, a tackle-breaking machine with a knack for making explosive plays out of the Browns’ backfield. Then, there’s Mason Graham, whose job might go unnoticed at times, but he’s played a huge part in Myles Garrett’s career-best season.
The Browns struggled to find value in the NFL Draft for most of the Andrew Berry era.
This time, however, the general manager has certainly managed to turn the roster around in almost no time.
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