With two exciting rookie wide receivers in Denzel Boston and KC Concepcion, the Cleveland Browns have the most exciting WR room they have had in quite some time. The last era when the fans felt anywhere near this good about the talent at wide receiver was when Jarvis Landry and Odell Beckham were the top two receivers, and while these rookies have a long way to go to fill those shoes, they are off to a great start.
This coaching staff is throwing the rookies right into the fire and showing a tremendous amount of trust in their young receivers as evidenced by their snap counts and target share. As exciting as the two of them have been, there is another young receiver on this roster who has left a little meat on the bone and recently drew the ire of Landry himself.
Second-year receiver Isaiah Bond stepped into a bigger role in Sunday’s loss to the New York Jets after Concepcion was knocked out of the game with a concussion on a dirty hit by Minkah Fitzpatrick. Bond assumed a larger role and failed to deliver, dropping multiple crucial passes, and Landry recently ripped into him on an episode of his podcast, 4th And South.
“Isaiah Bond, my dog, if you can’t catch that s**t without gloves, you need to put some gloves on, fam. I don’t care if you put the rain gloves on, if you put the glove with ‘Stickum’ on. He was another key piece to why we didn’t win. I’m just gonna be honest. I’m catching that s**t. Period. Ain’t no ifs, ands, or buts. If I drop one without gloves, best believe the next time I come on the field, I got gloves on or I got tape on my fingers or something. I ain’t going out there to chance it again. He ain’t get the memo. The receiver standard over there, that s**t way higher than where you played at. And somebody got to say something. So, I’mma step up right here, and I’mma say something to you, my man. We did not win because that dropping s**t is contagious,” Landry said.
Bond had just two catches for 12 yards over the first four games and had three catches for a team-high 74 yards against the Jets. He should have had a lot more, but he dropped a massive wide-open pass on 2nd and 19 with about two minutes left in the first quarter that would have easily converted a first down and put the Browns close to field goal range down by five points.
He also dropped a wide-open touchdown in the second quarter and also stepped out of bounds on a deep reception despite having an opportunity to keep going up the sideline and potentially take it to the house. He made some loud mistakes against New York and many criticized him for not wearing gloves for both of those drops.
You never want to blame a loss on one player, but this was a tough look for Bond. On a day when the Browns scored just 12 points and lost one of their biggest playmakers, Bond needed to step up and he was unable to do so. Hopefully he can bounce back and use this as a learning opportunity.
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