NFL teams
Pat McManamon, ESPN Staff Writer 5y

Jarvis Landry works to fill niche carved out by Browns

BEREA, Ohio -- Jarvis Landry stood in the Cleveland Browns' locker room on Monday and did his best to explain why he and rookie quarterback Baker Mayfield are having trouble connecting on the field.

In the three games that Mayfield has been the starter, he has thrown to Landry 30 times. Landry has caught 11.

“We are still growing,” Landry said, as the Browns prepared to face Tampa Bay on Sunday. “We did not really get a lot of reps or a lot of opportunities together, so we have to take advantage of practice reps; we have to take advantage of the film that we watch and getting on the same page with each other.”

In the offseason and preseason, Tyrod Taylor practiced and played in games with the starters. Mayfield was with the backups.

In hindsight, it might have been nice to give Mayfield more time with the starters, but at the time there was logic to the thinking. Taylor was the starter and he needed the reps. Coaches don’t plan for injury or for a guy not to play well. The expectation was that Taylor would hold the job.

Injury changed that in the third game, and now Landry and Mayfield look to gain timing as they practice for an upcoming opponent. That is just one issue for the team’s young quarterback and best receiver, though. Early in the season, things have not gone as hoped.

Landry has been targeted 66 times this season, tied for sixth highest in the league, according to ESPN Stats & Information. He has 31 receptions, tied for 26th. That’s a 47 percent reception-per-target rate, 144th in the league.

Landry also has dropped seven passes, which is out of character for him. This is the same guy who in training camp and preseason caught everything, often with one hand.

Targets are an interesting stat, though. It provides an insight, but it shouldn’t be considered defining because it does not take into account overthrows, bad throws or throwaways. Early in the loss to the Chargers, Mayfield threw a short pass at Landry’s feet. Later in the game, he overthrew a fourth-down pass to Landry. Both went down as targets for Landry; neither was catchable.

ProFootballFocus.com keeps tracks of passes the analytics site deems “catchable.”

This season, PFF reports that 62 percent of Landry’s targets have been catchable, meaning more than one in three is not. The 62 percent figure is 95th in the NFL. Landry has caught 82.4 percent of those passes. He would like to see that catch number be better -- in the mid-to-high 90s.

With Mayfield at quarterback, the same 62 percent of the targets have been catchable, and Landry has caught 82.6 percent.

Numbers can be interpreted different ways. Landry has not had a high percentage of good passes thrown to him, but he also has not made the most of the chances he has had. He admitted this week that he needs to take advantage of his opportunities.

Also, Landry and Mayfield connected seven times against the Jets, a game Mayfield entered late in the first half after Taylor was hurt. But since he has started, Mayfield has struggled to get the ball to Landry.

Several factors have to be considered. Landry is the only experienced member of the receiving group, and with Antonio Callaway struggling and Rashard Higgins injured, he’s lining up with three rookies and newly signed Breshad Perriman.

Landry said he’s being double-covered situationally, which isn’t hard to decipher: Every third down or red zone or other key play, Landry is seeing double coverage. Which means Landry has to find a way to get open, or the Browns have to scheme to get him open.

Landry also finds himself in a unique position this season compared to his first three in Miami, when he went to the Pro Bowl three times. Last season, the Dolphins had three receivers who topped 650 yards. In 2016, there were three above 700. Though he led Miami in receptions and yards the past two seasons, it was only as a rookie that Landry dominated in the numbers -- he had more than twice as many receptions as the second guy that season, and almost twice as many yards.

When Miami traded him to Cleveland, he took on a different role and persona. He became the face and voice of the team, talking in preseason interviews about the Browns making the playoffs and about him willingly accepting a larger leadership role.

When the Browns signed him to a $75 million contract extension in April, they essentially told him they were counting on him, that Landry would be a key part of the future and would be a leader.

But the one thing a leader has to be more than anything is productive. Landry finds himself the main target, but also the main target of opposing defenses, which clearly have decided they will take him away and let the young players try to beat them.

It now falls on Landry and Mayfield to accept the challenge they face individually, and as an offense.

“I will just be better for him, plain and simple,” Mayfield said. “On Jarvis’ end, he is doing his job, so I have to do mine.”

Offensive coordinator Todd Haley put it this way: “[Landry’s] got to continue to be a leader for us and go out and take every snap as if it’s the most important play of the game, because it could be. And be ready for his opportunities, and maximize those opportunities.”

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