Getty Former Cleveland Browns Jaelen Strong (right)
The first cut in the Cleveland Browns wide receiver ranks has come — and it’s a surprising one.
Jaelen Strong announced that he was released on his Twitter account on Monday and multiple reports confirmed the move.
He wrote: “Cleveland, thank you. Always gone have a place in my heart. I gave y’all my All everyday I promise you that. God got me.”
In the Browns most recent unofficial depth chart released on Monday for the preseason finale against the Lions, Strong was listed behind Odell Beckham Jr.
Strong was getting a lot of the first team reps with both Beckham and Jarvis Landry missing time in the preseason. Strong had three catches for 14 yards and a touchdown against the Colts in Week 2 of the preseason, but just two grabs for 11 yards last week against the Bucs in a game where the starters played two quarters. He was targeted seven times, tied for the most on the team in the Browns 13-12 loss.
Jaelen Strong Bouncing Back From Nasty ACL Injury
Jaelen Strong of the Cleveland Browns.
Strong is a former third round pick of the Houston Texans out of Arizona State and also spent a year with the Jacksonville Jaguars. He has 31 catches for 330 yards and four touchdowns in his career.
However, he is coming off a torn ACL in 2017 that forced him to miss the entirety of last season recovering.
“When you hit rock bottom, those thoughts always come,” Strong said. “It’s just about not really so much listening to yourself, but talking to yourself and putting the work in to hopefully see the light at the end of the tunnel.”
Browns Have Some Tough Choice to Make at Wide Receiver
While Beckham and Landry are the obvious top two guys, it gets a little tricker from there.
Rashard Higgins has all but locked down the No. 3 wide receiver spot with second-year pass-catcher Antonio Callaway being suspended four games for violating the league’s substance abuse policy.
Higgins is the team’s longest-tenured pass-catcher and was with the Browns during the dreaded 0-16 campaign of 2017.
Higgins was selected by the Browns in the fifth round of the 2016 draft and has been progressively better each year with the team. He went from catching just six balls for just 77 yards his rookie season to 66 in his next two combined.
Last year, he caught a career high 39 passes for 572 yards and four touchdowns, showing off solid chemistry with Mayfield.
“I think it goes back to last year getting reps with him in camp in the second team, just building chemistry with him and being able to talk to him all the time and just knowing exactly what you are going to get out of him on every play,” Mayfield said following a preseason win against the Redskins where Higgins lit up the box score with five catches for 98 yards and a touchdown.
Callaway will have a big role when he comes back, as well. The Browns selected Callaway out of Florida in the fourth round of the 2018 draft. He caught 43 balls for 586 yards five touchdowns last season.
Callaway was a controversial choice, having a spotted history with the Gators. He was suspended for the entire 2017 season for his role in a credit card fraud scheme and was also charged with marijuana possession and was the subject of a sexual assault investigation.
The team signed former Ohio State quarterback/wide receiver Braxton Miller last week and also have high hopes for 24-year-old Damion Ratley. With Strong’s cut, it could indicate the Browns have liked what they’ve seen in the short time Ratley been back since suffering a hamstring injury on just the second day of camp.
“If I thought about the window being smaller, that’d be my only mindset,” Ratley said. “I don’t think like that. I just got to do what I got to do to make the squad. I love what I do, and it’s always fun doing what you love. It’s very fun to be back out there.”
Ratley played in 13 games last season and made 13 catches for 144 yards.
Other Browns looking to make the roster are Derrick Willies, Damon Sheehy-Guiseppi and Ishmael Hyman.
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