The Cleveland Browns have made a flurry of moves during an aggressive free agency campaign, but one name that fans are wondering about is wide receiver Rashard Higgins.
Higgins, who has played his entire career with the Browns, is an unrestricted free agent. Mary Kay Cabot of cleveland.com reported that the Browns met with Higgins representation while at the combine, expressing interest in the former fifth-round pick. However, no numbers were discussed and Higgins was expected to test the free agent market to see what he can get.
So far, there hasn’t been a ton of reported interest in Higgins, other than one stray report that the Bills were eyeing the former Cleveland pass-catcher.
Higgins has mostly talked about video games on Twitter of late, but jumped on to share some thoughts on free agency.
“Free agency feel like the NFL draft all over again,” Higgins wrote.
Free agency feel like the Nfl draft all over again.
Higgins also retweeted a fan earlier this month who responded to a tweet, saying Higgins would be the perfect fit next to Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry.
For Higgins, 1-Year Deal Makes Sense
For Higgins, a one-year deal would make sense considering what happened last season. He’d be able to come back to a team where he has a relationship both with the quarterback and the team’s star wide receivers and can hopefully carve out the No. 3 role that was expected last season.
Mayfield talked openly last season about his chemistry with Higgins.
“It goes back to last year and getting reps with him with the second team,” Mayfield said, via Canton Rep. “We built chemistry. I talked to him all the time. … You knew exactly what you were going to get out of him on every play.”
Higgins was injured in the team’s opener, missing multiple weeks with an MCL sprain. He was never able to get on track after that, falling into former head coach Freddie Kitchen’s doghouse after some cryptic comments to media members on why he wasn’t active in Week 5.
Higgins managed just four catches for 55 yards and one touchdown last season.
What might strangely work in the Browns favor is his lack of production last season, which will surely hurt Higgins value on the open market. In the year prior, Higgins had 39 catches for 572 yards and four touchdowns — all career highs.
Browns Have Been Busy, But Need WR Depth
GettyBrowns QB Baker Mayfield
Here’s who the Browns have signed quite a few free agents early on, but the team’s wide receiver depth behind Beckham and Landry has not been addressed too much. Here are the signings so far:
- TE Austin Hooper (4-year)
- OL Jack Conklin (3-year)
- QB Case Keenum (3-year)
- LB BJ Goodson (1-year)
- S Karl Joseph (1-year)
- DL Andrew Billings (1-year)
- CB Kevin Johnson (1-year)
- WR JoJo Natson (1-year)
- S Andrew Sendejo (1-year)
While officially listed as a wide receiver, Natson is expected to see the majority of his time on special teams as a return man — a role he played splendidly for the Rams last season. Natson returned 13 kickoffs for the Rams with an average of 22.2 yards. He also ran back 19 punts, with a 7.8-yard average.
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Browns WR Rashard Higgins Breaks Silence on Free Agency