Getty Images Browns running back Nick Chubb.
Jarvis Landry won’t be suiting up for the Cleveland Browns next season, but he won’t be playing for any AFC North Division rivals either.
Landry on May 13 signed a one-year deal with the New Orleans Saints, returning to Louisiana where he played his college ball at LSU. Running back Nick Chubb, Landry’s teammate for the last four seasons in Cleveland, spoke on Landry’s departure to the bayou Friday.
“That’s my boy. He’s been here since I’ve been here. We came in together, so we’ve been through everything together,” said Chubb, per Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com. “A great teammate, great person, and I won’t be playing with him anymore, but he’s still one of my best friends, one of my brothers, so that won’t change from that perspective. But he’s a great player and they got a good guy down there in New Orleans.”
Landry also reacted to the announcement of his deal with a video post to Twitter highlighting his career in football, including clips from his time at LSU.
WHO DAT 🚀🚀
The video was captioned simply: “WHO DAT 🚀 🚀.”
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Landry Was Close to Rejoining Browns During Offseason
GettyWide receiver Jarvis Landry, formerly of the Cleveland Browns, celebrates after the Browns defeated the Denver Broncos at FirstEnergy Stadium on October 21, 2021 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
The contract details of Landry’s deal with the Saints were not immediately available Friday, but his ultimate break from Cleveland seemingly came down to money.
The Browns traded with the Dallas Cowboys to acquire wide receiver Amari Cooper in mid-March. Shortly after, Landry asked permission to seek a trade, which the team granted. However, two days later the Browns released the wide receiver who had one year remaining on his deal. The move saved the team upwards of $15 million in cap space, which it was able to use toward other offseason acquisitions, including the addition of quarterback Deshaun Watson.
Ironically, once Watson was brought in to replace Baker Mayfield, with whom Landry had grown frustrated over the course of the 2021 season, the five-time Pro Bowl pass catcher expressed a renewed interest in a reunion with Cleveland, even if it came at a lower price point.
Exactly what it would have taken to bring Landry back to the Browns has not been specified publicly, though NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported on the Pat McAfee Show May 10 that the team did make Landry on offer, which the wide receiver declined.
“I know the Browns offered him a pretty nice one-year deal. It would have been a pay cut, but he would have gone back for a nice sum,” Rapoport said. “[He] turned that down and now it’s like, I would say the same thing for anyone who gets released this time of year, [there is] not a lot of money out there. Most teams have spent.”
Landry Was in Talks to Potentially Join Baltimore Ravens
GettyFormer Cleveland Browns wide receiver Jarvis Landry makes a catch during a November 2020 game.
It was easier for the Browns to let Landry go following the NFL Draft, during which they selected wideouts David Bell of Purdue in the third round and Michael Woods II of Oklahoma in the sixth round. The two will join Cooper, Donovan Peoples Jones and Anthony Schwartz — the three projected starters prior to training camp — in the wide receivers room.
After talks cooled between Landry and Cleveland, they reportedly heated up with the AFC North Division rival Baltimore Ravens.
Brad Stainbrook of the Orange and Brown Report tweeted that news May 6.
Free agent WR Jarvis Landry has not heard from the #Browns as of late following the team drafting two WRs in the NFL Draft, per a league source.
I’m told another team in the AFC North: the Baltimore Ravens, have expressed interest in Landry since the draft ended.
“Free agent WR Jarvis Landry has not heard from the #Browns as of late following the team drafting two WRs in the NFL Draft, per a league source,” Stainbrook wrote. “I’m told another team in the AFC North, the Baltimore Ravens, have expressed interest in Landry since the draft ended.”
Despite posting career-low numbers of 52 catches for 570 yards and two touchdowns, Landry would have been an upgrade to the Ravens roster and made a competitor within the division more formidable. All things considered, if he couldn’t return to Cleveland, it is probably better for the Browns and their fans that Landry is not only out of the division, but has also switched conferences to the NFC.