The Cleveland Browns had a difficult outing against the Jets on Sunday, losing a sloppy 17-12 decision in a game in which they could not get the running game going, struggled in the passing game, and posted a mere 198 yards on the day. The fourth-quarter good fortune that had followed this team over the past three weeks dried up, as several good breaks turned bad, most notably the botched snap on a punt attempt that gave the Jets the ball on the Cleveland 23 with 3:52 to play, and set up the game-winning touchdown. Moreover, the Browns lost KC Concepcion to a concussion in the first quarter–and had to play Isaiah Bond in his place.
Bond had put forth a good training camp, by most accounts, but had not been very involved in the offense–two catches for 12 yards–in the first four weeks. Sunday might have revealed why. He was targeted seven times and made three catches, and at least two of those targets were flat-out drops by Bond.
Isaiah Bond ‘Can’t Catch’
On Monday morning on 92.3 The Fan in Cleveland, host Ken Carman had a pretty blunt review of what happened with Bond in the game.
Said Carman: “The Isaiah Bond thing, that is explainable. Isaiah Bond is why they had to have KC Concepcion. Isaiah Bond is KC Concepcion without hands. Am I right or am I right? I’m right. He’s fast, that’s great. There’s fast guys all over the world. Can they catch? No. And Isaiah Bond is one of those guys that’s really fast but he can’t catch. Gloves, no gloves, good weather, bad weather. I don’t know, doesn’t matter.
“That’s why they had to go out and get KC Concepcion because he can catch the football. And he can make plays. And he’s fast. Isaiah Bond is fast and that’s about it. So it is like, OK, that is why we had to go out and get two receivers in the first two rounds.”
Browns Took a Chance Last August
Indeed, Bond is a former Texas high school sprinting champ and ran a 4.39-second 40-yard dash at the combine. He dropped out of the draft in 2025 because of sexual assault allegations that, in the end, were never charged, and the Browns signed him as a free agent last August.
There was some puzzlement about why Texas did not use him more when he was playing for the Longhorns–he had only 34 catches as a junior–and his NFL.com scouting report noted, “Fluid, fast and untapped. Bond played decoy for the betterment of Texas’ offense but clearly has the talent to take on a more focused, productive role.”
To be fair, it was raining on Sunday, and Bond probably deserves more chances before he is abandoned as an option. But perhaps it was the hands all along.
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