Browns Deep-Threat Returns From Injury, Creates Shakeup in WR Room

Getty Wide receiver Marquise Goodwin of the Cleveland Browns.

After months on the sidelines, the Cleveland Browns are set to welcome back wide receiver Marquise Goodwin.

Doctors diagnosed Goodwin with blood clots during OTAs, which the team announced publicly weeks later in a July 21 press release. On Sunday, August 27, Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski announced Goodwin’s return to the team.

“Marquise Goodwin is going to come off of [the Non-Football Injury List], which is great news for Marquise, great news for us,” Stefanski said. “As you all see, he’s been involved in everything — in the meeting room, on the practice field, during those games. He’s such a supportive teammate, and so to have him progressing to where he can start to get ready for the season, I think is outstanding.”

Marquise Goodwin’s Return Muddies Waters in Browns WR Room

GettyWide receiver Marquise Goodwin, formerly of the Seattle Seahawks, is set to return to Cleveland Browns practice after recovering from blood clots.

Cleveland signed Goodwin to a one-year, $1.7 million deal this offseason to add speed to a wide receiver group that couldn’t rely on consistent production from the now-cut Anthony Schwartz. Goodwin was a standout during minicamp this spring before his diagnosis sidelined him.

The uncertainty surrounding Goodwin’s health condition brought even more questions to an already loaded wide receiver room, some of which have since sorted themselves out. The Browns placed Jakeem Grant Sr. on the injured reserve list (IR) Sunday. The Pro Bowl return man and receiver ruptured his right patella tendon and will miss his second consecutive season following surgery. Grant missed the 2022 campaign after tearing his Achilles tendon during a Browns practice.

After confirmation of the severity of Grant’s injury and the departure of Schwartz, the sixth (and presumably final) wide receiver slot in Cleveland came down to either preseason breakout pass-catcher Austin Watkins Jr. or 2022 acquisition Jaelon Darden. Darden has also been dealing with an injury but returned to practice last week.

Watkins figured to win that job after an impressive four games in August, in which he caught 16 passes for 257 yards and two touchdowns. However, the way Stefanski spoke about Goodwin on Sunday made it sound like the sixth roster spot in the WR room will go to him.

“I won’t have a ton of details as it gets going, but just to be able to bring him off that list and start to get him into practice, I think is a huge boost for him and for us,” Stefanski continued.

Browns Have Multiple Options at Wide Receiver Position

GettyWide receiver Austin Watkins Jr. of the Cleveland Browns scores a touchdown during an NFL preseason game against the New York Jets in August 2023.

The Browns have a few different options before league-wide cut down day on August 29. The team can decide to carry seven wide receivers and roster both Goodwin and Watkins, though that will mean subtracting a player from another position group.

Cleveland can try and trade one of the two, though Goodwin coming off a serious medical diagnosis with minimal offseason work under his belt is a hard sell before he proves himself on the field. Watkins is the better trade option at this juncture, but the 25-year-old rookie has yet to play a snap in a regular season NFL game and a conditional late-round pick might be asking too much until he proves himself in September.

The Browns’ final option is simply to cut one of the two, though Goodwin is guaranteed $400,000 on his contract and Watkins is too exciting of a prospect to let walk for nothing.

What Cleveland will ultimately decide is difficult to predict, though too much talent in the wide receiver room is a good problem to need to tackle with less than two weeks until regular season games begin.