With Odell Beckham Jr. officially gone, the Cleveland Browns now have a new dissatisfied wide receiver on their hands.
Following last week’s disappointing 45-7 loss to the New England Patriots, Jarvis Landry expressed his displeasure over a lack of catches.
“I haven’t been getting the ball so much either,” Landry said (via Fox News). “But at the end of the day, I’ve been able to do with the opportunities I’m given. Yeah, I’m battling some things, but on Sunday, I always give everything that I have, and that won’t ever change.”
Against New England, Landry pulled in just four receptions for 26 yards on five targets. It was the fourth time this season he has had to deal with five or fewer targets.
So far Landry has amassed 23 catches on 34 targets for 219 yards and zero touchdowns this year.
On Thursday, Mayfield attempted to address the criticism head on.
“When you play a team like the Patriots, they take your strength away, so things like that and the running game, they’re going to try and do just that,” Mayfield said, per Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon Journal.
“We’ll find ways to get Jarvis involved back in the game plan. There’s no doubt about that. He’s a tempo-setter for us. He’s an extremely good leader and locker room guy for us. Everybody knows that.”
Mayfield also signaled that changes would be made.
“We don’t need to reinvent the wheel,” he continued. “Yeah, changes need to be made, but … there’s plays to be made that we haven’t [made]. That’s where we’re at right now. It’s not where we have to sit down and do everything completely different. We need to be able to execute and put the ball in our playmakers’ hands and let them go to work.”
This is a rough look for Mayfield. When it came out recently that he and Beckham hated each other, the former Oklahoma standout got the benefit of the doubt because Beckham has been such a prima donna throughout his career.
But a second receiver calling Mayfield out lends credence to the theory that he is the problem.
While Mayfield’s wife has done an admirable job of directing the attention off his football playing abilities, that only works for so long. At a certain point, the distractions cease being effective and it’s time to deliver on the field.
If Mayfield doesn’t turn things around soon, the Browns will need to take drastic measures at the quarterback position.
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