Browns 2025 training camp position preview | Jerry Jeudy and a bunch of questions at WR

It's less than a week from the July 18 report date for Browns rookies to training camp. The veterans won't be too far behind them on July 22, and the next day the whole team will be on the field for the first full-squad workout.

The Browns' quarterbacks and running backs have already been previewed. Now it's time to turn our attention to a position group with about as many questions as it has players at the position.

That's right, it's time to take a look at the Browns' wide receiver corps.

Cleveland Browns wide receivers

• David Bell
• DeAndre Carter
• Kaden Davis
• Luke Floriea*
• Jaelen Gill
• Jerry Jeudy
• Diontae Johnson
• Kisean Johnson*
• Gage Larvadain*
• Cade McDonald*
• Jamari Thrash
• Cedric Tillman
• Michael Woods

(* — denotes rookie)

Into the numbers: Cleveland Browns WRs

• Jeudy's first season in Cleveland was a rousing success, at least in terms of the former 2020 Denver Broncos first-round pick. His 90 receptions was a single-season team record, and his 1,229 receiving yards was the fifth-highest total in franchise history. He set a single-game record with 235 receiving yards in his Week 13 return to Denver. All of it added up to a Pro Bowl season, the first in his career.
• Tillman's growth in his second season in the league in 2024 was evidenced by a stretch from Weeks 7-9 when he was targeted 32 combined times for 21 receptions, 255 receiving yards and three touchdowns. The targets were just 12 fewer than he had in his entire 14-game rookie season, the 21 catches matched his rookie season total and both the receiving yards and touchdowns surpassed his rookie totals.
• Woods, Thrash and Bell are the only other wide receivers on the roster who had a reception for the Browns last season. They combined for 13 catches on 27 targets for 114 yards and no touchdowns in 15 games played.
• Johnson's 2024 season was, in totality, a disaster as he bounced from the Carolina Panthers to the Baltimore Ravens (where he was suspended for a game) to the Houston Texans. Carolina was where he had, by far, his most relative success during the season with 30 catches on 58 targets for 357 yards and three touchdowns in seven games.

What they're saying: Cleveland Browns WRs

• Browns wide receivers coach Chad O'Shea on Johnson, from June 12: "Yeah, I would say this — anybody new to our system, which Diontae is, has a long way to go, whether it's a rookie or a free agent acquisition or somebody that we signed in the offseason. I think with all of our new players, there's always a long way to go. Certainly, he's trying to get out here and get caught up to speed, learning our offense, learning how we do things and learning his teammates. Training camp he'll be here, and we look forward to working with him. The more he can be out there, the more he has an opportunity to play."
• Johnson on misunderstandings over 2024 troubles, from June 11: "I don't like to speak on a lot of stuff so I just, everybody going to have their opinions, you know what I'm saying? So at the end of the day I'm the only one in that room and really know what be going on so I can only — everybody are entitled to their own opinion — so I can only go off of what I know and then try to go off what I'm saying can put out there in my best effort. But, like I said last year, ... I'm trying to turn and change that narrative and move the right way and just keep going.”
• Jeudy on lessons from first season with Browns, from May 28: "Just patience. Patience. I didn't start off my season last year how I ended it, of course, so I just stayed patient, kept working, kept focused and just kept working on my craft. Eventually I was able to perform and show what I could do, and that's what I'm going to continue to keep doing."
• O'Shea on Thrash's growth from rookie year to second year, from June 12: "I mean, Jamari, obviously when you go into year two as a player, things should start slowing down for you. When you're a rookie, things are happening very fast. You're trying to learn a system, you're trying to learn your teammates, and you're trying to play in the NFL for the first time. When you go that second lap around the track, as we tell them, there should be some things that should be so much better, from an assignment standpoint, from just an overall awareness of what's going on. He's done a great job there. Then, we ask our receivers to do three things: Get open, catch the ball, and compete in the run game. Jamari really has shown the ability to catch the ball. This spring has been the most, the one thing that really jumps out at us on the coaching staff, is his ability to really catch the ball in the contested area."

Training camp analysis: Cleveland Browns WRs

This is really Jeudy and a whole lot of questions. Even Tillman, who came on in his second season, remains a question mark of sorts because of missing the final six games of the season with a concussion, thus keeping him from providing a full glimpse of his growth. Johnson could be the ultimate "find $20 in your jeans pocket" for the Browns if he can return to his Pittsburgh Steelers form. Thrash, Bell and Woods are former draft picks who have only shown flashes during their time in the league, with Bell and Woods being hampered by injuries. Davis, a former practice squad player, had a strong offseason program. Carter figures to make the team as much for his ability to return kicks and punts as anything.

Chris Easterling can be reached at [email protected]. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Browns 2025 camp position preview: Jerry Jeudy plus questions at WR