Last night I was watching the Pro Bowl skills competition so you didn't have to. I got reeled in, for some reason, to the dodgeball game, won by the AFC (spoiler, sorry), with Jarvis Landry stealing the show. Why people would throw waist-high dodgeballs at a wide receiver is beyond me.
Much was made by the announcers of Landry catching everything thrown his way (he also performed very well in the hands competition during another skill challenge). You might expect that to show up in Cleveland's offense last season. But it didn't.
I took a look at catch rates for all wide receivers with at least 60 targets last season. No surprise in a lot of the guys at or near the top (Michael Thomas, Tyler Lockett, Keenan Allen, DeAndre Hopkins). Landry, at just over 60 percent, was down near the bottom third of those wideouts. Teammate Odell Beckham was even worse, down in the bottom 10.
Since those guys are both pretty good, it doesn't speak too favorably of Baker Mayfield, or the offense he was operating that couldn't scheme more success for those guys. Probably part of why Freddie Kitchens is gone.
| WIDE RECEIVER CATCH RATES, 2019 (60-PLUS TARGETS) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Tm | Tgt | Rec | Ctch% | Yds | TD |
| Michael Thomas | NOR | 185 | 149 | 80.5% | 1725 | 9 |
| Tyler Lockett | SEA | 110 | 82 | 74.5% | 1057 | 8 |
| Chris Godwin | TAM | 121 | 86 | 71.1% | 1333 | 9 |
| Deebo Samuel | SFO | 81 | 57 | 70.4% | 802 | 3 |
| Cooper Kupp | LAR | 134 | 94 | 70.1% | 1161 | 10 |
| Keenan Allen | LAC | 149 | 104 | 69.8% | 1199 | 6 |
| Albert Wilson | MIA | 62 | 43 | 69.4% | 351 | 1 |
| DeAndre Hopkins | HOU | 150 | 104 | 69.3% | 1165 | 7 |
| Will Fuller | HOU | 71 | 49 | 69.0% | 670 | 3 |
| Hunter Renfrow | OAK | 71 | 49 | 69.0% | 605 | 4 |
| Larry Fitzgerald | ARI | 109 | 75 | 68.8% | 804 | 4 |
| Sterling Shepard | NYG | 83 | 57 | 68.7% | 576 | 3 |
| Marvin Jones | DET | 91 | 62 | 68.1% | 779 | 9 |
| Calvin Ridley | ATL | 93 | 63 | 67.7% | 866 | 7 |
| Stefon Diggs | MIN | 94 | 63 | 67.0% | 1130 | 6 |
| Amari Cooper | DAL | 119 | 79 | 66.4% | 1189 | 8 |
| Randall Cobb | DAL | 83 | 55 | 66.3% | 828 | 3 |
| Russell Gage | ATL | 74 | 49 | 66.2% | 446 | 1 |
| T.Y. Hilton | IND | 68 | 45 | 66.2% | 501 | 5 |
| Tyrell Williams | OAK | 64 | 42 | 65.6% | 651 | 6 |
| Julian Edelman | NWE | 153 | 100 | 65.4% | 1117 | 6 |
| Davante Adams | GNB | 127 | 83 | 65.4% | 997 | 5 |
| Dede Westbrook | JAX | 101 | 66 | 65.3% | 660 | 3 |
| Tyreek Hill | KAN | 89 | 58 | 65.2% | 860 | 7 |
| Marquise Brown | BAL | 71 | 46 | 64.8% | 584 | 7 |
| Robert Woods | LAR | 139 | 90 | 64.7% | 1134 | 2 |
| D.J. Moore | CAR | 135 | 87 | 64.4% | 1175 | 4 |
| Diontae Johnson | PIT | 92 | 59 | 64.1% | 680 | 5 |
| Jamison Crowder | NYJ | 122 | 78 | 63.9% | 833 | 6 |
| Danny Amendola | DET | 97 | 62 | 63.9% | 678 | 1 |
| Allen Robinson | CHI | 154 | 98 | 63.6% | 1147 | 7 |
| Cole Beasley | BUF | 106 | 67 | 63.2% | 778 | 6 |
| Julio Jones | ATL | 157 | 99 | 63.1% | 1394 | 6 |
| Christian Kirk | ARI | 108 | 68 | 63.0% | 709 | 3 |
| John Brown | BUF | 115 | 72 | 62.6% | 1060 | 6 |
| Terry McLaurin | WAS | 93 | 58 | 62.4% | 919 | 7 |
| Corey Davis | TEN | 69 | 43 | 62.3% | 601 | 2 |
| DJ Chark | JAX | 118 | 73 | 61.9% | 1008 | 8 |
| A.J. Brown | TEN | 84 | 52 | 61.9% | 1051 | 8 |
| Anthony Miller | CHI | 85 | 52 | 61.2% | 656 | 2 |
| Tyler Boyd | CIN | 148 | 90 | 60.8% | 1046 | 5 |
| Jarvis Landry | CLE | 138 | 83 | 60.1% | 1174 | 6 |
| JuJu Smith-Schuster | PIT | 70 | 42 | 60.0% | 552 | 3 |
| Alshon Jeffery | PHI | 73 | 43 | 58.9% | 490 | 4 |
| Michael Gallup | DAL | 113 | 66 | 58.4% | 1107 | 6 |
| Brandin Cooks | LAR | 72 | 42 | 58.3% | 583 | 2 |
| Courtland Sutton | DEN | 124 | 72 | 58.1% | 1112 | 6 |
| D.K. Metcalf | SEA | 100 | 58 | 58.0% | 900 | 7 |
| Sammy Watkins | KAN | 90 | 52 | 57.8% | 673 | 3 |
| Golden Tate | NYG | 85 | 49 | 57.6% | 676 | 6 |
| Darius Slayton | NYG | 84 | 48 | 57.1% | 740 | 8 |
| Zach Pascal | IND | 72 | 41 | 56.9% | 607 | 5 |
| Mike Evans | TAM | 118 | 67 | 56.8% | 1157 | 8 |
| Nelson Agholor | PHI | 69 | 39 | 56.5% | 363 | 3 |
| DeVante Parker | MIA | 128 | 72 | 56.3% | 1202 | 9 |
| Kenny Golladay | DET | 116 | 65 | 56.0% | 1190 | 11 |
| Odell Beckham | CLE | 133 | 74 | 55.6% | 1035 | 4 |
| Alex Erickson | CIN | 78 | 43 | 55.1% | 529 | 0 |
| James Washington | PIT | 80 | 44 | 55.0% | 735 | 3 |
| Mike Williams | LAC | 90 | 49 | 54.4% | 1001 | 2 |
| Robby Anderson | NYJ | 96 | 52 | 54.2% | 779 | 5 |
| Preston Williams | MIA | 60 | 32 | 53.3% | 428 | 3 |
| Chris Conley | JAX | 90 | 47 | 52.2% | 775 | 5 |
| Breshad Perriman | TAM | 69 | 36 | 52.2% | 645 | 6 |
| Curtis Samuel | CAR | 105 | 54 | 51.4% | 627 | 6 |
| Auden Tate | CIN | 80 | 40 | 50.0% | 575 | 1 |
Some of the guys near the bottom are understandable. Maybe they were running mostly deep routes, like Robby Anderson and Breshad Perriman. Maybe they were working with lesser, marginal quarterbacks for most of the season -- Curtis Samuel, Kenny Golladay.
In any case, the lack of success of the Cleveland offense was what stood out to me, given Mayfield's status as a No. 1 overall pick who presumably is going to be one of the league's top quarterbacks. New coach Kevin Stefanski has his work cut out for him, like so many other Cleveland head coaches for the last few decades.
--Andy Richardson