In a surprising move, the Browns have signed a free agent wide receiver, but his name is not Terrelle Pryor. Instead, they decided to grab similarly-aged Kenny Britt, who like Pryor, is coming off his first 1,000-yard season.
Before we get into Britt and what his addition means for the Browns, I must disclose that we don’t know who his quarterback will be as of this moment. I’d like to assume that it will be Cody Kessler, but it’s possible that Robert Griffin III will be given another chance, or that they draft a quarterback with one of their two first or second round picks.
Now as for Britt, I mentioned on last week’s podcast that he and Pryor will actually be the same age (28) in June. It’s odd because Britt has been around forever and has been tagged as the guy who is searching for his last contract. The reason is because he came into the league at just 20 years old. Meanwhile, Pryor will turn 28 in June, but is looked at as a player who is on the rise.
The knock on Britt throughout his career is that he just can’t stay healthy, as he’s missed 24 games in his eight-year-career, though he’s played in 47 of 48 possible games in the last three years. His injuries are a big part of the reason he’d never recorded more than 775 yards receiving until last season. The other reason is because he’s never played with a Pro-Bowl caliber quarterback. Going back throughout his career, here is the list of quarterbacks he’s played with: Kerry Collins, Vince Young, Rusty Smith, Matt Hasselbeck, Jake Locker, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Austin Davis, Shaun Hill, Case Keenum, Nick Foles, Sean Mannion, and Jared Goff.
Going to the Browns is also going to limit some of his upside, as they already have their future alpha-dog at wide receiver, Corey Coleman. Playing with the Rams there was an opportunity for plenty of targets, as the only threats were Tavon Austin and Brian Quick. You may see the line of 140 targets for Terrelle Pryor, but a large part of that came with Coleman out of the lineup.
| G | Tgts | Rec | Yds | TD | FPts | |
| Without Coleman | 6 | 58 | 35 | 432 | 3 | 72.9 |
| With Coleman | 10 | 82 | 42 | 575 | 1 | 63.5 |
As you can see, don’t expect Britt to automatically walk in and replace Pryor’s 140 targets. If anything, you should take a look at his games with Coleman on the field and expect more of that, provided they don’t get a better quarterback. In the games Coleman played, Pryor was the No. 49 fantasy wide receiver in those weeks. While I don’t see Britt falling that far, you add in his durability concerns, and it’s not far off from where I would draft him.
The move by Britt is puzzling at best, considering the state of the Browns franchise and where he’s at in his career. It doesn’t help him much from a fantasy standpoint, unfortunately. If there is one bright side to this transaction, it’s that Coleman may receive slightly less attention than he would have if the Browns did nothing in free agency. So there’s that… but not much else.
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Mike Tagliere is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Mike, check out his archive and follow him @MikeTagliereNFL.
