After fielding the league's weakest group of wide receivers in 2015, the Cleveland Browns used this offseason to completely revamp the position.
After grabbing first-round pass-catcher Corey Coleman, the team drafted another trio of pass-catchers in Ricardo Louis, Rashard Higgins and Jordan Payton.
There's also the case of Terrelle Pryor, the quarterback-turned-receiver who drew positive reviews this week from senior offensive assistant/wideouts coach Al Saunders.
"The season is yet to come here, but I know one thing: He's improved by leaps and bounds," Saunders said of Pryor, per the team's official website. "It's really hard, that transition from the quarterback position to a wide receiver position, and the physical environment is so different. He's being asked to do things that he's never really been asked to do before. He's got to make a lot of ground up in that way, but every day he gets better, he does something that really gives me room for optimism that he has a future at that position."
Said Saunders: "We're really excited about him. He's dedicated himself in the classroom, and his work ethic is better and better and better. His efficiency is better and better and better. I look forward to getting him in training camp and see where we can go from there."
The 6-foot-5, 233-pound Pryor boasts freakish athletic ability, but nagging injuries and the positional adjustment made him a non-factor last season. Any production they net from Pryor would serve as a bonus, but Coleman will be asked to make plays right away.
"He's a tremendous player," coach Hue Jackson said of the rookie. "He's going to be pretty good. I ride him pretty hard because he has so much ability and I want to get it out of him. He's really shown why we drafted him in the first round. He is a tremendous talent. If he keeps working like he is and stays as humble and he has great desire to be a great football player, I think that's going to happen for him."
Jackson emphasized that Coleman still needs to "earn" a starting role, but it's hard to imagine anyone standing in his way. Veterans Andrew Hawkins, Taylor Gabriel and Marlon Moore are mere complementary pieces for a team waiting to find out if Josh Gordon's indefinite suspension will at last be lifted.
If nothing else, the Browns have finally addressed a position that the previous regime considered a non-priority in the draft. There's new faces, young talent -- and a wild-card on the roster in the form of Pryor. Add Gordon to the mix, and Jackson has the seeds of a passing game in Cleveland.
