Donovan Peoples-Jones - Pro Football Rumors

Browns To Be Down Several WRs In Week 16

December 27th, 2020 at 8:03am CST by Sam Robinson

Dec. 27: There were no new positive tests overnight, so this afternoon’s contest with the Jets will go forward, as Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network reports (via Twitter). The Browns will be without their top four wideouts and two linebackers, and while they did activate left tackle Jedrick Wills from the reserve/COVID-19 list as expected, Wills has been ruled out of the game with an illness. Cleveland has elevated Willies and Bradley from the practice squad, along with LB Montrel Meander.

The close contact with Goodson occurred in the team’s recovery pool area, according to Pelissero (hold your jokes, please). Sharing the pool isn’t a protocol violation in and of itself, but at least one player wasn’t wearing a mask as required, and the league may choose investigate further.

Dec. 26: Some fallout is emerging from B.J. Goodson‘s positive COVID-19 test. Contact tracing deemed several Browns wide receivers high-risk close contacts, according to Chris Mortensen and Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (on Twitter).

Jarvis Landry, Rashard Higgins and Donovan Peoples-Jones — the Browns’ top three wide receivers — have are high-risk close contacts, Schefter and Mortensen report (on Twitter). These three will be placed on Cleveland’s reserve/COVID-19 list and miss Sunday’s game against the Jets, according to Mary Kay Cabot of cleveland.com (on Twitter).

A fourth wideout, KhaDarel Hodge, will also be placed on the virus list, Cabot reports (on Twitter). Linebacker Jacob Phillips is also out. Hodge is Cleveland’s fourth-leading wide receiver this season.

The Browns have not yet left Cleveland and have yet to learn how many players will be unable to travel with the team to New Jersey. The Browns are also likely to be without at least one tight end against the Jets, according to ESPN. The game remains on as scheduled for noon CT Sunday.

While this is not as dire of a situation, functionality-wise, as what the Broncos encountered earlier this season at quarterback, the Browns are in a higher-profile spot. The Browns still have a chance to win the AFC North, with two wins and two Steelers losses, and have yet to clinch a wild-card spot yet. The Jets are 1-13 but coming off a 23-20 win over the Rams.

Already down Odell Beckham Jr., the Browns do not have much in the way of receiving talent beyond their top three healthy targets. Few teams do. Landry’s 789 receiving yards lead the team, while Higgins has contributed 544 and four receiving TDs. This will be Landry’s first absence with the Browns.

Cleveland’s remaining wideouts: Marvin Hall and practice squad cogs Derrick Willies and Ja’Marcus Bradley. None of them have a catch with Cleveland this season. Hall caught 17 passes for 290 yards and two scores with the Lions this year. The Browns claimed Hall off waivers from the Lions earlier this month.

NFL Draft Signings: 5/20/20

May 20th, 2020 at 3:49pm CST by Zachary Links

We’ll keep track of today’s late-round signings here:

The Browns signed fourth-round tight end Harrison Bryant and sixth-round wide receiver Donovan Peoples-Jones, according to Field Yates of ESPN.com (on Twitter). They were the Browns’ final two selections in the draft, but they’re the first picks to sign in Cleveland. Peoples-Jones was one of the country’s hottest WR recruits coming out of high school and he selected Michigan over roughly 30 other schools. However, he failed to top 650 yards in any of his three seasons with the Wolverines. On the plus side, he tallied 14 touchdowns between 2018 and 2019 and the potential is still there.

Donovan Peoples-Jones To Enter Draft

January 6th, 2020 at 6:09pm CST by Sam Robinson

Michigan will lose a key piece of their offense, while the 2020 NFL draft’s receiver pool keeps increasing with high-end prospects. Donovan Peoples-Jones announced (via Twitter) he will enter the draft.

Once the No. 1 wide receiver recruit in the 2017 class, Peoples-Jones became a solid, if unspectacular, weapon for the Wolverines. The 6-foot-2, 208-pound wideout did not surpass 650 yards during any of his three Michigan seasons but did total 14 touchdowns between the 2018 and ’19 campaigns. He also combined for 14 receptions between Michigan’s 2017 and ’18 bowl games. Still, this would profile as a potential-over-production pick.

Peoples-Jones comes in at No. 45 on Scouts Inc.’s player ratings, and Bleacher Report’s Matt Miller slots the three-year Michigan man 38th on his big board. Both rankings account for Alabama’s Devonta Smith declaring, but with the junior opting to stay in school, Peoples-Jones’ chances of climbing into the first round stand to increase.

While several Wolverines wideouts have been drafted in recent years, no Michigan receiver has gone in the first round since Braylon Edwards in 2005.