BEREA, Ohio -- Confidence in himself and his teammates is certainly not a problem for Cleveland Browns wide receiver Josh Gordon.
After going through the offseason program, which concludes with this week’s mandatory minicamp session at the team’s headquarters in Berea, Gordon believes the Browns have the most talented set of receivers in the entire National Football League.
“I think we’re the best receiving corps in the league, in my opinion, already just based off of talent alone,” Gordon said following Tuesday’s walk-through.
“You put in the playbook and some guys that are hungry enough to go do it, and hopefully, we go out there and show and prove that. That’s just my opinion, but we’re not short on talent at the wide receiver position at all.”
During the early part of the offseason, the Browns traded two draft picks to the Miami Dolphins for wide receiver Jarvis Landry, and the fifth-year veteran brought with him to Cleveland quite the resume of productivity.
Over his four-year career with the Dolphins, Landry turned 400 catches into 4,038 yards and 22 touchdowns. He averaged 10.1 yards per catch and 63.1 yards per game to go along with 38 catches of at least 20 yards, seven 40-yard plays and 220 first downs.
The 5-foot-11, 208-pound Landry has two 110-catch seasons (2015, 2017) and two 1,100-yard years (2015, 2016) on his resume.
In 2015, Landry set a then-career high with 110 catches, which he turned into 1,157 yards and four touchdowns and averaged a personal-best 72.3 yards per game. He followed that up with a 94-catch, 1,136-yard, four-touchdown showing in 2016.
Last season, the Metairie, Louisiana native and Louisiana State product caught a career-high 112 passes for 987 yards and a personal-best nine touchdown receptions.
“It definitely does make a huge difference as far as competition level within the same group of guys, making sure we’re stepping up every rep and every play when we’re out there at the same time, instinctively,” Gordon said.
“I think we’re just competitive by nature, which makes it that much better for me, and I think it does the same for him, but his football IQ, his awareness of the game and him knowing where he’s supposed to be at, it’s a benefit for not only me, but the entire offense.”
Since joining the Browns through a second-round pick in the 2012 NFL Supplemental Draft, Gordon has turned 179 catches into 3,089 yards and 15 touchdowns.
A Pro Bowl player in 2013, Gordon set a franchise record with an NFL-best 1,646 yards on 87 receptions with nine of those catches going for touchdowns after missing the first two games of the season because of a suspension.
Despite being suspended for 56 career games, 55 of which were NFL bans for positive drug and alcohol tests, including a 44-game stretch that ended with five weeks remaining in the 2017 regular season, Gordon plans on using his previous on-the-field exploits as a springboard to future successes.
“I plan on exceeding those expectations, exceeding those goals and everything that I’ve done in the past and just kind of build on it,” Gordon said. “More than anything, I really just want to win.
“Whatever it takes for me to get some wins and do my part where I leave no doubt, no question in anybody’s mind that Josh did everything he could do to try and get us a win, then I can walk away with whatever the stat line is. More than anything, I’d rather be a winner.”
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