{"id":846957,"date":"2026-04-01T11:33:21","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T11:33:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/846957\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T11:33:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T11:33:21","slug":"todd-monken-sends-troubling-message-to-browns-wrs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/846957\/","title":{"rendered":"Todd Monken Sends Troubling Message to Browns WRs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t<img width=\"780\" height=\"439\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2245874955-e1775042307312.jpg\" class=\"attachment-featured-image size-featured-image wp-post-image\" alt=\"Jerry Jeudy #3 of the Cleveland Browns\"   decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>Jerry Jeudy #3 of the Cleveland Browns <\/p>\n<p>On Tuesday at the <a class=\"wpil_keyword_link\" href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/nfl\/\" title=\"NFL\" data-wpil-keyword-link=\"linked\" data-wpil-monitor-id=\"211045\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NFL<\/a> owners meetings in Phoenix, <a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/nfl\/cleveland-browns\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Cleveland Browns<\/a> coach Todd Monken was asked about what he likes to see in a wide receiver in the NFL. While it was not a question that was directed at any one player on the roster of his new team, Monken\u2019s answer certainly was an eye-opener, and should be a cause of concern in the receiver room.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/DanielOyefusi\/status\/2039043393838596540\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external nofollow\">ESPN\u2019s Daniel Oyefusi<\/a> noted that he asked Monken about his ideal receiver.<\/p>\n<p>Monken gave a telling answer: \u201cIt\u2019s real simple: big, fast, physical, ball skills, run after catch. I mean, of course, that\u2019s what everybody\u2019s looking for. But I do think, like any position, looking for a player, that what is their elite trait? How can you continue to develop and round out the rest of their game, and how does it fit into what you want to do offensively?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Browns Have Just 3 WRs Over 6-Feet<\/p>\n<p>Monken\u2019s description of an ideal receiver for his Browns roster should be of some concern. That\u2019s because there\u2019s pretty much no receiver that checks all those boxes\u2013or even most of those boxes, on the team\u2019s current slate of players.<\/p>\n<p>The notion of bring \u201cbig\u201d is the obvious concern. The Browns have one of the smallest groups of receivers in the NFL, with only three players\u2013<a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/nfl\/player\/jerry-jeudy\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Jerry Jeudy<\/a> (6-foot-1), <a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/nfl\/player\/cedric-tillman\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Cedric Tillman<\/a> (6-foot-3) and <a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/nfl\/player\/Jamari-Thrash\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Jamari Thrash<\/a> (6-foot-1) standing over 6-feet.<\/p>\n<p>The Browns have three receivers at 5-foot-11, including new guy Tylan Wallace, who was brought in from the <a class=\"wpil_keyword_link\" href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/nfl\/baltimore-ravens\/\" title=\"Ravens\" data-wpil-keyword-link=\"linked\" data-wpil-monitor-id=\"211046\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Ravens<\/a> and is more likely to see action in special teams. Malachi Corley and <a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/nfl\/player\/isaiah-bond\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Isaiah Bond<\/a> are the others.<\/p>\n<p>There are also three players, farther down the depth chart, who are 5-foot-9 or shorter: Isaiah Woods and Gage Larvadain are 5-foot-9, and Luke Floriea is 5-foot-6.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5813823\" class=\" wp-image-5813823\" data-lazy-load=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2259241548_55a30e-e1772917284450.jpg\" alt=\"The Cleveland Browns and coach Todd Monken have been warned about their pursuit of free agent quarterback Malik Willis.\" width=\"509\" height=\"287\"\/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-5813823\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">GettyCleveland Browns coach Todd Monken\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Browns Struggled With YAC<\/p>\n<p>Fast, of course, is more of a subjective measure\u2013players can run a healthy 40-yard dash time but without being to play fast, while some slower players can create speed with start-and-stop ability. But all of those skills, when put together well, should yield yards after catch, one of the other attributes Monken wants to see.<\/p>\n<p>The Browns simply don\u2019t do that well. The No. 1 receiver for yards after catch last season was Jeudy, and he had a mere 166 yards after catch, which did not even rank <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nfl.com\/stats\/player-stats\/category\/receiving\/2025\/REG\/all\/receivingyardsaftercatch\/DESC\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external nofollow\">among the Top 200<\/a> in the NFL. No other Browns receiver topped 80 yards. The team was led in that category by tight end Harold Fannin, at 352 yards.<\/p>\n<p>Draft Will Be the Answer<\/p>\n<p>The Browns are pretty well wrapped up when it comes to free agency, though it is still possible that they could seek to make trades in the coming weeks. It\u2019s a longshot, though, to think they\u2019ll find a significant receiver upgrade that way.<\/p>\n<p>The team\u2019s struggles at the position, then, will be left to the draft. It\u2019s widely anticipated that the Browns will add at least one receiver (Carnell Tate? Jordyn Tyson?) in the first round, but don\u2019t be surprised if they take swings at the position later in the draft, too.<\/p>\n<p>They need all the help they can get.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/author\/seandeveneyheavycom\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sean Deveney<\/a> is a veteran sports reporter covering the NBA, NFL and MLB for Heavy.com. He has written for Heavy since 2019 and has more than two decades of experience covering the NBA, including 17 years as the lead NBA reporter for the Sporting News. Deveney is the author of 7 nonfiction books, including &#8220;Fun City,&#8221; &#8220;Before Wrigley became Wrigley,&#8221; and &#8220;Facing Michael Jordan.&#8221;  <a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/author\/seandeveneyheavycom\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">More about Sean Deveney<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Browns\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Jerry Jeudy #3 of the Cleveland Browns On Tuesday at the NFL owners meetings in Phoenix, Cleveland&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":846958,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2054],"tags":[86,85,54,2337,7,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-846957","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cleveland-browns","8":"tag-browns","9":"tag-cleveland","10":"tag-cleveland-browns","11":"tag-clevelandbrowns","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116329239749620066","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=846957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846957\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/846958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=846957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=846957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=846957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}