The Cleveland Browns signed JoJo Natson last year to help their return game and add speed to the offense. Unfortunately, Natson was lost with an ACL tear during the first month of the 2020 season.
The team brought him back on another one-year deal this offseason despite only three games last year. In those three games, Natson returned a total of four kicks (3 punts and 1 kickoff). He also had one rushing attempt for three yards.
During his two years with the Los Angeles Rams, Natson was a very good kick returner averaging over 20 yards a return while also adding a 60-yard punt return as well.
For the Browns, a lot has changed in a year. The team had a very successful 2020 season and is now believed to be competing for a Super Bowl. The wide receiver room is also different since when Natson was added. Donovan Peoples-Jones played well as a sixth-round pick and Anthony Schwartz was drafted in the third round of the 2021 NFL draft.
Those additions, along with the return of Odell Beckham Jr. (injury) and Rashard Higgins (free agency) leaves very little room on the receiver depth chart.
Natson is hoping that his speed and return skills will give him an edge. During the first day of training camp, his speed was on display:
JoJo Natson still got the wheels đź’¨ #Browns
— Daryl Ruiter (@RuiterWrongFAN) July 28, 2021
While Schwartz has a lot of speed as well, he has very little experience returning kicks. Speed is very helpful for a returner but having a feel for setting up blocks, when to accelerate and when to make a cut is a priority.
Natson’s return skills combined with his speed are what gives him a chance to make the roster. The top of the receiver depth chart seems set with Jarvis Landry, Beckham and Higgins. After that, if the Browns keep six receivers, Peoples-Jones, Schwartz, Natson and Khadarel Hodge will fight for three spots.
Barring injury, Peoples-Jones’ upside as a receiver and Schwartz’s draft position would seem to put them ahead of Natson no matter how strong of a camp he has. Assuming they keep six receivers, that leaves Natson fighting, primarily, with Hodge for a spot.
Hodge was an important part of Cleveland’s special teams the last few years especially as a gunner on coverage units. The Browns lost Tavierre Thomas and Tae Davis, their special teams’ aces, this offseason which could give Hodge a leg up.
With the limits placed on the return game, the Browns could prioritize the coverage of Hodge over the return skills of Natson. However, with lofty goals this season, could having another electric speed guy on the roster be more important? Natson has the kind of speed, and return skills, to make it a conversation.