Will Browns WR Elijah Moore have a breakout season?

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Cleveland-Elijah Moore, one of the new wide receivers of the Cleveland Browns has been getting a lot of press in this off-season. Moore was traded to the Browns from the New York Jets which also included an additional third-round pick that Cleveland used to draft Cedric Tillman, a wide receiver from Tennessee. So, in essence, the team got two wide receivers by only giving up their second-round pick.

What exactly do the Browns have in Moore? Does he have a chance to have a breakout season with the team? Only time will tell, but from what I’ve reviewed and seen in Moore’s past, things could go very well, or things could continue as they have these last two years in the NFL which can be largely summed up as a big disappointment.

Maybe a change of scenery and getting a new group of coaches will do Moore some good.

At the end of his rookie campaign, he had a quad injury that slowed him down after he had accumulated 538 yards and five touchdowns. Coming into this last season, he struggled as the Jets team relied more on their new draft pick Garrett Wilson out of Ohio State. Moore was playing in his shadow and started to campaign to be traded during the season. That never came to pass.

Then March came around, and the Browns made the trade to get Moore. He played college ball at Ole Miss, where he was a very dynamic wide receiver with electric speed, running a 4.35 seconds 40-yard dash at the NFL combine.

Now in Cleveland, he’ll have his next opportunity in the NFL to prove he belongs. The Browns already have veteran Amari Cooper and fourth-year player Donovan Peoples-Jones in the mix. The team also acquired Marquise Goodwin in free agency who could add a little more spice to the room. It’s a crowded wide receiver room already for the team. The fact that Moore wasn’t the go-to guy before with the Jets doesn’t exactly project to him being a “superstar” wide receiver now in Cleveland.

When you go back and look at Moore’s statistics, nothing spectacular stands out and while there’s been a lot of chatter of late about this potentially being a breakout season there’s nothing at this point to say that that’s going to actually happen.

Yes, the Browns have quarterback Deshaun Watson throwing him the ball and yes Moore did catch a few passes at practice during minicamp this last week, however, the real games start in September.

For his career, Moore has only had one game where he went for more than 100 yards. Last season, in his last four games, he only tallied nine passes for 95 yards and the Jets finished with a record of 6-10.

To say that there is room for improvement is an understatement so I’m not exactly convinced that he will have a breakout season. With veterans like DPJ, Goodwin, and Cooper I don’t see Moore getting that many more receptions than he’s had in the past. There are only so many plays in a football game so while it’s a nice story and he could be a potential star; we still need more time to see how it all plays out.