A Travis Wilson Revival?

If you’re just a casual fan of the Browns, you may not even know who Travis Wilson is.  Taken in the third round just a few years back, Wilson was the self-proclaimed “best receiver in the draft.”  With that being the case, the Browns got a huge steal.  With reality being the case, Wilson has caught two balls in the last two seasons - both in 2006.

When the team agreed to terms with Donte Stallworth, we decided to give Travis a good, old fashioned eulogy, assuming that we were adding another player to the list of what-could-have-beens.  Surely, the drafting of wide receiver Paul Hubbardwas just a nail in the figurative coffin.  Right?

Or, perhaps it was just a huge wake-up call.

Yesterday, Lane Atkins from the Orange and Brown report listed his “Ten Telling Items” from the sidelines of recent Browns practices.  (Note: I strongly recommend reading the list, as it definitely makes you even more anxious for the start of the season) While many of the bits were positive, this one stood out the most:

WR Travis Wilson looks much like the player this organization anticipated when selecting him out of Oklahoma. Interestingly, Wilson is running solid routes, making catches and most importantly has knowledge of what the expectations are. For the first time, Wilson is consistent in getting his head around in receiving drills. This may seem to fall into ‘who cares ‘ type category, but to succeed at this level a receiver needs to get his head around, find the ball in-flight and fight for the reception. Wilson has been on the mark.

While part of me wants to classify this as “too little, too late,” it has to be exciting news.  Injuries have been the beast of many teams’ burden.  Adding Stallworth and bumping Joe Jurevicius to the third receiver does wonders for depth.  Having a much-improved Wilson can only make that better.

Wide receivers tend to take the next step during their third season, so this would make sense from a statistical point of view.  The only issue is that Wilson really hasn’t taken any step as of yet - so any sort of production would be an improvement.  We traded a 1,000 yard running back for Tim Carter only a year ago.  While that was done to avoid a roster bonus, just think of the value of Wilson if he could Carter-esque numbers?

Of course, he could just fade in to oblivion and business would carry on as usual.  But wouldn’t it be nice to get something out of a former first-day selection?  A kid can dream…

Adkins: Ten Telling Items [OBR]

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