Cleveland Browns: 3 best offseason additions in 2022

They were one of the more disappointing teams in the league a year ago. Now the Cleveland Browns look to get back on the winning track.

It looked like the team that had struggled since its return to the NFL in 1999 had finally turned the corner. From 1999-2019, for a total of 21 seasons, the Cleveland Browns posted a winning record just twice and reached the playoffs on only one occasion. That was back in 2002 when the team squandered a big lead in the wild-card round at Pittsburgh.

Fast forward to 2020 and the team, with quarterback Baker Mayfield at the helm, came away with an 11-5 record and the team’s first winning season since 2007. Back in the playoffs for the first time since ‘02, the club went to Heinz field and humbled Mike Tomlin’s team, 48-37. It was the Browns’ first postseason win since 1994.

But Mayfield is now a member of the Carolina Panthers – who host Cleveland in Week 1 of the regular season. There have been other significant changes as well. So how will these three new additions impact Kevin Stefanski’s club this year?

Cleveland Browns top offseason pickup no. 3: WR David Bell (Purdue)

Jarvis Landry was released by the team this offseason and is now with the New Orleans Saints. Rashard Higgins signed a free-agent deal with the Carolina Panthers. And tight end Austin Hooper was cut loose by the club and latched on with the Tennessee Titans.

But keep an eye on former Purdue Boilermaker David Bell, the last of the club’s three third-round draft choices in April. He comes off a season in which he caught 93 passes for 1,286 yards and six scores in just 11 games.

Bell was slowed a bit by a foot injury earlier this summer. He didn’t play in the club’s preseason opener vs. the Jaguars. But he caught three passes for 46 yards in the club’s 21-20 home loss to the Eagles. Bell figures to make his share of plays this year – regardless of who is throwing him the football.