Time for Donovan Peoples-Jones
By STEVE KING
The news from Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski was not good.
“(WR/returner)) JoJo Natson unfortunately suffered an ACL tear there. He is out for the season. Disappointed for him. He will go to IR,” he said on Monday, about 20 hours after his team defeated the Washington Football Team 34-20 on Sunday.
Later in his day-after press conference, Stefanski was asked if, with Natson’s injury, this was an opportunity for players like Donovan Peoples-Jones to fill the void both as an extra receiver and in the kicking game. This time, the news – the answer – from Stefanski was not definitive.
“We will work through that. I think we have some candidates in the building,” he said. “That is something that I am going to sit down with Prief (special teams coordinator Mike Priefer) and talk through as this week unfolds of how we want to attack this.”
Stefanski can say what he wants, and I get that, for he doesn’t want to usurp his special teams coordinator by making a premature announcement, before they have a chance to get together and talk it over. But this is absolutely, positively time for Donovan People-Jones, a rookie from Michigan, and I can’t believe Stefanski would give that nod to anyone else.
People-Jones was a real steal for the Browns in the 2020 NFL Draft, being taken in the sixth round, at No. 187 overall. He was – and continues to be – the player from the draft about whom I am the most excited. It’s hard to tell what he’s better at, catching passes or returning punts and kicks. Perhaps it’s a tie, for he’s very good at both.
The Browns, like most NFL teams, love to get their young players onto the field as quickly as possible. People-Jones has been inactive for the first the three games, and I strongly suspect that will change – drastically.
It had better change.
