CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – The Browns filled their need for speed with their pick in Round 3 of the NFL Draft Friday night.
The team added speedy Auburn receiver Anthony Schwartz with the 91st overall selection, the first major offensive addition this offseason to a unit that returns all of its starters and most of the backups.
“Anthony certainly gives us multiple guys with the ability to really stretch the field vertically,” executive vice president of football operations and general manager Andrew Berry said. “The other thing is Anthony I think is actually still very early on in his development curve as a player. He is incredibly smart, really, really smart from a football standpoint. He can play outside, can play inside and has the speed that can stretch deep.”
Berry felt speed and the ability to stretch the field was an element they lost when JoJo Natson and Odell Beckham Jr. suffered season ending injuries last year.
Browns defensive end Myles Garrett, the Browns strongest and fiercest player, came to the podium to announce their now arguably fastest.
Schwartz, a former track star, ripped off a 4.25 40-yard dash at his pro day.
“You are adding a guy who has the potential to be an elite vertical presence and really good with the ball in his hands,” vice president of football operations Kwesi Adofo-Mensah said. “That combination in any room is going to help. Obviously, he complements their skillsets greatly, and those guys are so versatile that they all can play off each other. Again, when you add guys who multiple dimensions and multiple ways to help an offense, they kind of work off of each other so it is not in a specific way as to your question but just generally what you are bringing to the room.”
Schwartz caught 117 passes for 1,431 yards and six touchdowns in 36 games, including 18 starts, for the Tigers over three years. He added seven touchdowns and averaged 7.9 yards per carry rushing as he brings a home run type element to Cleveland.
Schwartz has touchdowns of 91, 76, 57, 54 yards on his resume.
“I take a lot of pride in that,” Schwartz said. “If you give me the ball, I will get around the defender, whether I run through you, run around you or just burn you.”
Last season he led Auburn with 54 catches for 636 yards, an 11.8 average and three touchdowns.
Considering every receiver returns in 2021 for the Browns, getting on the field as a rookie could be challenging, but Schwartz is anxious to get to work and earn his reps.
“I know what I can bring to the table,” Schwartz said. “I can run the whole route tree and I can run in and out of breaks.
“Every time you throw it deep I’m grabbing it and it’s going to be a touchdown.”