Browns WR Elijah Moore trying to just 'block the noise out' after up-and-down 1st 3 years

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. — Elijah Moore arrived in Cleveland more than a year ago with big hopes. So, too, did the Browns have big hopes for the wide receiver they had just acquired in a trade with the New York Jets.

What that included for the Browns was the hope that they had found their own version of Deebo Samuels. They hoped Moore could be the Swiss army knife for their offense — as much running back as wide receiver — that Samuels was and still is for the San Francisco 49ers.

There was just one problem.

"I'm not Deebo, I'm Elijah Moore," Moore told the Beacon Journal in an exclusive interview in May. "I want to play receiver. You see what I'm saying? I do what they want me to do. But at the same time, when you watch the film, I play receiver."

The Browns arrived at The Greenbrier in West Virginia last July with Moore listed as a wide receiver and practicing with the wide receivers . However, they were also doing their own Deebo Samuels experiment with him by working him at running back , something that carried through camp and into the regular season.

Now, as the Browns return to The Greenbrier to hold their first training camp practice Thursday, the 24-year-old Moore is almost exclusively a wide receiver. He, along with Amari Cooper and the latest March wide receiver acquisition, Jerry Jeudy, are being counted on to help expand the passing game with what they hope is a healthy Deshaun Watson back at quarterback.

"With all the receivers, there’s a balance in using their versatility and doing a lot of things with them and then narrowing down their focus so they can really concentrate and be really good at the things that we narrow down for them," wide receivers coach Chad O'Shea said at the end of June minicamp. "We’re very fortunate with Elijah that he can do a lot of things really well. It’s also important for him to concentrate and focus on the things that we narrow down and say, ‘Hey, here’s a specific role for you.’"

It took some time for the Browns to come to the realization of last season. Although it became evident early that Moore wasn't finding success at either running back or wide receiver.

Through five games, he had lined up 23 times in the backfield, carried the ball eight times and netted all of 11 yards. In that same span, which was capped with the Browns' Week 6 win over the Samuel-less 49ers, Moore had 21 catches for 167 yards and no touchdowns.

Not terrible numbers for that point in the season. However, it was nothing resembling what either Moore or the team expected out of him.

"Was I frustrated? Yes," Moore acknowledged. "Was I p*****? Yes. Were they p***** and frustrated? Yes. You see what I'm saying? But we're going to get it."

They seemed to do just that after the win over the 49ers. Moore only lined up in the backfield six more times — three in a Week 12 loss at the Denver Broncos — and had just one more rushing attempt the rest of the season.

Moore did have 38 catches for 473 yards and two TDs over his final 12 regular-season games, finishing the season with 59 catches for 640 yards — both career highs — and the two TDs. Over his final 4 1/2 games — Moore departed the Week 17 win over his former team, the Jets, after sustaining a concussion — he was targeted 31 times with 16 catches for 222 yards and a TD.

The pivot from asking Moore to be the jack of all trades, but master of none to going back to trying to master one thing helped to turn his season around a bit.

"Yeah, 100%, and I think that, at this point, that they figured it out too," Moore said.

There was another factor that came into play with Moore's late-season success. He was re-united with quarterback Joe Flacco , arguably the one quarterback with whom he had established a firm connection with since being picked by the Jets in the second round of the 2021 draft out of Ole Miss.

Flacco's first pass in the 2021 season with the Jets was a 25-yard gain to Moore in a Week 10 loss to the Buffalo Bills. In seven games with the Jets, he targeted the young wide receiver 41 times, completing 25 for 336 yards and two TDs.

Flacco proved to be a island of stability in an ocean of change for Moore. Over his first three NFL seasons, his teams have had 12 starting quarterbacks — and one backup, Josh Johnson in 2021, who saw significant time — and, with the Browns' hiring of Ken Dorsey, three different offensive coordinators.

"I mean, of course as a receiver, it is difficult for the QB part, because you can't really get in a rhythm," Moore said. "But at the same time, when you play receiver, you got to be adaptable. You got to be the type of person that, you don't even have a choice, so why even talk about how difficult it's going to be if you don't have a choice. So every week, you don't know what's going to happen."

It's a similar mindset to what Moore is bringing this season. It's the final one for him on his rookie contract, making him a potential free agent at the end of the season unless an extension is forthcoming from the Browns.

The Browns gave Jeudy, who was a 2021 first-round pick, a three-year extension just days after they acquired him in a trade from Denver. They avoided a potential Cooper holdout by re-working his deal for this season, which is also his last one on his current contract.

Moore's seen the deals being handed out. What he's tried to do is stick to his own personal motto — "A step every day," he said — that he took on during his tumultuous final season with the Jets in 2022.

"You don't know what's going to happen with anyone," Moore said. "So you kind of just have to have the mindset, you're forced to have the mindset ... to do it one step at a time. One day at a time. Block the noise out. No matter how many questions somebody asks you, no matter you can't think about how you feel. You got to just do it."

Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Browns WR Elijah Moore trying to just 'block the noise out' after up-and-down 1st 3 years