CLEVELAND — It's been awhile since the public has heard from Cleveland Browns wide receiver Jarvis Landry, but on Tuesday that changed and Landry explained why that is and opened up about his future with the team.
Landry, who is now on the final year of his contract with the Browns after signing a five-year, $75.5 million deal with Cleveland, is an uncertain part of the Browns future at this point. The Browns have the option to cut Landry and save $14.8 million against the salary cap with a dead cap of $1.5 million.
After working through a knee injury through the first chunk of the season, the 29-year-old receiver appeared in 12 games last season with 87 targets, 52 receptions, 570 yards and two touchdowns.
Landry took to Twitter Tuesday morning and shared his thoughts about his current situation.
"Reality behind all this is I came back to play in the best shape of my life, I got hurt week 2 with a high grade MCL Sprain,Partial quad tear and bone bruise. Then came back way to early and ended up staying hurt the entire season. You never heard me mention anything about it," Landry wrote in his first of three posts on the matter.
The injury was sustained in the opening drive of the Week 2 game against the Houston Texans. Landry missed three weeks on the injured reserve list before returning to practice to run for two days and then returned to team activities. After those three weeks on IR, the Browns designated Landry to return but did not activate him right away, which makes sense if his injury was as severe as a sprain, tear and bone bruise.
But the Browns activated Landry the next week for their matchup against the Denver Broncos, a game that saw Landry post five catches on for 37 yards.
Landry's comments about coming back too early maybe something the Browns look into as they evaluate their training staff and approach to injuries this offseason. Landry's injury was just one of many soft tissue injuries that occurred on the team—an issue the team and league are in the process of gathering and analyzing data on.
The NFLPA will go through league-wide injury data beginning in March or April, and head coach Kevin Stefanski said at the end of last season that the team will look at how they approach such injuries moving forward. Landry's teammate John Johnson III also offered some insight into the situation at the end of the season and gave the Browns organization suggestions for improvement during his post-season exit interview.
"I think our relationship with the training staff could be a whole lot better, just like mobility. Just staying proactive about getting guys in there that probably usually wouldn't until they're hurt," Johnson said. "Just try to implement a plan for each individual player on a team. I think that goes a long way."
RELATED: Browns will look at soft tissue injuries to determine if any were preventable this season
In his second of three posts, Landry went on to explain why he's been quiet since November, the last time he spoke to the media, which occurred at a Thanksgiving food drive he held in Parma. The last time Landry spoke in official Browns media availability was on Oct. 28, 2021, just before the Halloween game against the Pittsburgh Steelers that seemed to start the downward spiral of the event to come with Landry's best friend and teammate Odell Beckham Jr.
But the Beckham incident isn't why Landry says he didn't attend media availability after Oct. 28 and after his food drive.
"Also my media availability didn’t happen because I was focused on getting on the field as healthy as possible during the week and after games.. a strategic plan was set in place to be followed," Landry wrote.
Now, headed into the 2022 season and having focused on his health, Landry believes he can be a strong piece to a championship-contending team, and whether that team is the Browns or not is up to the organization, he said.
"I have put the ball in CLE court by telling them I would like to stay but if not then I’m confident enough in myself to be a better healthy me this year and moving forward to helping do my part in winning a championship elsewhere," Landry wrote.
The Browns organization have a lot to consider with Landry. His contract poses some issues to work through, and all parties will have to see how the discussions surrounding his future play out, but two things for certain are that to this point, the organization's appreciation for Landry's contributions has never wavered and neither have his efforts.
“I think everybody on this call knows how much respect we have for Jarvis Landry and really what he has meant for our team and organization over the past several years. He has been a productive player for us really since the day that we traded for him, and he has been really a key piece in terms of how the team and organization has evolved over the last several years," general manager Andrew Berry said of Landry when asked about his future in January.
"Before this year I missed 0 games. So push y’all narrative, it’s noted," Landry wrote on social Tuesday. "I GAVE EVERYTHING!!!! EVERYTHING."
Camryn Justice is a digital content producer at News 5 Cleveland. Follow her on Twitter @camijustice.
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