One of the longest tenured Browns is coming back for another season.
WR Rashard Higgins, who excelled when Cleveland needed him most throughout a memorable 2020 campaign, has agreed to terms on a deal that lines him up for his sixth season with the franchise. The former fifth-round pick out of Colorado State is coming off a career year in which he stepped into a starting role midway through the season and delivered big-time catches in some of the Browns' biggest moments on their run through the playoffs.
Higgins didn't see the field much and was a healthy scratch on occasion during the first part of the 2020 season but drew regular praise from coaches and teammates for his attitude, effort and preparedness. When injuries began to hit Browns wide receivers, including Pro Bowler Odell Beckham Jr., Higgins took on a starting role midway through the year and finished the season as one of the team's most productive pass-catchers.
Higgins caught 37 passes for a career-high 599 yards and four touchdowns. He caught six passes in three separate games and posted the first 100-yard game of his career in the Browns' Week 7 win in Cincinnati. He added seven catches for 116 yards in the playoffs, 88 of which coming in the Browns' AFC Divisional Round loss to the Chiefs.
Over the previous five years, Higgins has caught 113 passes for 1,615 yards and 11 touchdowns. All but 33 of those catches have come with Baker Mayfield throwing the passes.
Only two Browns players — G Joel Bitonio and LS Charley Hughlett — have been with the team longer than Higgins, who came to Cleveland as the No. 172 pick in the 2016 NFL Draft after a decorated career at Colorado State. He returns to a Browns wide receivers room that is positioned to look a lot like the one from 2020, with Beckham, Jarvis Landry and Donovan Peoples-Jones set to return. The Browns also tendered restricted free agent KhaDarel Hodge.
