NFL Rumors: Will Rashard Higgins still be with Cleveland Browns next season?

Rashard Higgins has been the favorite target for Baker Mayfield in the NFL. The chemistry that he shares with his wide receiver has been on display every week in the NFL since the quarterback's rookie season. Baker's chemistry with Higgins has the NFL media questioning his chemistry with star WR Odell Beckham Jr.

Rashard Higgins was given a team-friendly contract at the start of the 2020 NFL season. Andrew Berry gave him a chance to earn his big contract. Rashard was not at the top of the WR depth chart at the start of the season. He hardly got any playing time and was mostly on the team's training squad.

Kevin Stefanski has a run-heavy offense. He likes to build off the run game for the play-action pass game to work. This meant that a lot of wide receivers had to work on blocking in the run game. That made it difficult to have a lot of WRs on the team. The top spot on the wide receiver list had to go to Odell, which was followed by Jarvis Landry. Jarvis has been a premier slot receiver in the NFL, which made Rashard push down the depth chart.

THAT’S OUR COACH. 😤Kevin Stefanski is the 2020 Coach of the Year! pic.twitter.com/EtY4p6ByrF

— Cleveland Browns (@Browns) February 7, 2021

The addition of tight ends like Austin Hopper and Harrison Bryant meant that the role of wide receivers in Stefanski’s offense were limited and for the top guys. That was true until Odell Beckham Jr went out for the remainder of the NFL season with an ACL injury. This allowed Rashard Higgins to climb up the rotation ladder and make an impact on the Browns' offense.

NFL Rumor: Browns should bring back Baker's Favorite target Rashard Higgins.

Odell Beckham Jr. went down with an injury in the game. Rashard Higgins made the most impactful play. With about 2 minutes to play against the Bengals, the Browns were trailing and needed Baker Mayfield to drive the team downfield for a winning drive. The Cleveland Browns and Kevin Stefanski had used all their time-outs in the previous Bengals drive trying to stop the clock.

When Browns got the ball back, Braker put together a drive that led to a Donavan Peoples-Jones touchdown for the win. Just before the touchdown pass, Baker found his favorite target man in Rashard Higgins. Baker threw the ball a bit higher above the covering defender for Higgins to make a stretching catch to keep the drive alive. It was one of the highlight plays of the Browns' amazing 2020 NFL season.

.@CALLME_WOOD's top plays from 2020 🔥 pic.twitter.com/QreVideWkc

— Cleveland Browns (@Browns) January 24, 2021

Rashard Higgins was targeted 52 times in 13 games that he played in the 2020 NFL Season. He caught the pass 37 times out of those 52 targets. Rashard was among the top 5 targeted players by Baker Mayfield last year in the NFL. There is no doubt about the chemistry that Baker and Rashard share. And that makes it easy for the Browns General Manager Andrew Berry to bring him back with a lucrative deal.

Rashard Higgins will most definitely be wearing the Browns uniform for the 2021 NFL season. It only has to be seen how much money the Browns decide to pay him in the offseason.