NFL Free Agency Profile: WR D.J. Chark

Chark would bring speed and playmaking ability to Cleveland

There are a lot of viable receiving options in this year’s free-agent class, and the Cleveland Browns have the task of figuring out which ones would fill their needs the best.

Cleveland has a good core of wide receivers, but something’s been missing over the past 3-4 seasons. They’ve always had guys that can effectively get open underneath and at the intermediate level of the field, but lacked the pure speed and explosiveness required to take the “tops off” of defenses. Adding someone like D.J. Chark would give them the type of downfield threat that would force defensive coordinators to make adjustments and gameplan for each week.

Despite their current financial situation, they can create a decent amount of cap space within the next month ($40M+). Andrew Berry has always done a great job of being able to get the best “bang for his buck” in Free Agency and he’ll most likely continue to do so in 2024.

We will continue to profile free agents as we head into the NFL combine. Once we have data from draft prospects we will add NFL draft profiles as well.

Name

D.J. Chark

Position

Wide Receiver

Height/Weight

6’3”, 200 pounds

2023 Team

Carolina Panthers

Stats

2023: 15 games, 11 starts – 35 recs., 525 rec. yards, 15.0 yards/rec., 5 touchdowns

Career: 69 games, 51 starts – 212 recs., 3069 rec. yards, 14.5 yards/rec., 23 touchdowns

PFF Grade: 60.0

2023 Contract

Final year of Carolina deal, $1,864,000 cap number, $5,000,000 GTY

Fit with Browns

Chark would bring one of the things that this Cleveland receiving core has been missing for a while now and that’s pure, game-breaking speed. This is something that he’s routinely provided teams with and has been on full display throughout his NFL career so far.

He would give Deshaun Watson a different type of weapon to utilize, and one that could bring back memories of the explosive Watson to Will Fuller connection in Houston.

Browns player signing could impact

Elijah Moore – If the team were to sign Chark, it would most likely have the biggest impact on Moore in terms of his alignment going forward. Chark is more useful and effective on the outside so Moore would most likely have to play in the slot more frequently.

How signing could impact the NFL Draft

Signing Chark might not have a huge impact on Cleveland’s current draft plans. He would be filling an immediate need but the team would likely still be open to taking a receiver in the middle rounds.

Priority

Medium. Kevin Stefanski and Ken Dorsey will be looking to add playmaking ability to the wide receiver room this offseason, and signing someone like Chark would be the definition of that.

Projected APY: $4,000,000 – $5,000,000

Who are some of your favorite free-agent wide receivers besides D.J. Chark? Join fellow Browns fans in the comment section below.