The Cleveland Browns are trading starting wide receiver Donovan Peoples-Jones to the Detroit Lions for a 2025 sixth-round pick, according to multiple reports. Peoples-Jones, who grew up in Detroit and played his college football at Michigan, will return home, while the Browns will be down a receiver. The Steelers rival will be down a receiver for the rest of the season.
Amari Cooper and Elijah Moore make up the top of that room. Marquise Goodwin, Cedric Tillman, and David Bell are solid options outside of those guys, and that is why they felt they could move on from Peoples-Jones, who was in a contract year. Before the season, there were talks about a potential extension for Peoples-Jones, but he has just eight receptions for 97 yards after notching 61 receptions and 839 yards last season. His step back made him expendable.
For the Lions, they get help at receiver outside of Amon-Ra St. Brown. After Jameson Williams returned from his suspension, he had flashes of brilliance but is up and down. So, Peoples-Jones profiles as the team’s speed element in the receiving corps while still allowing Jared Goff and the offense to utilize him on the inside and outside of concepts. Not just that, he adds a blocking element to the group when they run the football a ton.
It’s a high-upside move for the Lions, while the Browns moved on from a receiver that seemed so promising. A consistently solid option, Peoples-Jones was never a star but became a player the Browns could rely upon last year. They added to the room with Moore in the offseason, but teams like the Steelers likely expected the Browns to use Peoples-Jones at least more. That has not occurred, and as a result, he is never on the move after reports leaked in the summer of talks about a long-term extension.