The ground swell around the Cleveland Browns’ pick of wide receiver KC Concepcion continues to grow seemingly by the day. The Browns’ selection of him and Denzel Boston has a lot of the experts loving where the Browns are at. That swell grew on Saturday morning.
ESPN’s Ben Solak published a piece on who he believes will win the NFL’s Rookie of the Year Award. Sure, a piece like this is pretty simple, as you basically can just go through the NFL draft, and each of the first-round skill positions is going to be in the conversation.
However, with the way that the Browns’ offense, specifically the quarterback position, is viewed on the national level, seeing Concepcion on this list is a very pleasant surprise.
Concepcion landed on Solak’s list of “long shots,” a nod to Saturday’s Kentucky Derby, as a long shot to win the award.
Could Concepcion shock the world with the Browns?
Solak said that Concepcion has a high potential to be a major volume guy in Cleveland. The connections to Monken’s use of Zay Flowers in Baltimore to what they could use Concepcion, like in Cleveland, are too obvious to be ignored. Concepcion can be a threat down the field just as much as a threat at the line of scrimmage.
Monken will be getting him the football in as many creative ways as possible, even handing it off to him on some occasions.
Solak even mentioned that he would be “all-in” for Concepcion if it wasn’t for his fears at Cleveland’s quarterback position. High praise for the young star that Cleveland is hoping turns into one of their stars of the future.
The Browns went into the 2026 Draft knowing that they needed to completely flip their offense over, and they accomplished just that. If the two young wideouts can reach their potential, the Browns have built themselves a pretty formidable team for both the short and long term.
From a weapons perspective, Cleveland now has first and second-year players at all of their key positions on the offensive side of the ball. The way that the rookies looked last year, the Browns have a good start. Now, if this year’s class can come in and make a similar impact, the Browns will be feeling good about the future.
Maybe along the way, Concepcion can grab the 2026 Rookie of the Year Award in his first season.
This article originally appeared on Browns Wire: Browns rookie WR tabbed as Rookie of the Year candidate by analyst
Reporting by Anthony Moeglin, Browns Wire / Browns Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
