CLEVELAND -- Cleveland Browns rookie wide receiver Antonio Callaway has experienced some ups and downs throughout the first six games of his first NFL season, but there has been no change in demeanor within the locker room.
Coach Hue Jackson feels Callaway is as confident as he was when the Browns traded up and selected him with a fourth-round pick in the 2018 NFL Draft despite his missing a year of college football due to a suspension for off-the-field indiscretions.
“He is doing fine,” Jackson said. “He is not that kind of kid.”
PHOTOS: Cleveland Browns want more consistent production from Antonio Callaway
Callaway caught just two of the 10 passes thrown his way in last Sunday’s 38-14 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers at FirstEnergy Stadium.
With Rashard Higgins (sprained knee) and Derrick Willies (broken collarbone) out of the lineup, rookie Damion Ratley got his first extended game action, and while he led the way with 82 yards on six receptions, both he and Callaway missed opportunities to make plays in the end zone against the Chargers.
“I just think he has to be consistent,” Jackson said. “He is very talented. This is another young man who has not played a lot of football in a while, but he is ours, so we have to do everything we can as coaches. I am sure Baker is spending time.
“I think we are all are trying to do everything we can to get him to where he needs to be because he is going to be a fine player. It is just how fast is the consistency piece going to happen for him? We needed for it to happen yesterday. He will continue to work. He had a really good practice yesterday. He has to keep stringing good practices together and go play well.”
Callaway’s most talked-about play against the Chargers came in the first quarter.
On third-and-16 from the Los Angeles 40-yard line, Callaway lined up alone on the left side of the formation and ran down the hash marks before cutting toward the sideline and left back corner of the end zone. Quarterback Baker Mayfield threw a pass into the end zone for Callaway, but the first-year receiver could not haul it in for the score.
“I think that was a tough play, personally,” Jackson said. “I think if he would have made it, it would have been on SportsCenter. He did not make it, so you guys are talking about it.
“To me, he was in the vicinity to where you do anything and everything you can to try to make the play. Now, like I said, it would have been an unbelievable play. If you go back and look at it in real time, it is a tough play to make with a guy in-between you and the ball and where the ball is going is kind of tailing away, but we believe he has that talent to make that kind of play.”
Regardless of the past drops, Jackson knows the Browns need players like Callaway and fellow receiver Jarvis Landry to raise their levels of productivity if they hope to keep putting marks in the win column.
“Oh, we need them,” Jackson said. “We need them. Like we needed them yesterday. They have to play well, and we have to keep giving them opportunities and chances to make plays as a football team.”
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