Two if by Air: Upgrading the Cleveland Browns Receiving Corps with Denzel Boston and KC Concepcion

Andrew Berry has historically guarded his first and second-round draft assets like a dragon guarding a gold hoard, rarely spending premium draft assets on offensive skill positions. But the 2026 NFL Draft flipped that script. By drafting Texas A&M dynamic weapon KC Concepcion at No. 24 and doubling down with Washington's towering aerial threat Denzel Boston at No. 39, the Browns didn't just tweak the wide receiver room—they completely redesigned it.

The Musical Hint and a Greeny Gaff

The NFL Network broadcast team practically gave the Dawg Pound a two-minute warning before the pick was turned in. Going into the commercial break while the Browns had just gone on the clock at No. 39 overall, the broadcast network queued up the stadium rock anthem "More Than a Feeling" by the legendary band Boston. It was a not-so-subtle Easter egg for anyone watching the board layout closely.

While one network was crushing draft coverage, ESPN anchor Mike Greenberg was tripping on his dick. During the live analysis, "Greeny" made the ultimate unforced broadcasting error by confidently delivering a factoid though his trademarked nasally inflection: Denzel Boston is the son of former Ohio State star and former NFL wide receiver David Boston. For what is supposed to be a professional anchor, it was an incredibly sloppy faux pas—the two are entirely unrelated.  Just another example of how ESPN sucks.

Anyhow, Denzel isn't riding family coattails; he came by his draft position honestly, logging 1,781 yards and 20 touchdowns over 43 games in Washington.

Making Good on past Mistakes: Boston vs. McMillan

The selection of Boston at pick number 39 is a fascinating study in front-office philosophy. A vocal contingent of Cleveland sports bloggers spent the early part of their 2025 draft night screaming for the front office to draft Arizona's physical marvel Tetairoa McMillan after trading back from Travis Hunter. Frustration set in when Andrew Berry instead selected defensive tackle Mason Graham. By sliding Boston into the system a year later, Berry found the physical mirror image to McMillan with a cheaper draft pick.

Metric Breakdown	Denzel Boston	Tetairoa McMillan
Height / Weight	6'3 ¾" / 212 lbs	6'5" / 210 lbs
Athletic Profile (40-Yard)	4.49s	4.51s
Relative Athletic Score (RAS)	9.18	9.34
Contested Catch Rate (College)	54.2%	56.1%
Primary Structural Role	X-Receiver / Red Zone Ladder	Boundary Pivot / Deep Crosser

Boston brings that "above the rim" verticality that fans craved with McMillan. He gives the offense an alpha target built in the mold of a Mike Evans and Nico Collins, capable of adjusting his frame mid-air and winning 50-50 balls down the sideline.

FOLLOWING The Zay Flowers Blueprint

While Boston stretches the vertical boundaries, first-round pick KC Concepcion manipulates the space underneath. To understand his projection, look at how Head Coach Todd Monken weaponized Zay Flowers during his stint as Offensive Coordinator with the Baltimore Ravens.

Concepcion—the Paul Hornung Award winner as the nation’s most versatile athlete—is a dynamic chess piece. In his lone season at Texas A&M after transferring from NC State, he racked up 919 yards and 9 touchdowns while creating absolute chaos after the catch.

The Dropped-Pass Variable: Skeptics will quickly point out that Concepcion enters the professional ranks with a high collegiate drop rate hovering around 9.5%. But Flowers dropped around 10% of his collegiate targets as well. Flowers proved in Baltimore's system that high level coaching can stabilize those issues—converting his unreliable hands into successive 1,000-yard seasons. The Browns are betting on Monken to mold Concepcion in the same fashion. 

Concepcion tracks identically to Flowers in athletic dimensions and YAC efficiency:

Athletic / Production Metric	KC Concepcion	Zay Flowers (College Stats)
Height / Weight	5'11 ⅝" / 196 lbs	5'9" / 182 lbs
Relative Athletic Score (RAS)	8.85 (Unofficial)	8.29
Yards After Catch (YAC per Rec)	6.8 yards	6.5 yards
Special Teams Utility	2 Punt Return TDs (2025)	Heavy Jet-Sweep / Return History

Building the Berea Starting Five

With these two new draft investments, the Browns are no longer just searching for a "Number Two" receiver behind Jerry Jeudy. Instead, they have engineered a diverse unit that mimics a basketball starting five, forcing opposing defensive coordinators to choose which mismatch they want to surrender.

• The Point Guard (KC Concepcion): The slippery space creator who dominates the flat and turns short screen targets into chunk plays with elite short-area acceleration and elusiveness.
• The Two Guard (Isaiah Bond): The speed demon who leads the fast break, stretching linear safety boundaries and pulling the top off defensive zones.
• The Small Forward (Jerry Jeudy): The ultimate slasher. A technician and elite route runner who wins quickly against man coverage and slices through zone coverage to create instant throwing windows.
• The Power Forward (Cedric Tillman): The physical, heavy-bodied target who can box out smaller cornerbacks in the medium horizontal zones.
• The Center (Denzel Boston): The high-pointing aerial tower who plays above the rim inside the red zone.

The Bottom Line: By securing both Concepcion and Boston early in the 2026 NFL Draft, Andrew Berry has plugged the dyke in Cleveland's passing offense. This young core is younger, more athletic, and dynamic enough to create mismatches across all levels of the field.