Cleveland Browns Bring Fifth Wide Reciever on Pre-Draft Visit to Berea

The Browns aren't trying to hide which positions are peaking their interest during the pre-draft process.

Louisville Cardinals senior wide receiver Chris Bell (0) during a recent practice on August 4, 2025 before the start of the 2025 football season. In 2024, Bell had 43 receptions for 737 yards with four touchdowns. He averaged 17.1 yards per catch. | Matt Stone/Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Apparently, the Cleveland Browns aren’t trying to fool anyone when it comes to the positions they are focusing on the most leading up to the 2026 NFL Draft. 

Wide receiver figured prominently during the 2026 NFL Scouting Combine interviews, and now it keeps popping up again and again during the 30-visit portion of the pre-draft process. 

Louisville’s Chris Bell is the latest wideout prospect to visit the Browns’ facility in Berea, with the player himself revealing it on Instagram. 

Louisville WR Chris Bell met with the Cleveland Browns for a top 30 visit. pic.twitter.com/3m3aU7vnwZ

— Brandon Little (@BrandonLittleBL) March 18, 2026

Bell now joins Arizona State’s Jordyn Tyson, Ohio State’s Carnell Tate, USC’s Makai Lemon, and Indiana’s Omar Cooper Jr. as the wide receivers who’ve visited Cleveland formally. 

During the NFL Scouting Combine, the Browns met with Tyson, Tate, Lemon and Washington’s Denzel Boston, as well. 

What Chris Bell’s Visit to Berea Means for the Browns

While it may be just due diligence, looking for a baseline to compare with other prospects at the position, Bell’s visit could also mean something else: that Cleveland might be interested in adding more than wide receiver through the draft. 

Tyson, Tate and Lemon are universally considered the best available and surefire top-of-the first-round prospects, where Cleveland is slated to pick sixth. A little later on, Cooper and Boston should be coming off the board in the second half of the opening round or within the first few picks of day 2. The Browns also own the 24th overall pick and the 39th overall pick. 

However, Bell -- who’s coming off a 72-catch, 917-yard and six touchdown season cut short by a late ACL tear -- projects as a second or third round selection, meaning even the 39th pick might be a little too rich for him. According to the Mock Draft Database’s Big Board, the 6’2’’ 222-pound Bell is currently ranked as the 54th overall prospect, ninth among wideouts. If that ranking holds true, that would put him in bottom-half-of-the-second-round territory.

Would Cleveland really wait until the low end of the second round to add some wide receiver help? Not likely, considering all the attention they’ve been giving to top-tier prospects, and how the Browns’ wideouts performed in 2025. Only two wide receivers managed to catch a touchdown pass last year -- Jerry Jeudy and Cedric Tillman -- and none more than two. Jeudy led the position with 50 catches, with Tillman placing a distant second at just 21.

Bell’s presence could point to a multiple wideout draft, something that the Browns have done just once since 2019, when they selected David Bell in the third round and Michael Woods II in the fifth round of the 2022 NFL Draft, whiffing on both. 

During the Scouting Combine, the team also met with tight ends Eli Stowers from Vanderbilt and Oscar Delp from Georgia, reinforcing the Browns’ interest in pass-catchers.

And consider how suspiciously quiet the Browns have been regarding wideouts on the open market. Cleveland’s only addition to the passing game so far has been backup tight end Jack Stoll. Since no wide receivers have been signed or acquired via trade in an area of pressing need for the offense, it feels like the Browns are waiting for the draft.

What Chris Bell Could Offer to the Browns’ Passing Game

Bell is a big, physical wideout, who can line up on the outside but also work from the slot. He’s tough with the ball in his hands, and has been compared to A.J. Brown, Deebo Smuel and Rashee Rice, among others. 

NFL Network’s Lance Zierlein states that “Bell’s scores frequently came as a move target across the hashes, where he was able to use impressive build-up speed to eliminate angles and outrun everyone in the secondary to the paint.”

With the Browns needing at least two new wideouts for next season, if not three, taking a look at prospects that will fall out of the first round makes perfect sense for the Browns. As long as the ACL checks out for Bell, there could be a spot for him on Cleveland’s roster, alongside another rookie wide receiver.