Browns claim WR Damion Willis off waivers

The Cleveland Browns added wide receiver Damion Willis on Wednesday after claiming him off waivers from the Cincinnati Bengals.

Cleveland has not yet made a corresponding transaction to open up a roster spot for Willis as he first needs to clear the COVID-19 screening and testing protocol.

Willis joined the Bengals in 2019 as an undrafted free agent out of Troy. He played 10 games for Cincinnati, making two starts, and finished his rookie season with nine receptions for 82 yards.

It is an interesting move by the Browns. While Willis has the size that teams like in a wide receiver at 6-foot-3 and 204 pounds, he joins a wide receiver group in Cleveland that is already extremely crowded with 11 wide receivers already on the roster.

Willis may be more widely known for playing two seasons at East Mississippi Community College, which was featured on the first two seasons of the Netflix documentary Last Chance U.

Willis did not have a very prominent role on the show, however, as the told cincinnati.com in 2019:

“When I first got there, I didn’t even know they were coming. They came in the midst of fall camp. It was pretty good. I wasn’t like a star or nothing in it. You’d just see me walking in the background, see me walking to class or see me at practice or just catching the ball in the game. It was nothing like I was talking.”

In two seasons at Troy, Willis had 98 receptions for 1,496 yards and 13 touchdowns, 10 of which came in his senior year.