DEAL: Elijah Moore firmly involve in hot chase for former Jets teammate to join him in Cleveland Brown

RB Michael Carter had a strong rookie year but has fallen off, waived by Jets today

The Cleveland Browns are looking ahead to their Week 11 matchup with the Pittsburgh Steelers as the NFL world starts to divide itself between the contenders and pretenders. The Browns solidified themselves among the contenders categories in Week 10 and are now in contention for the top seed in the AFC playoff race.

Given the number of injuries that have befallen the team, Cleveland’s rise is impressive. That the run offense stayed afloat after RB Nick Chubb’s season-ending knee injury is a testament to the entire unit.

The waiving of RB Michael Carter says that the New York Jets know they are closer to pretenders than contenders at this point in time but Browns WR Elijah Moore is hopeful for a reunion with his former Jets teammate:

Carter had a stellar rookie campaign with New York rushing for 639 yards on just 147 carries. The following season he only got 114 attempts and this year he is down to eight. In 2.5 seasons, Carter has proven to be a reliable threat in the passing game as well accumulating 92 receptions including 15 this year.

Youngster RB Breece Hall and veteran RB Dalvin Cook have taken up most of the carries in the Big Apple (154 of the team’s 198) with QB Zach Wilson adding most of the rest with 29 attempts.

Jets CB Sauce Gardner made his feelings known about the move today:

For Carter and Moore to reunite in Cleveland, a ton of teams with higher waiver priority will have to pass on claiming the talented pass-catching back. While the above tweet references Carter being released, after the trade deadline all players are actually waived from the active roster and have to go through the claims process.

If 20-plus teams pass on the talented back, Browns GM Andrew Berry might have a difficult decision. Jerome Ford, Kareem Hunt and Pierre Strong have all shown value to the team this year. Berry would have to waive a player from another position if he valued having four running backs by claiming Carter.

Moore can want it and Carter could be a good fit for Cleveland but it seems unlikely to happen.