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Hue Jackson challenges Britt to 'step up' after 2-catch start

Scott R. Galvin / USA TODAY Sports

The Cleveland Browns need Kenny Britt to be better. There's no way around it.

With injuries to receivers Sammie Coates and Corey Coleman, Browns head coach Hue Jackson has been left with no choice but to demand more from Britt, who has just two catches in two weeks after signing a four-year, $32.5-million deal in March.

"I have challenged our guys every day and I have challenged him that he needs to step up and make plays and I think he will, I really do," Jackson said Thursday, according to ESPN's Pat McManamon.

Britt is currently eighth on the Browns in receiving while carrying the fifth-highest cap hit on the roster.

"We have to make some plays and we understand that these are the guys that we have and Kenny is the elder statesman in that room and I think he will raise up and help lead these young guys, and we will go play good this week," said Jackson.

Britt says he's fine with the challenge and that the conversation between he and Jackson was "man to man," but revealed the overall message was to simply do better.

"To step up," Britt said of Jackson's message. "Let me get my energy into practice and the film room, on and off the field, and in the classroom because we are moving down a path that we don't believe we were going to go. Oh-and-two is not where we wanted to be and it is not where we are going to stay.

"As long as we do the right things and do the small things that we have been missing the last two games, I believe that we can be contending in this league."

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