With the Cleveland Browns set up for a big year, these are the three defensive players who could have a huge impact.
The Cleveland Browns defense has been retooled but only time will tell if it’s an improvement on years past. With a lot of new faces on the team, it’s hard to predict if there’s going to be cohesion among the players. Yes, some spots got improved. Yes, some spots declined but a team is only as good as its ability to play as one. So there’s a strong chance that this Browns defense is every bit as good as fans hope it will be.
That said, to succeed as a unit, the team will need players to step up. That’s what this column will look at, what three players are poised for big years. To be clear, we’re not including Myles Garrett on this list. It’s too obvious of a pick and hopefully, he’s not the only player that steps up. While he’s known for his sacks, Garrett isn’t without critique as well. He needs to play an entire season and improve his ability to battle the run. If he even gets slightly better in either area, he’ll have a great year, which is expected regardless. That’s part of the point with why Garrett isn’t on the list. He’s expected to have a big year.
Everyone expects him to have a big year. He has to have a big year, especially after that contract he signed. There’s nothing interesting that can be said about Garrett in that regard. That’s why every other player on this is list is here. They’ve got question marks. Maybe they’ve had down years, or are replacing a star on this side of the ball.
So what three players have poised for a big year?
Denzel Ward
A former Pro Bowler starts off the list. Denzel Ward showed all sorts of talent in his rookie season and matched up well against most of the opposing wideouts. Yet in his sophomore season, he slumped a bit. By no means is anyone saying he’s garbage and the team should just move on, it’s just being said that by his own standards he didn’t reduplicate his rookie season in year number two.
Ward should be helped however by new safeties playing over the top of him. Whether it’s Karl Joseph, Grant Delpit, or Andrew Sendejo, Ward will have two (at times three) new safeties playing behind him to help cover up any holes in the secondary. The hope is those homerun passes that torched the Browns on occasion the last few years are a thing of the past. Part of making that a reality, however, is making sure Ward’s corner-mate Greedy Williams isn’t a liability. He could easily be a guy who doesn’t improve at all.
If there’s a weak side of the defensive secondary, then it won’t matter if Ward returns to form. Hopefully, that’s not the case.
Another reason why Ward should have a better 2020 is the fact that the Browns had improved the defensive line some, but one of their big additions opted out of the year. With Everson Griffen now in Dallas, and Jadeveon Clowney primed to start the season unsigned, there’s not a lot of options at defensive end that can help bolster the team. Should the Browns reverse their feelings on Clay Matthews III or actually pull off a trade for Yannick Ngakoue, then maybe the pass rush is enough to take significant pressure off of the secondary. Those moves seem unlikely, however.
Additions to the defense should see Ward return to form and if Andrew Berry does in fact live up to his promise of trying to improve the team no matter what point of the season it is, then Ward could get some late-season help still.
Ward should be back to his Pro Bowl ways in 2020.
Mack Wilson
Mack Wilson is the strongest option to come out of the Browns training camp as a starter. While he’s competing with B.J. Goodson, Sione Takitaki, and rookie Jacob Phillips for spot, Wilson is the only returning starter from the 2019 season, and while he still has to earn his place he’s expected to do just that.
Wilson may be the team’s new starter in the middle, replacing Pro Bowler Joe Schobert. Wilson may not be as good in coverage as Schobert was, but he’s going to have every opportunity to make his mark in the defense. All he has to do is match his predecessor’s aggressiveness in facing opposing offenses.
What may help him is an improved and healthy defensive line. A mostly improved defensively line that is. Yes, losing Andrew Billings hurt and it hurt bad. That said the Browns still drafted rookie Jordan Elliot in the third round and he’s going to see snaps, especially if Sheldon Richardson stumbles again in 2020 as he did in 2019.
Wilson’s presence and consistency will need to be felt right off the bat for this team to have any chance at all in succeeding. If the secondary is better behind him and the defensive line is better ahead of him, then Wilson will have a huge season.
Olivier Vernon
The Browns shouldn’t just expect a big-bounce-back year from Olivier Vernon, they need Vernon to step up. The Browns re-worked his deal so that he’d have a guaranteed contract for 2020, and in doing so gave him their faith. Is that faith deserved, however? Not if 2019 is a sign of things to come. The Browns expect Vernon to be healthy and if he’s healthy, they expect him to be productive.
He may very well be. A healthy Vernon has been a Pro Bowl-caliber talent in the past and the hope is that he can return to that former glory in 2019. The problem is, there isn’t anything to look to on this team that would make someone scream “yes, he’s going to have a huge year!” There’s no positional improvements around him or coaching change that hints that the player will see big plays in 2020.
All there is to this pick is hope. Hope that the front office has more than just a gut-instinct about Vernon. Some measurable evidence, practice performances, or offseason workouts that made head coach Kevin Stefanski salivate about the possibilities of Vernon in this system.
Maybe the possibility of running more three-safety dime packages make Vernon, a player who can play linebacker as well as a defensive end, an attractive commodity. He is highly versatile and with Joe Woods’ desire to run more multi-safety packages, a guy like Vernon may be a necessary component for those schemes.
You know, in theory.
If Vernon doesn’t have a big year, it will be his last year, at least with the Browns.