Browns: Club needs to make big splashes to keep up with Ravens

The Baltimore Ravens just acquired DE Yannick Ngakoue and WR Dez Bryant; if the Browns are to compete they need to match their rivals move-for-move.

The Cleveland Browns had to deal with the news on Thursday that Dez Bryant and Yannick Ngakoue would be joining the AFC North rival Baltimore Ravens. While Bryant has been out of the league for a while now, Ngakoue was just dealt from a team that once had SuperBowl aspirations and is now clearly looking at recouping its losses ahead of what could be a fast rebuild. The Ravens already had a great offseason, may be better than the Browns. Now they’re getting even better and even if Bryant doesn’t play in a game, these are the types of moves the Browns need to be making.

Andrew Berry shouldn’t destroy the draft capital the team has, but they should be looking to improve that defense with guys who aren’t on expiring deals. The safeties he signed are largely ineffective. The corners have been a joke. The linebackers are still on missing posters. The additions the team has made have not improved anything.

In fact, the moves have made the team worse. Letting guys like Joe Schobert go was clearly the wrong decision.

The Browns need help on the defensive line to get some steady production. The team has one player (besides Myles Garret) with a sack since Week 3. For all of Olivier Vernon’s “pressures,” he has no sacks and nine tackles. It’s clear that almost doing something, isn’t the same as actually doing something. The Browns need a second pass rusher who can actually lay a hit on a quarterback and not just get close to him. This isn’t even a debate. For everyone screaming “they’re double-teaming Garrett”, a second pass rusher helps alleviate that.

The team needs a linebacker who can cover and blitz. They have none. Jacob Phillips looks lost out there, when Mack Wilson has played it hasn’t been well. B.J. Goodson is gobbling up tackles because they keep picking on him in the passing game. When opposing quarterbacks are tired, and the opposition decides to run the ball, they run it right down the throats of the Browns with relative ease. Cornerback Terrence Mitchell has been a disappointment and the safeties are struggling carrying the back end of the defense. It’s hard to actually know who on this defnse is holding the others back and who is actually good.

There aren’t a lot of defensive backs who can turn the tide that will be avalible, so focus on getting more pressure. Get guys who can make quarterbacks eat turf. That will help the secondary.

The team needs to make a move to get another defensive lineman and another linebacker at least. They can’t keep picking up scraps and acting like that’s the answer. GM Andrew Berry isn’t . “finding diamonds in the rough.” He’s bringing in non-union guys, while underusing shotty materials to rebuild your foundation at a cheap cost.

His defense is not good. They have to do something to improve it. Even if Greedy Willims is healthy, what will that matter? He wasn’t very good in the few games he played in 2019. The team has seen the injured guys play and they’re simply not hanging with the opposition.

If fans are so concerned about Baker Mayfield because “it’s a win-now team”, then you cannot argue with improving the defense mid-season. If this is “win now team” then they have to make moves to win now. Waiting for the draft and saving cap space for free agency is what you do when you’re building.

The Browns, if they want to push the Steelers and Ravens, have to make moves before the deadline.