Browns: 5 best defensive players of the regular season

3. Olivier Vernon

I mean, who else is there? Olivier Vernon had nine sacks in four games. He bunched seven of them in three games. To say he was inconsistent is an understatement. If Cody Parkey failed to deliver as often as Vernon, he wouldn’t have made it past week three. Yet, different expectations for different positions, which I hate, but it is the way it is.

Vernon was traded to the Browns in exchange for Kevin Zeitler and honestly, that trade was awful for the Browns. While J.C. Tretter has been amazing, the Browns could’ve used Zeitler or Tretter at the right guard spot last year, or even at a tackle spot. Mostly due to the terrible play of the offensive line, the Browns got blasted in 2019.

Vernon, for his part, never lived up to the expectations, nor did his play ever justify the trade. He’s only had 12.5 sacks over the last two years and has only played in 24 games to boot. Considering what the Browns gave up for him, and subsequently Odell Beckham Jr. in a second trade to New York, you expected more from the former-Giants.

The really ironic part is that just as he started to show some consistency, he again got hurt and now his career is in jeopardy. Vernon suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon, a similar injury that Grant Delpit suffered in the offseason. Both players are going to have a long road ahead of them. For Vernon though, he played well enough for a depleted defense but fans across Browns nation had hoped for more.