Cleveland Browns trade for former Pro Bowler Deion Jones misses the biggest issue

The Cleveland Browns have acquired former Pro Bowler linebacker Deion Jones from the Atlanta Falcons.

The Cleveland Browns are a trainwreck defensively and the only person to blame is Andrew Berry. Berry, seemingly, knows this. So hours after the worst running team in the league hung 200+ yards on the Browns, Berry, the GM of the team, swung a deal for Deion Jones. Jones is a former Pro Bowl linebacker from the Atlanta Falcons and is in the second to last year of his contract.

He’ll make just $1 million this year before the contract leaps up to just under $12 million in 2023. He’s been on the sideline all year after having off-season shoulder surgery. It’s unclear when he’ll be cleared to play.

Jones has been a solid player for most of his career, posting PFF grades of 68 or higher for each of his years in the NFL up until 2021. He declined in 2020, however, dropping from a 76.6 PFF grade to a 68.7 PFF grade. Those are good grades, but then in 2021, he posted just 34.6.

So his play has seemingly declined, even if his stats haven’t. Was his play declining due to his bad shoulder? If so then in theory he should be fine. If not, then the Browns only gave up a “late-round pick” and will have to eat $12 million over the next two years.

The trade will see the Browns get a 2024 7th-round pick and Jones, in exchange, the Browns will ship over a 6th-round pick for the same year.

The problem is, as bad as Jacob Phillips is (cut him, please), the biggest issue isn’t at linebacker. It’s at defensive tackle.

The Cleveland Browns need to address their defensive line

The trade for Jones is, seemingly, a good first step to improving the defense. The Browns needed to invest in the defense this offseason and didn’t and ended up letting some of their better run-stoppers go in free agency. They didn’t do much at all to address a defense that allowed a lot of big plays, and was largely inconsistent, especially at stopping opposing teams from scoring.

Getting Jones should help alleviate that, but the problem is that the defensive line is part of the problem. The team doesn’t have any defensive tackles to really rely on, and it looks it with these awful running games.

The best way to stop the run is up front and if your defensive tackles can’t keep your linebackers clean, then they can’t do their jobs. The defensive line as a whole has failed consistently this year against the run, and it’s unlikely Jones alone will improve the team’s defense.