The Cleveland Browns class of 2020 is getting reevaluated
The Cleveland Browns are mid-way through their third year under Andrew Berry and Kevin Stefanski. The team is a mess, they’re 10-14 over their last 24 games, and are one of the worst squads in the NFL for 2022. Some will blame Baker Mayfield and Jacoby Brissett but Mayfield got the team to the playoffs and Brissett has been really strong considering his physical limitations. The issue, at least over the last two years, has been a lack of talent around them.
The Browns have been one of the most hyped, but least proven teams over the last two seasons. Letting go of key veteran players, while replacing them with the drafted talent has helped highlight the issues this team has. The young players being called upon to step up have not and have failed in such a monumental way, it’s calling into question Berry’s ability to scout talent.
After all, it’s not just the guys he’s drafting but the guys he’s trading for and signing. He already had to eat a lot of money to get rid of Austin Hooper, one of his biggest free agent signings, and he has destroyed so much of the future cap paying for guys like Jadeveon Clowne, Amari Cooper, and Deshaun Watson, that this team’s window to win is now.
Having unreliable young players be the backbone of your team is exactly why we’re in this mess. So evaluating the draft picks is not only necessary, but it’s part of the evaluation needed to see what needs to be fixed.
Jedrick Wills OT (10th Overall)
Jedrick Wills is an average NFL Offensive lineman and should get a C for his play. Should. The reason why he isn’t is two-fold, and it both involves his position in the draft.
The first has to do with the fact that he’s the 10th overall pick, and was just the second offensive lineman taken that high. Only Andrew Thomas was taken higher. Due to that, there is more pressure on him to succeed. He’s too valuable of a pick to be average.
The second reason why he’s being more harshly graded is the fact that the best offensive tackle, Tristan Wirfs, was taken three spots later and has been one of the elite players in the league at the position.
We’re doubling down even more by the fact that another tackle they could’ve had, in the second round, is Ezra Cleveland. The tackle is now playing guard for the Vikings, and he’s been outplaying Wills as well. In fact, he’s one of the better run-blocking guards in the league. Imagine having him in the Browns’ offense next to Joel Bitono or Wyatt Teller.
The running game would be so much better and it’s already a Top 2 in the league.
I said after his rookie year and I’ll say it again, Wills can have a 10-year career in the NFL, but knowing he was a wasted pick will always be his legacy.
Grade: D+
S Grant Delpit (44th Overall)
Grant Delpit had a built-in excuse for his poor play after suffering an Achilles tendon tear as a rookie. He was out for an entire year and only came back in 2021. If he was terrible out of the gate, I don’t think people would be too surprised, after all, that’s often a career-ending or altering injury.
Yet, he came back in 2021, and while he wasn’t a star, he was fine. He posted a 63.3 rating on PFF for his overall defensive play while posting a 64.5 score for his coverage. He wasn’t great against the run but he was a solid guy to blitz.
It wasn’t a good season, but considering what he came off of, and what he showed in comparatively limited action, there was potential there. Yet, he’s completely fallen off in 2022. He’s now just posting a 55.0 grade on PFF, and a 47.8 grade for coverage. He’s fallen off, and there is no built-in excuse this time.
Made even worse, the only “good” game he had so far in 2022 was against Atlanta, and Marcus Mariota. Mariota threw just 19 times in the game and barely at all in the second half, with the Falcons rushing the ball 35 times. So Delpit’s loan good game isn’t even a “good game”. It was just a game where he wasn’t challenged.
Now you have to factor in as well the fact that he and Denzel Ward are at each other’s throats, and you can see that Delpit earned his grade.
Grade: D-
DT Jordan Elliott (88th Overall)
Jordan Elliot looked bad as a rookie, yet fans thought he could turn into something. We noted that he was playing as a reserved and that if he wasn’t playing well as a rotation piece, he’d be further exposed as a starter.
We were right. Elliot was a bad pick from the day he was drafted, and in 2022 that’s even more obvious. In his first season as a full-time starter, he’s posting just a 33.5 PFF grade for defense and a 32.4 grade for his run defense.
This will be the last and only year he starts in the NFL and if he’s not, then Andrew Berry should be fired for football malpractice.
Grade: F
ILB Jacob Phillips (97th Overall)
Jacob Phillips, like Jordan Elliot, never looked good from jump street. Helping further cement the idea that a rookie will tell you his prospects in year one. Phillips, like Elliot, never looked like an NFL starter, let alone a reliable backup. Instead of getting rid of them for guys who could be, Berry kept him around. Phillips can tackle, he has always had solid figures in that, but he gets swallowed up by guards and centers way too easily. That’s because he’s too slow to react and the interior offensive line can cut him off very easily.
It’s his third year in the NFL. He’s been playing ball for at least a decade. Learning how to move is year one, in high school, type of stuff. The fact his fundamentals are so bad is proof he shouldn’t be on this team next season.
Grade: F
TE Harrison Bryant (115th Overall)
This one is a pain to try to figure out. He’s not been bad, as Harrison Bryant has shown potential. The problem is that potential isn’t being properly examined and developed. He’s mostly blocking, which is horrid as he’s not a good run blocker, but shockingly a solid pass blocker.
The problem is that Bryant is in an offense that really doesn’t utilize him. The Browns really only throw to Amari Cooper and David Njoku and sometimes Donovan Peoples-Jones. That’s really it. Bryant isn’t getting used, so he can’t show off what he can or can’t do.
The Browns started putting Bryant out at receiver against Baltimore and that may be his best bet to fit in the offense going forward. He’s not elite fast, with just a 4.7 40-time, but Jarvis Landry posted a 4.8 when healthy. Goalline-to-goalline speed is overrated in the. It’s useful, sure, but it’s not necessary. If he can out-leap defensive backs as a receiver and pull down passes, he can have a solid NFL career.
I see a lot of Brian Finneran in him in that regard, though more mobile and agile. Until the Browns passing offense comes to fruition or Bryant goes to a better team, a C- is the best he’s going to earn.
Grade: C-
C Nick Harris (160th Overall)
The Cleveland Browns let J.C. Tretter go in the offseason for one reason and one reason alone (maybe), and that was that Andrew Berry drafted Nick Harris and he wanted Kevin Stefanski to start him. Harris was an interesting player prior to his injury. He played a few relief outings at guard, replacing Wyat Teller in 2020, and had solid run-block outings.
Yet, he was awful in the pass-blocking aspect. The Browns then saw him more reps in 2021, specifically at center, but he played against the Green Bay Packers, and they aren’t known for their all-out, blitz-the-quarterback type of defense. So it wasn’t exactly an accurate showing of what Harris could be or would be.
So 2022 was a huge year for the fifth-rounder, and ultimately he earned the starting job over Ethan Pocic. Then Harris suffered an injury that put him on the shelf for the entire 2022 campaign. Now the Browns are stuck in a situation where they have to decide if they can properly evaluate Harris after just one season before re-signing him.
Harris will be a free agent in 2024, and at the rate, he’s going, the Browns would be wise to not bring him back. He’s been unreliable and he hasn’t shown anything concrete.
Grade: D
WR Donovan Peoples-Jones (187th Overall)
Just as I held Jedrick Wills to a higher standard because of his place in the draft, I’m going to flip the script on Donovan Peoples-Jones. I’ve made it abundantly clear that I don’t think Peoples-Jones is a two-receiver kind of guy. He’s your third receiver on a good team. Yet, for a sixth-round pick to be that high? That’s not bad at all. Especially considering who he got drafted alongside.
Of the previous names already mentioned, Harrison Bryant may be the only guy I offer a new contract to. Yet, when Peoples-Jones comes up in discussion, if I’m Cleveland, I’m offering him a new deal. Today.
I’m not saying over-pay the man, but start talking turkey. See what he wants, and try to get him for a few years. Once the Browns land a second receiver and assume that Deshaun Watson is a “changed” man (I doubt it), then the Browns could have a really high-powered offense in 2023.
He’s only had 1,200+ yards across three seasons and he isn’t the best at getting open but most of his PFF grades that matter are all in the high 60s, which is a good thing. Peoples-Jones is the guy that fans will constantly point to when debates come up about late-round picks because he’s actually a serviceable talent.
Even though most late-round picks aren’t.