The Cleveland Browns not getting Javon Hargrave may be a blessing in disguise

The Cleveland Browns were in the hunt for former Philadelphia Eagles defensive tackle Javon Hargrave.

The Cleveland Browns have made modest investments in several key locations on the team, namely focusing on the defensive line, safeties, and wide receivers. The moves aren’t groundbreaking, but the hope is that they’ll be massive upgrades over what the team had last year; even if they aren’t Pro Bowl-caliber players that they’re adding.

The Browns did land Dalvin Tomlinson, a solid all-around defensive tackle who has a penchant for pass-rushing, but he wasn’t the guy the Browns originally wanted. The Browns, according to various reports, wanted Javon Hargrave, formerly of the Philadelphia Eagles. Hargrave was interested in the Browns as well, they were just one of two teams he was considering.

The San Francisco 49ers landed Hargrave, however, leaving the Browns to go with their secondary safety pick, Tomlinson. While not landing Hargrave may seem bad, it’s probably a blessing in disguise.

Javon Hargrave would not likely have improved the Cleveland Browns defense against the run

While the emphasis for this offseason has been to bolster the pass-rushing of the Browns front four, the fact is they needed players who can do both; stop the run and rush the quarterback. Tomlinson has fallen off against the run and Hargrave was one of the worst against the run since arriving in Philadelphia.

According to PFF, Hargrave, who was graded out around a 70 or higher against the run during his time in Pittsburgh, fell off terribly in Philadelphia. PFF gave Hargrave a score of 48.1 in 2020, 30.6 in 2021, and 48.2 in 2022.

The Eagles defense matched it in kind as the seasons went on. In 2020, the Eagles did well against the run, posting the 10th fewest yards per attempt. This is impressive as heck, as the Eagles were 5th in the league in attempts against and 10th in rushing yards given up. Imagine how bad the Eagles rushing defense would’ve been had they not had the talent around Hargrave.

2021 saw the Eagles have the 5th-lowest rushing yard per attempt, along with the 9th fewest rushing yards and 15th most rushing attempts. All sounds good, but then 2022 happened. The Eagles jumped to the 9th most in yards per attempt, while only 20th in attempts per game.

Another factor to consider, Hargrave was a rotation guy in Pittsburgh, playing around 40% of the defensive snaps. In Philadelphia, he jumped to nearly 70% of the snaps. Jim Schwartz saw how bad Hargrave had gotten against the run, as in 2022 he played nearly 64% of his snaps rushing the quarterback.

In some games, it was over 3:1 pass rushing vs. run stopping.

Hargrave was a guy the Browns could’ve used, but not at the price he came in. The Browns need to use guys like him and Tomlinson as additions to a strong front four, not building the front four around them.

Sadly, whether it had been Hargrave or Tomlinson, the Browns were seemingly always going to lean on a pass-rushing specialist in short-yardage situations.