The Cleveland Browns absolutely have glaring needs still

The Cleveland Browns still have glaring needs.

The Cleveland Browns are not done filling glaring holes, not even by a long shot. The team still needs help on the edges, at linebacker, at safety, and at defensive tackle. We’re not just talking depth, we’re talking at least one, if not three potential starters in all three positions.

The Browns need a second-starting defensive tackle. They made a nice move to get Dalvin Tomlinson, but he’s an average starter at best, which is good for the Browns, but he’s not so good you can just put anyone next to him. He’s not Aaron Donald. The Browns also will likely need a third starting-caliber safety, as Grant Delpit is inconsistent at best in coverage. The Browns will likely need another linebacker as well, as two of their three players are coming off of season-ending injuries that required surgery, and a third, Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah has missed significant time already in his first two seasons

So the defense still needs starting-caliber talent, and the offense needs depth, especially at the offensive line and receiver positions. Assuming Deshaun Watson returns to form, you should be set at quarterback, as I think Joshua Dobbs is good enough to win you half of your games, as long as Nick Chubb is healthy. And that’s about all you can ask out of a backup.

But for Jake Trotter of ESPN to say the Browns have no “glaring needs” is just flat-out wrong.

"Though they still have work to do — namely improving the quality of depth across the front seven — the Browns enter this draft without any glaring needs."

The Cleveland Browns have glaring needs and need to prioritize them early

I’m not a fan of the “best player available” methodology, at least in its rawest definition. No matter the need, you take the best player on your board. That’s a general idea. Now, there’s a modified one that many like to go with, where if you have three positions that need help, you take the best player available for those three positions. That’s the goal for this draft, but even then, it’s important to remember that one position, defensive tackle, has to be addressed first.

There are exceptions, obviously. If someone like Andre Carter falls to the Browns in the third round, you take him and then worry about defensive tackle with your next pick. For me it’d be Carter, for Andrew Berry, it could be whomever, but short of that type of player falling, the Browns have to concentrate on getting a second starter at defensive tackle, as they don’t have one.

Jordan Elliot and Tommy Togiai are likely to be cut or should be. Perrion Winfrey may not be on the team by the time August rolls around, and who else do the Browns have besides Tomlinson? Even if those three names are still on the team, none of them have proven to be starting-caliber players in the league. Sure, Winfrey could take the next step and leap up in production, but usually what a player does as a rookie is what he’ll do in his second year.

It’s not always the case, but it’s most often the case. Winfrey proved he’s not as good as his pre-draft hype said he was, and he also proved to be unreliable on and off the field. You can hold out for him, or you can set yourself up for success.

Prioritize a second starter and make the defense what it should be; a unit that can stop teams, not one that bends but doesn’t break (or just breaks).