The Cleveland Browns fandom would be wise to keep an eye on Carson Schwesinger. The second-round pick out of UCLA has been nothing if not stellar through his time with Cleveland so far. He's had a good camp during the early parts of the summer, and his preseason performances both in practice and on game day have been noteworthy.
He was selected with the hope of being paired with Pro Bowler Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, but Owusu-Koramoah's long-term viability in the NFL is up in the air. Schwesinger is not just coming in anymore to pair with the former Notre Dame standout but to potentially replace him should he be forced out of the NFL due to injury.
That's a tall task, not just because Owusu-Koramoah was such a stellar talent, because he was, but because the Browns have had a history of missing on linebackers in the draft since the team came back in 1999. The team has drafted 23 linebackers since 1999, and of them all, three were any good. Those three were Christian Kirksey, Joe Schobert, and, of course, Owusu-Koramoah.
Of those names, the latter two went to the Pro Bowl. Yet, between 23 players and 26 years' worth of drafts, the position has only seen two men go to the Pro Bowl and just once each. That's pretty sad, all things considered. It was looking like Owusu-Koramoah was set to break that trend, but sadly, that may not be the case anymore.
That means all eyes are on Schwesinger. So far through camp, he's been stellar. While a second-round pick isn't something to shake a stick at, he's far exceeded his draft position so far. He played very well in limited action against the Carolina Panthers. He was the top-rated defensive player for the Browns according to PFF, and seemed to show a propensity against the run.
Now, it's unlikely to think he'd keep his PFF grade of 91.4 for the entire regular season, let alone the preseason, but the fact he's shown this much potential so far has many, ourselves included, thinking that Schwesinger could be a fringe Pro Bowl talent and a 10-year pro in the league.
It's not "all-time great" hype, but being a linebacker on the Cleveland Browns who got a second contract is really the entry point for "good linebackers" that the team has drafted. Right now, he seems like a player the team can build around on defense, and if that ends up becoming the case, this team may bounce back faster than expected.