The Cleveland Browns defense made some significant upgrades in 2021. It took them some time to figure things out together but the additions of John Johnson III, Jadeveon Clowney, Anthony Walker, Greg Newsome II and Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah worked out very well for the team.
While the addition of Troy Hill left a lot to be desired and led him to be traded this offseason, GM Andrew Berry’s overhaul of the defense was impressive.
The Browns return most of the key pieces on their defense while adding a few other players. The development of Newsome and Owusu-Koramoah in their second years will be vital to the team’s success. Newsome is already being talked about as a Pro Bowl candidate.
If it were up to Pro Football Focus’ redraft, Cleveland wouldn’t have Newsome and would have had to use a much higher pick to get their linebacker. PFF has the New England Patriots selecting Newsome with the 15th overall pick while the Browns have to nab the Notre Dame product with their first round instead of their second-round pick.
On Newsome’s move up in the redraft:
Newsome may not have had an interception as a rookie, but he had eight pass breakups and showed some really sticky coverage all season.
As for JOK:
Another team to stick with one of their players but in a different draft spot, the Browns found a good one in Owusu-Koromoah, so much so that they would be happy to grab him again a round earlier. JOK looked like a defensive rookie of the year candidate early in the season before injury stalled his progress, but his all around skill set is game-changing for this defense. He had impressive PFF grades in every area except tackling, where 15 misses was more than you would like to see.
Thankfully, the Browns got both and are looking forward to seeing them develop in their sophomore seasons where more will be expected of them. Thankfully, the team has continued to surround them with talent to allow them to succeed and develop at the same time.