Cleveland Browns sign Derrick Kindred to rookie deal
By Thomas Moore
The Cleveland Browns have another draft pick under contract after agreeing to terms with safety Derrick Kindred.
The Cleveland Browns have added another draft pick to the fold, signing safety Derrick Kindred.
The team announced the transaction on its website.
The deal is reportedly a four-year contract worth about $2,839,356, including a $499,356 signing bonus, according to overthecap.com.
The Browns selected the 5-foot-10, 207-pound Kindred in the fourth round of the 2016 NFL Draft after seeing him earn First Team All-Big 12 honors at TCU. He played with a broken collarbone his senior year, but still started 13 games, recording 87 tackles and two interceptions.
Related: 5 Questions on Derrick Kindred
Surgery was an option, but Kindred did not want to let the team down in his final year.
“Either I had surgery and sat out the whole year; get surgery, put a plate in there and sit out eight weeks or I could play the whole season with it,” Kindred said shortly after the draft. “It was really just for the love of the game, I love to play the game so much.
More from Dawg Pound Daily
- How the Browns could maximize Nick Chubb in 2023
- Can Deshaun Watson get to Patrick Mahomes level for Cleveland Browns?
- 3 Cleveland Browns who should see an expanded role in 2023 and 1 who should not
- Is Marcus Davenport on the Browns radar in 2023?
- 5 Free agents from Super Bowl LVII Cleveland Browns should target
“That was my first serious injury and I really had to test myself and see how far I could really push myself. I felt like I learned a lot about myself doing that. I got to help my team out. I had to be a leader, I couldn’t go down right before the games started. I had to do what I had to do to help my team.”
While Kindred seems suited to play strong safety, NFL.com called him “an intimidating hitter” but also someone who “the more area he’s asked to cover, the more he is likely to struggle,” the Browns may have other ideas.
Kindred could be in the mix with second-year safety Ibraheim Campbell to fill the role vacated by Donte Whitner, but the Browns may be looking at Kindred as an option for the free safety spot, which is also up for grabs in training camp after Tashaun Gipson left in free agency to sign with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
“He’s got a well-rounded skill set from the safety position, athletic and fast enough to play from a deep half or roam the middle of the field as a post defender,” according to vice president of player personnel Andrew Berry.
Next: Browns: Reasonable expectations for 2016
Kindred fellow draft picks Corey Coleman, Emmanuel Ogbah, Jordan Payton, Rashard Higgins, Spencer Drango, Trey Caldwell and linebacker Scooby Wright III as draft picks the Browns now have under contract.