One of the areas, among many, that the Browns have struggled with on defense in recent years is tackling the opposing ball carrier, which is one aspect where Kentrell Brothers excels.
"Brothers plays with above average recognition skills and anticipation to beat blockers to the contact point, but for his high tackle production, he also misses several tackles due to his lack of ideal speed and length. However, he’s able to compensate for his average athleticism due to his competitive nature and superb instincts to be a tackling machine."
Meanwhile, NFL.com writes that Brothers is:
"Really fun to watch on tape with many of the same play traits that made TCU’s Paul Dawson so productive last season. Brothers is a decisive, rhythm linebacker whose understanding of space and ability to improve his tackle positioning at the point of attack should make him a consistently productive inside linebacker in the pros. While Brothers will lack the speed and overall athleticism that some teams covet, it would be a huge mistake to value athleticism over instincts and production when evaluating Brothers."
Brothers may not be an ideal every-down linebacker, but as a run stopper he would easily be near the top of the list among the Browns inside linebackers – especially if Danny Shelton continues to improve at nose tackle and eat up blockers.
And while he’s been compared to former Cleveland linebacker D’Qwell Jackson because of his tackling numbers, Brothers has shown, at least on the college level, an ability to make the kind of impact tackles that are not a part of Jackson’s game.
Brothers does have his warts, of course, as many draft experts point out that his height and short arms (30.75 inches) mean he often requires help in bringing down a ball carrier, and his lack of speed can hurt him in pursuit. He has been able to make up for that, however, because of his ability to quickly find the ball and, as NFL.com points out, “creases to tackle that many linebackers can’’t see.”
There is no way the Browns would look to select Brothers at the top of the second round, but if he is still on the board when they select in the third round (No. 65 overall) he is a player they may take a closer look at.