Cleveland Browns: 5 important veterans for 2016
By Thomas Moore
Just like Joe Haden, Paul Kruger is a holdover from the Ray Horton-led defense of 2013.
That season, Kruger’s first in Cleveland, was not his best as he had only 4.5 sacks and was mostly ineffective. He bounced back the following year in former head coach Mike Pettine’s defense, leading the team with 11 sacks before dropping off last season when Jim O’Neil took over as defensive coordinator.
The Browns added Emmanuel Ogbah in the second round of the draft to join Kruger, second-year player Nate Orchard and Barkevious Mingo in an attempt to finally find a way to get to the opposing quarterback on a consistent basis. In addition, the inside linebackers are flush with new players in Demario Davis, Justin Tuggle and Joe Schobert, who all need to learn just what it is that Horton expects from them.
Like Haden, Kruger can still be a key contributor on the field as last year was most likely an aberration, and help the linebackers figure things out.
“Any time you evaluate a good team, a successful team and successful defenses, you’ve got to have contributors at every level of the game and that includes rookies, that includes backups, and that includes obviously the starters,” Kruger told the team’s website. “That’s what’s exciting (as) there’s nothing else involved except getting our defense where it needs to be and winning games.”
Next: Defensive end Desmond Bryant