Cleveland Browns bowl watch: Washington safety Budda Baker

The Cleveland Browns will look to continue their rebuilding efforts during the 2017 NFL Draft. Could Washington safety Budda Baker be on the team’s radar?

There is only one week remaining in the 2016 NFL regular season and the Cleveland Browns still do not know their final draft position.

This much we do know: the Browns are guaranteed to pick no worse than No. 2 overall in the 2017 NFL Draft and they hold a second first-round pick courtesy of the Philadelphia Eagles.

Where those picks fall will not be determined until after the final week of the season. If the Browns lose to the Pittsburgh Steelers, or win and then hope the San Francisco 49ers upset the Seattle Seahawks, then the Browns will lead off the draft with the first overall selection.

As for the second pick in the first round, the Browns would currently pick at No. 10. But to hold onto that spot they need the Eagles to lose their final game to the Dallas Cowboys, who have already clinched home-field advantage for the NFC playoffs.

Since draft talk is always welcome in Cleveland, and bowl season is in full swing, this is a great time to get one last look at some draft prospects at positions of need for the Browns in game action.

More from Dawg Pound Daily

The situation at safety has grown so dire for the Browns this year that they have resorted to playing 33-year-old cornerback Tramon Williams at the position.

One solution may come on day two of the draft in Washington safety Budda Baker, a three-year starter for the Huskies who finished this season with 65 tackles (8.5 for loss) and two interceptions.

Baker is part of a Washington secondary that has caught the attention of Alabama head coach Nick Saban in the run up to Saturday’s playoff game.

“They’re sort of a little bit Seattle Seahawk-like in the fact that we’re gonna do what we do and we’re gonna do it really well,” Saban said this week. “They do a great job of executing the things that they play. They do a great job of breaking on the ball.”

Pro Football Focus also has high praise for Baker and, if they are right, he checks off every box on what the Browns are missing from their current safeties:

"Budda Baker is a playmaking and versatile defender who has the quickness to play in the slot, the physicality to make run stops and the instincts to make plays on the back end. Baker is also one of the nation’s more effective blitzing safeties and has two sacks, two hits and two hurries and his pass rushing productivity rating of 22.1 ranks No. 3 among Power-5 safeties."

Baker has also been compared for current Arizona Cardinals defensive back Tyrann Mathieu, who was selected one pick after then-Browns front office executives Joe Banner and Michael Lombardi picked defensive back Leon McFadden in the 2013 NFL Draft. (True story!)

“He’s almost a Honey Badger [Tyrann Mathieu] type in terms of how athletic he is and his ability to diagnose plays,” USC offensive coordinator Tee Martin told Sports Illustrated. “When you watch Washington on film, you see him flash across the screen and it’s like, Oh boy. He’s everywhere.”

Budda hasn’t decided if he will enter the draft or not, but if he does he could easily be a player the Browns look at with one of their two second-round selections.

Next: Browns smart to move Cameron Erving

Washington will be in action on Dec. 31 at 3 p.m. when they take on Alabama in the Peach Bowl.

Home/Browns Draft