Cleveland Browns mock draft: All defense edition
By Thomas Moore
Round 2, Pick 1 (33 overall): Budda Baker, Washington, Safety
The safety position was a sore spot all season long for the Browns, so let’s fix that right up in the second round with a pair of impact players.
Washington safety Budda Baker, a three-year starter for the Huskies, finished his final collegiate season with 65 tackles (8.5 for loss) and two interceptions.
Pro Football Focus 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.
“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.”
A player that makes you sit up and say “oh boy?” Yeah, that will work.
Round 2, Pick 20 (52 overall): Marcus Williams, Utah, Safety
Utah’s Marcus Williams (6-foot-1, 190 pounds) is a first-team All-Pac-12 safety as well as a first-team Pac-12 All-Academic selection, so he checks two of the boxes that the Browns are looking for from their players. He has been a starter at free safety since his freshman season, making 28 starts and missing just two games in his career.
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Those two games came this season when injury forced him to miss games against UCLA and Washington, but Williams still finished second in the Pac-12 with four interceptions and, according to Pro Football Focus, only missed three tackles all season – another area where the Browns need major help.
According to The Salt Lake-Tribune: “Williams’ game is powered by immense physical gifts: He has a 38-inch vertical leap (best on the team) that allows him to high-point passes. His sideline-to-sideline speed is probably the best among Utah’s defenders, and it’s rare to see a quarterback throw deep on Utah’s secondary and Williams not at least contest the targeted receiver.”
With a pair of second-round picks and huge holes in the secondary, Baker and Williams could be in play for the Browns on day two of the draft.