Browns secondary: Stay or go in 2018?
By Thomas Moore
The Cleveland Browns have several roster decisions to make for 2018, with the secondary being a key point of interest.
The Cleveland Browns are currently working their way through another one of their “most important off seasons ever” as the franchise undergoes its latest rebuilding project.
But unlike their past attempts to turn themselves into an actual NFL franchise, this rebuild is taking on a different look and feel.
Executive vice president of football operations Sashi Brown did a considerable amount of work before he was fired late in the 2017 season, and because of that general manager John Dorsey has a solid foundation to build on.
Cleveland Browns
In addition to sound offensive and defensive lines, along with young, promising players at tight end, linebacker and in the secondary, Dorsey has somewhere north of $100 million in cap space at his disposal, along with 12 selections in the 2018 NFL Draft – including picks No. 1 and No. 4 in the first round, plus another three selections in the second round.
Dorsey needs to hold onto some of that cap space to start resigning players nearing the end of their rookie deals, running back Duke Johnson comes to mind, but the cap dollars, draft picks and unwritten NFL rule that a new general manager needs “his players” to make things work means that the roster will undergo changes between now and Week 1 of the regular season in September.
To that end, let’s take a look at the members of the secondary on the roster to determine who will likely still be in Orange and Brown come the fall, and who will be seeking employment elsewhere.
Current secondary
Cornerbacks: Briean Boddy-Calhoun, Mike Jordan, Jason McCourty. Reggie Porter, Denzel Rice, C.J. Smith, Jamar Taylor, B.W. Webb, Corey White and Howard Wilson
Safeties: Justin Currie, Trevon Hartfield, Derrick Kindred, Kai Nacua, Jabrill Peppers and Derron Smith
Contract status
Boddy-Calhoun, Currie, Hartfield, Jordan, McCourty, Nacua, Porter, Rice, Derron Smith, Webb and White are signed through 2018; Kindred and Taylor are signed through 2019; Peppers and Wilson are signed through 2020; C.J. Smith is an exclusive rights free agent. (Per spotrac.com)
Stay or Go?
The secondary is the one unit on the defensive side of the ball that should see the most change heading into the regular season this fall.
Those changes will start at the safety position, where Jabrill Peppers spent the season playing out of position as the deep safety in defensive coordinator Gregg Williams’ system.
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It will be a major surprise if the Browns don’t look to add a safety in the draft who is better suited for that role – Alabama’s Minkah Fitzpatrick, perhaps? — and move Peppers closer to the line of scrimmage, which will play to his strengths far better.
Even with those expected changes, Derrick Kindred has proven to be a solid player and can transition into a nice depth piece at the safety position. The same can be said of Kai Nacua, who showed enough in limited action last season that he should be able to hold down one of the backup positions.
At cornerback the Browns have already kicked the tires on free agent Vontae Davis and he won’t be the last name linked to the team in the coming weeks. (Keep an eye on Trumaine Johnson of the Los Angeles Rams and Malcolm Butler of the New England Patriots.)
After a promising first season with the Browns in 2016, Jamar Taylor had a problematic year last fall and is a candidate to be cut this spring as it would only cost the Browns $1.5 million in dead money to release him, according to spotrac.com.
Briean Boddy-Calhoun continued to be one of the league’s best slot cornerbacks, he received a grade of 84.5 from Pro Football Focus, and should be in line for a new contract as he is entering the final year of his contract.
The biggest surprise of the season came from veteran cornerback Jason McCourty, who joined the Browns as a free agent. McCourty led the team in interceptions and was consistently the best cornerback from week to week. His age, he will be 31 when the season starts, doesn’t make him a longterm answer, but he should have another good season or two in him and would be helped by the arrival of No. 1 cornerback to play opposite of him.
The big unknown is Howard Wilson, who missed his entire rookie year after suffering a knee injury in rookie minicamp. The Browns will want to see him go through training camp and the preseason before making any type of decision, but if healthy he should have a role on the team as a backup.
Next: Todd Haley to give Browns offense a makeover
The Browns have the cap space and draft assets to fill the major hole at safety and add additional talent at the cornerback position this offseason. The defensive front seven showed promise in 2017, and with a rebuilt secondary the defense should take another step forward this fall and turn into a unit that is fun to watch on Sundays.