Cleveland Browns: 3 Weakest positions heading into 2018
By Randy Gurzi
3. Safety
In the offseason, the Cleveland Browns tried to address the safety position, which was a major concern in 2017. They were forced to use college linebacker-turned-safety Jabrill Peppers in a deep safety role — and the results were beyond frustrating.
As a way to address the problem, the Browns traded quarterback DeShone Kizer to the Green Bay Packers in exchange for Damarious Randall. The addition allowed Peppers to move to a more fitting safety role.
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There are still a couple issues to worry about. One, Randall hasn’t played safety since his collegiate days at Arizona State. Sure, he was good enough to be selected in the first round, but during his tenure with the Packers, he played cornerback.
Thankfully, he proved to be a ballhawk there and should, in theory, stay that way moving to a more natural position. The only problem is that this theory hasn’t been tested just yet.
Issue No. 2 is the fact that Peppers is still a liability even at strong safety. He struggled as a rookie and the team has him listed ahead of Derrick Kindred — who really should be the starter. Other than Kindred, the only remaining safety on the roster is Briean Boddy-Calhoun.
Like Randall, Boddy-Calhoun has primarily played corner in the NFL. So, to recap, there are three guys learning new positions and the only one who has a proven track record at safety in the NFL is on the bench. We have to trust the coaches here, but it’s worrisome until proven otherwise.