Cleveland Browns: We were wrong about Jabrill Peppers

After his rookie season, Jabrill Peppers was out of position, and more importantly, out of the frying pan, and into the fire. But with another season nearly under his belt, he has transformed into a promising young safety for the Cleveland Browns

Jabrill Peppers is…weird. And right now, I mean that in the best way possible. Peppers is playing in his position, and therefore in his element, alongside veteran free safety Damarious Randall. His return game hasn’t exactly blown up yet, but you can see flashes. Peppers is a solid player, and has some chemistry with Randall that has helped the Cleveland Browns‘ secondary in a massive way. But a year ago, this would’ve been a totally different story.

Jabrill Peppers was…weird. And in 2017, I meant that in the worst way possible. Not only was Peppers playing 30-35 yards off the ball at points which is, by the way, not how he should be used. But, he was also playing totally out of position, but maybe that wasn’t the fault of the coaching.

Peppers is a classic case of “if you can play anywhere, you can really play nowhere,” or any saying along those lines. He came into the 2017 NFL Draft too small to be a linebacker, but too slow to be a safety. There could be a place for him at strong safety, but there was always a huge amount of doubt among experts over whether or not Peppers would excel at any NFL position.

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But, the one thing the experts did know about Peppers was that his athleticism was off the charts. Whatever team drafted him would be gifted with an athletic talent quite possibly like no other in the entire draft class. And of course, with the Cleveland Browns making a concerted effort to get more athletic and explosive in the 2017 draft, Peppers came to the Dawg Pound with the No. 25 overall pick.

And then, he had an absolute disaster of a rookie season. Peppers looked totally lost at points during the season, and again, that could be because he was playing out of position. As his own worst critic, Peppers knew he had to get better. But, it wasn’t until he had a true partner at the free safety position that he thrived with the Browns.

Ever since Damarious Randall took over at free safety and allowed Peppers to take over at free safety, the Michigan product has been terrific. He makes the big plays, and outside of a fumble in week seven against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he doesn’t make “the big mistake.”

Plain and simple, we as the NFL-loving public were wrong to write off Jabrill Peppers after just his rookie season. We were all so, so very wrong. Peppers is heading towards a Pro Bowler level at the strong safety position, and is part of one of the biggest strengths on a growing Cleveland Browns team.

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We were wrong about Jabrill Peppers, and it’s time to just enjoy the terrific play he, Damarious Randall, and the Browns’ secondary as a whole, are about to give us.

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