Where the Cleveland Browns will get better and where they won’t
By Randy Gurzi
Worse: Safety
The only real downside to the trade for Odell Beckham, Jr. was that the Browns included Jabrill Peppers in the deal. After a rough first season with defensive coordinator Gregg Williams playing Peppers too deep, he moved closer to the line in 2018. This was something they could do thanks to the addition of Damarious Randall, who manned the free safety spot.
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Peppers improved in this role and started to win a lot of people over. He was even in on an impressive goal-line stop in Week 10 against the Atlanta Falcons — their first win in the post-Hue Jackson era.
With him gone, the Browns made a couple of moves but they don’t appear to be for the better. First, they traded for Eric Murray from the Kansas City Chiefs. He’s an asset on special teams but isn’t an ideal starter. This is why they then added Morgan Burnett, who spent last season with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
At first glance, this is a great move. However, after a longer look, you can see that Burnett wasn’t the same player last year as he was previously with the Green Bay Packers. He’s now 30-years old and lasted just one season of a three-year contract with the Steelers.
Granted, he could have just been a bad fit with Pittsburgh, which would make Dorsey look brilliant for making this move. Still, it’s a gamble to rely on him and they likely won’t get a full 16 games since he hasn’t accomplished that feat since 2012.