Analyzing the Cleveland Browns depth chart at safety
By Randy Gurzi
A veteran looking to rebound: Morgan Burnett
Once Jabrill Peppers was sent to the Giants, it looked as though Derrick Kindred was set to become the starting strong safety once again. Then he was surprisingly waived and suddenly the Browns were without an experienced starter next to Damarious Randall. It appeared as though the team was content to let some young players fight it out, but that wasn’t the case either as they ended up signing Morgan Burnett after he was released by the Pittsburgh Steelers.
A former teammate of Randall’s in Green Bay, Burnett had a subpar season in 2018, which was his only year with Pittsburgh. It was also a season in which he played out of position. The Steelers were in need of a free safety and much like Jabrill Peppers with the Browns in 2017, he struggled in this role. Now with Cleveland, he has some familiarity with Randall and Jermaine Whitehead but also will be playing his natural position.
Burnett is too much of a professional to ever try and blame struggles on anyone but himself — which is exactly what he did when talking about the difference between this season and last with Dan Labbe of Cleveland.com.
"“Of course you want to play your natural position where you can play faster and play fast,” Burnett said, “but honestly I just feel like it’s part of your job. There are some things about your job you may not like but at the end of the day you’ve got to be accountable to your teammates and find a way to get that job done and that’s wherever you line up at.” – Labbe, Cleveland.com"
What Cleveland fans know is that a player getting into a familiar role is always a good thing. We saw Damarious Randall have a huge season in 2018 doing just that and could see the same from Burnett as he looks to rebound.