Cleveland Browns: Top 5 prospects to watch during Scouting Combine
By Randy Gurzi
Back in 2018, the Browns were solid at safety. Damarious Randall was added in an offseason trade as general manager John Dorsey sent former starting quarterback DeShone Kizer to the Green Bay Packers for the former cornerback who converted back to free safety — the position he played collegiately at Arizona State University.
Randall thrived once he was in Cleveland and quickly became a leader for his new team. His arrival also allowed Jabrill Peppers to play closer to the line of scrimmage, which saw him performing at a much higher level than in 2017 when Gregg Williams lined him up in the middle of Lake Eerie.
Unfortunately, that duo didn’t stick around long. Peppers was traded away in the deal with the New York Giants for Odell Beckham, Jr. and that left Randall to work with Jermaine Whitehead and Morgan Burnett. This led to a significant drop-off and ended with Whitehead off the team after threatening to kill a reporter and Burnett sidelined with a torn ACL.
light. More. Grading Cleveland Browns position groups
As for Randall, he was clearly unhappy in 2019. Playing on the final year of his rookie deal, Randall allowed his frustrations of not having job security affect his play. He was a non-factor all season and will surely be gone in 2020.
With that being the case, Cleveland needs to look at both strong safeties and free safeties. As for the centerfield-type, there might not be a better fit than Ashtyn Davis out of Cal. What makes him ideal for the Browns is that he will be around during Day 2 of the draft, which is great since that allows them to focus on other needs first.
And if they did wait and land Davis later, they wouldn’t be getting some consolation prize. Davis is a legit NFL player who had seven interceptions and nine pass break-ups over the past three seasons for the Golden Bears. He’s solid as a centerfield safety but can also wrap up and make plenty of tackles despite weighing in at just 195-pounds. He’s a player to watch at the Combine and could be exactly what this defense needs.