Cleveland Browns: Five ideal 2020 NFL Draft prospects
Xavier McKinney – S – Alabama
Xavier Mckinney is a prospect that could fill another rather large hole in the Browns defense. The secondary as a whole for Cleveland struggled in 2019. While some of that had to do with injuries plaguing both cornerbacks Denzel Ward and Greedy Williams, it also was due to the lack of quality play from the safety position.
Safety Damarious Randall seemingly quit on the team midway through the season, and nobody else was able to step up to take on the hole he left. McKinney, however, would be the perfect player to come in and fill the void in the back end of the secondary.
McKinney is one of the brightest defensive backs in this year’s class, and it shows on tape. He’s able to read the quarterback’s eyes really well, and make breaks on the ball and meet the receiver at the catch point and cause disruptions.
He’s not afraid to take chances and they usually pay off for him, either with pass breakups, forcing dropped passes or interceptions. He’s also incredibly quick, and when sent on a blitz from the outside, he’s able to get home more often than not.
McKinney even has the ability to line up in man-to-man coverage if needed and cause disruptions. He’s not necessarily a lock-down defender in pass coverage, and he does much better in a zone concept, but he’ll be able to perform well enough when needed in man coverage.
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McKinney is another one of those incredibly versatile players in this year’s defensive draft class, and a defensive mind like Joe Woods will be able to have fun finding unique ways to get him involved. If the Cleveland Browns truly want to see improvement in their defense as a whole, a safety that can do a little bit of everything like McKinney is exactly the kind of prospect they need.