Next moves for the Cleveland Browns in free agency

Linval Joseph – Defensive Tackle, Minnesota Vikings

After Myles Garrett was suspended in 2019, the Browns pass rush became non-existent which put tremendous pressure on a young group of defensive backs. Adding depth for 2020 is extremely important and I have a creative proposal to help.

The first piece of this would be agreeing to an extension with Olivier Vernon. Instead of the one year, $15 million, try and extend that to a two-year $20 million deal. Saving the team $5 million in 2020 and getting Vernon another year of big dollars. At this moment I don’t think Vernon would get more than that on the open market.

Bringing in a guy like Linval Joseph would then be a huge boost to the Browns run defense, and nothing helps young linebackers more than a great defensive front. You may be wondering, what about Larry Ogunjobi?

Ogunjobi and Sheldon Richardson have shown flexibility to pass rush from the outside, which gives you the flexibility to move everyone around besides Joseph. Joseph would only see the field 20-30 snaps on obvious running situations. Chad Thomas and Porter Gustin would have to pick up production when the top five guys need a break here and there.

After the first few days, it appears Andrew Berry is a more than capable as general manager, not that Browns fans had a doubt. The other bonus in a lot of scenarios above is connections with both Berry and Stefanski with multiple players coming from the Vikings and the Eagles.

Let’s sit back and watch Berry fill out the defense, hopefully as efficiently as he did the offense.