5 Cleveland Browns players who need to step up this year
By Grant Puskar
Starting with Sheldon Richardson, here are 5 guys the Cleveland Browns need to step up their game this season to help the team produce more wins.
The Cleveland Browns have star talent all across the roster. One thing they need more production from are the areas where they don’t exactly have all of that star talent, but they have guys who should be producing at a higher level than they are currently.
Throughout this list, it is a mixed variety of younger guys on the roster along with guys who have been around for a few years now.
A guy who has been on multiple teams throughout his career and has been in the league quite a while now that the Browns need more out of? Sheldon Richardson.
No 5. Sheldon Richardson
Before last season and coming from the Vikings, Richardson signed a three-year, $37 million dollar deal with the Browns with $15 million guaranteed at signing as well as a $5 million signing bonus.
In his first season with the Browns, Richardson produced 62 total tackles with three sacks. While those numbers aren’t extremely low, they do not jump out at you, especially for a $37 million dollar contract.
Looking at that contract, Richardson is fully guaranteed $21 million throughout the life on the contract and is set to become a free agent in 2022. It seemed as though the Browns were filling one of their biggest needs after signing Richardson, but at times last year, it seemed like he was just taking up space.
If they can get a little more production and energy out of Richardson, it could be a huge boost to the defense and they would then be getting their money’s worth.