Cleveland Browns bye week report cards: Linebackers
By Sam Penix
Mack Wilson – D
Mack Wilson was never the first-round prospect that some made him out to be, but the distinction of being an Alabama linebacker has propped up his reputation. He was dropped into the frying pan early last season after an injury to Christian Kirksey, and had more than his fair share of rookie growing pains.
However, by the end of the season, he was more or less a replacement-level LB, and that improvement gave reasons to be hopeful for his sophomore campaign. A knee injury suffered in camp delayed his 2020 debut, and he still doesn’t seem to be fully recovered from it. As such, his play has suffered, and he appears to have regressed. He doesn’t have the same speed or explosiveness he had before (his traits there weren’t great, but they were solid), but that doesn’t explain why he’s consistently a step late reacting to plays, whether it’s against the run or the pass.
Wilson can provide depth and special teams play, but as a fifth-round pick, he’s far from guaranteed a roster spot moving forward, and if he doesn’t show improvement over the second half of the season, he could very well be looking for a new job this offseason.
Jacob Phillips – N/A
A third-round pick out of LSU, a knee injury has limited Jacob Phillips to only 38 snaps across three games, so it’s hard to give him a grade on such a small sample size. However, when Phillips has been out there, it’s easy to see he’s a different level of athlete from the other guys in the LB room.
He’s extremely explosive and his speed has come into play near the line of scrimmage, as he’s been able to keep Lamar Jackson corraled and sniff out a reverse on separate plays. 38 snaps are far too small of a sample size to make any judgments on, but Phillips could easily be the best LB on the team right now. He just needs to stay healthy in order to show it.
Next. Cleveland Browns bye week report cards: Defensive line. dark
The linebacker position needs to improve significantly before next season, and there’s no reason to think it won’t. General manager Andrew Berry’s priority this offseason was the offensive line. Next year, he’ll have an entire defense to begin rebuilding.