Cleveland Browns bye week report cards: Secondary

Giving out mid-term grades for the Cleveland Browns

The Cleveland Browns enter their bye week with a record of 5-3, and since they’ve played half their season, it’s a good time to give out mid-term report cards for each of the position groups. Last up is the Browns secondary, which has two starters on injured reserve and three others miss time this season.

Denzel Ward – B

Denzel Ward was the fourth overall pick in 2018, and while he made the Pro Bowl as a rookie, he’s decidedly the second-best cornerback in his class, after Jaire Alexander. Ward does rank seventh in the NFL in yards allowed per coverage snap at 0.78, but he’s also allowing a 107.0 passer rating when targeted, and has given up four touchdowns. He’s been fine, but isn’t playing at the elite shutdown-level that he’s shown he can. One area where Ward has shown improvement is in the run game and fighting through blocks to make tackles.

As Ward grows more comfortable in defensive coordinator Joe Woods’ scheme, he will hopefully improve and get back to where he was as a rookie. The majority of his negative plays this season have occurred when Ward has been in zone coverage as opposed to tight or pressman, which is his strength. Former defensive coordinator Steve Wilks was chastised last season for playing too much zone coverage when he had two man corners in Ward and Greedy Williams, but Woods has played just as much if not more zone to this point.

Regardless of whether it’s his strength or not, Ward was a top-five pick. He needs to be able to play zone. And he’s got to do it better than he’s shown this season.