3 early Cleveland Browns defensive free agent targets

2. Denzel Perryman, Linebacker

This season, the Browns decided to treat the linebacker position as an afterthought. They released Christian Kirksey after a couple of seasons plagued by injury and then allowed Joe Schobert to walk in free agency. We can argue all day whether or not those moves were correct, but where the team really failed was in trying to replace them both.

General manager Andrew Berry and head coach Kevin Stefanski clearly didn’t see the role as that important as they signed only a couple of veteran players in B.J. Goodson and Malcolm Smith. In the draft, they landed Jacob Phillips from LSU in the third round, again showing they needed to add players but they weren’t exactly going out on a limb.

The result was as expected. The linebackers as a whole struggled this season for the Browns — and it was exacerbated by the injuries suffered by Mack Wilson and Phillips at different times this season and the COVID battles for Goodson.

While we can’t expect them to completely change their philosophy, Berry and Stefanski have to realize they need to improve this offseason. There have been calls for them to go after a player in the draft but they could try and fix the problem before then by landing Denzel Perryman from the Los Angeles Chargers.

A former second-round pick from Miami, Perryman is undersized at 5-foot-11 and 240-pounds but that has never been an issue for him. He’s great against the run and solid in pass coverage which is exactly what Cleveland needs. He might be pricey, but he would surely be worth every penny.