3 Cleveland Browns secondary members that will move on to new teams
By Greg Newland
The Cleveland Browns went the one-year deal route with much of their secondary in 2020. First-year general manager Andrew Berry brought in Kevin Johnson (cornerback), Andrew Sendejo (safety), and Karl Joseph (safety) all on one-year agreements, and truthfully none added a ton of value.
On top of those three, veteran Terrance Mitchell will also be a free agent in 2021 after spending the last three seasons in Cleveland. All four of these players had a high snap count in 2020, but there will likely be big changes in the secondary in 2021.
The Browns secondary was constantly picked on for the entire 2020 season. When they would go zone opposing quarterbacks would pick us apart, and in man-to-man it seemed like someone got burnt for a touchdown every single time. Perhaps the most frustrating thing was how open running backs would be out of the backfield. Too often they would catch a swing out of the backfield behind the line of scrimmage and end up getting 10-15 yards on third and seven.
While the defense was bad in 2020, there is some cause for excitement in Cleveland. Not only will Berry be able to add talent in free agency, but the Browns will also get two crucial starters back for 2021.
Greedy Williams proved to be a solid second corner as a rookie in 2019 but didn’t play a snap in 2020 because of a shoulder injury. While it’s uncertain if he will ever be the same player he was, there were hints of him trying to return in the playoffs last year hinting he was starting to get healthy.
Grant Delpit is the second piece that will be returning. A rookie pick last year that has yet to play an NFL snap is no guarantee to be a contributor, but early in camp, he had the coaches excited about how quickly he was adjusting.
With so much up in the air with the roster currently, let’s look at three players in the secondary who likely won’t be on the roster in 2021.