Cleveland Browns: 3 second-wave free agent targets

1. Adoree’ Jackson, Cornerback

In a bit of an unexpected move, the Tennessee Titans parted ways with cornerback Adoree’ Jackson, sending the former first-round pick into free agency. Coming out of USC, Jackson was an athletic phenom in the 2017 NFL Draft and had value as both a return man and a cornerback.

While his career as a return man never really took off as he hoped, Jackson did thrive as a defensive back. In fact, Steve Palazzolo of PFF tweeted that he was fourth in the NFL in coverage grade when lined up on the outside.

Granted, he has missed a lot of time in the past two seasons. Jackson was sidelined for five games in 2019 and then only played in three contests in 2020 due to a knee injury. Even with the injury, it seemed likely the Titans would have kept him around for his fifth season, but that plan changed.

Now on the open market, Jackson becomes one of the hottest names and he also happens to play a position of great need for the Browns. Currently, Denzel Ward has one starting job locked down but there are a lot of questions outside of that.

Both Terrance Mitchell and Kevin Johnson are free agents and Greedy Williams missed all of 2020 with a nerve issue in his shoulder. The hope is that Williams will return, but there’s no guarantee that he will be 100 percent.

For that reason, the Browns would be wise to add someone such as Jackson, who could step in and be a starter right away. And even if Williams is healthy, it’s not as if having three capable players is a bad thing. In fact, it’s a necessity in today’s NFL.