Cleveland Browns: 3 safeties to target on Day 2
By Sam Penix
1. Andre Cisco, Syracuse
John Johnson may be one of the NFL’s best safeties, but he’s not a free safety. His range is solid, but he is not the type of player that you want playing the angel position, lined up 25 yards off the ball as the last line of defense. Johnson is far better playing in the box and using his exceptional instincts and vision to disrupt plays.
The same goes for Ronnie Harrison, who is also a box safety. Grant Delpit can be great as an angel, but that would also be a waste of his tremendous and unique skillset, if he is healthy.
That’s where a player like Andre Cisco can help out in a huge way. He suffered a torn ACL early last season, but should be good to go for 2021. He picked off 12 passes over his first two seasons at Syracuse and broke up 14 more. He has fantastic instincts and range, and while he can be too aggressive at times, that can be coached out of him.
Having Cisco back deep would allow Joe Woods to be much more creative with his 10 other defenders, leading to a more diverse and unpredictable defense that is much harder to move the ball against.
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Woods wants to eventually run a base dime defense, which would feature just one linebacker on the field. To do that, he’ll need more safeties, and the Browns can get him some good ones come the end of the month.