3 hidden gems on Cleveland Browns 2021 roster
By Randy Gurzi
1. Troy Hill, Cornerback
General manager Andrew Berry had a fantastic run in free agency this season for the Browns. He made huge improvements to their defense as he added a couple of defensive ends in Jadeveon Clowney and Takk McKinley, a starting linebacker in Anthony Walker, and one of the best safeties in the game in John Johnson III.
Berry also picked up a new slot cornerback in Troy Hill and while we were all excited about his addition early on, many of us are guilty of overlooking him now. That’s not because Hill won’t be a great addition, it’s mostly just due to the fact that they landed Clowney later on in the period and also brought in some studs in the draft in Greg Newsome II and Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah.
As great as those moves were, the Hill signing is going to make a huge impact on this defense in 2020 simply because he’s one of the best in the league at what he does. In a recent article from Doug Farrar, he had Hill ranked as the sixth-best slot cornerback in the entire NFL.
"“While Jalen Ramsey was the Rams’ moveable chess piece in their defense last season, Hill was the primary slot defender, and a very good one. He allowed 44 slot receptions on 66 targets for 395 yards, 216 yards after the catch, one touchdown, three interceptions, and an opponent passer rating of 75.4.” — Farrar, Touchdown Wire"
Los Angeles had a great secondary in 2020 and as Farrar points out, Ramsey was the star of that unit. However, players such as Hill and Johnson were just as important to the success, and adding them to Cleveland’s roster will improve them greatly.
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As it stands now, there’s a lot of pressure on this defense to live up to the expectations but players such as Hill can handle that without any problem at all.