5 role players Cleveland Browns should consider extending

3. DT Andrew Billings

The Browns defensive tackle room was quite bad last season, and a huge reason for that was the absence of Andrew Billings, who was signed to start but opted out due to concerns over COVID-19. That left Larry Ogunjobi playing out of position at one-tech, a role he struggled in. This made Sheldon Richardson less effective as well, but now Billings is back and ready to make an impact in an almost completely different room.

And an impact he will have. He’s a massive 6-1 325 pounds who provides the size and strength that Cleveland just did not have at DT last year, and has not had since Danny Shelton. Billings showed marked improvement in each season he played for the Cincinnati Bengals, and that should continue with the Browns.

He likely won’t be on the field on obvious passing downs, but the huge gaps up the middle of the Cleveland defense that were prevalent on a week-to-week basis in 2020 should be significantly decreased thanks to Billings.

DT is not an easy position for young players to perform well in, and Billings will provide a good degree of reliability and experience. That’s valuable, and extending him for another year or two should be discussed, depending on how guys like Tommy Togiai and Marvin Wilson look as rookies.