3 surprise Cleveland Browns players who will have impact seasons in 2022
By Jacob Roach
Every season there are players that play major roles for the Cleveland Browns that are surprise contributors, let’s look at who it might be in 2022.
Whether it’s a guy like Peyton Hillis or D’Ernest Johnson, surprise impact players for the Cleveland Browns happen each year. Sometimes it is a player returning from injury, or a player that is now a starter because of someone else moving on.
Let’s take a look at three players that I think will have impact seasons that are not currently being talked about much.
Cleveland Browns surprise impact player No. 3- Jacob Phillips, linebacker
The most important thing for linebacker Jacob Phillips to have an impact season will be for him to stay healthy. In his two seasons with the Browns, he has only played in 13 games, missing most of last season with a torn bicep.
Phillips was a third-round pick in 2020 out of LSU, where he lead the national champion Tigers in tackles during his senior season with 113 tackles. He’s an athletic middle linebacker that has truly elite sideline to sideline speed. If you look at him when he is at his best he covers so much ground in such little time, especially against the run.
Phillips is the exact type of linebacker to have in the middle to go with Jeremiah Owusu-Koromoah, athletic and rangy. When playing in the AFC where there are plenty of athletic and mobile quarterbacks having two really athletic and fast linebackers on the field would go a long way in shutting them down.