Cleveland Browns: 5 rookies primed to make immediate impact in 2022

The Cleveland Browns welcome their rookies to training camp on Friday and several of them could make an immediate impact and help the team

The Cleveland Browns welcome their rookies to training camp on Friday, July 22. The veterans return the following Tuesday, July 26th. There are nine newly drafted players coming in on Friday along with our rookies that had gone undrafted and signed as free agent rookies.

Cleveland has had a nice run of drafting a few players that have made an instant impact in recent years. Myles Garrett came in as the No. 1 pick of the 2017 NFL Draft and made waves right away, registering two sacks in his debut.

Baker Mayfield made a name for himself when the No. 1 draft pick in 2018, entered his first game as a rookie and led the team to a come-from-behind win — and it the first win for a team that hadn’t won in over 20 months.

Nick Chubb, Denzel Ward, Greg Newsome II, and Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah have all made their presence felt almost immediately when they began their careers in Cleveland.

So now this new group of rookies will get their opportunity. Some will get more of a chance early in the season than some. Let’s look at our first rookie.

Cleveland Browns rookies to make an immediate impact

Rookie No. 5 Cade York, K

The Browns drafted Cade York, from LSU in the fourth round, and he will now start the season as the team’s new placekicker.

Cleveland has really struggled the last few seasons in the kicking game and have gone through several kickers over that time.

Now, the Browns drafted York with the intent of him being the guy — meaning there won’t be a competition. For a young kicker coming out of college that could put a lot of pressure on him, and that’s a lot since kicking in Cleveland can be a challenge in itself.

The last great place kicker in Cleveland was Phil Dawson. Since he left the team back in 2012, the Browns have drafted two other placekickers — Zane Gonzalez in 2017 and Austin Seibert in 2019. While drafting a kicker could pan out, it’s more likely that it won’t. Even the great Phil Dawson was an undrafted rookie.

So we’ll see how York does. He is the most highly drafted kicker by the Browns in some time. I imagine there will be a lot of early season hype for York. How he handles that instant potential fame will have to be monitored as the season moves forward. Browns fans usually have a lot to say about their kicker so stayed tuned.