3 Cleveland Browns who should see an expanded role in 2023 and 1 who should not

Expanded role needed: Perrion Winfrey, DT

Early in the season, Perrion Winfrey was headed in the wrong direction. Heading into their Week 2 meeting with the New York Jets, Winfrey was disciplined by head coach Kevin Stefanski and Myles Garrett spoke out publicly.

While Garrett didn’t get into the specifics, he said the rookie needed to “learn how to be a pro.”

"“We’ve used our voice a couple of times and at the end of the day, he’s got to learn how to be a pro. [Coach] Kevin [Stefanski] took it into his own hands and he felt like that was the right thing to do, and I’m behind my coach’s actions totally.” — Garrett on Winfrey"

Making matters worse, when Winfrey was on the field, he wasn’t making much of an impact. He was a liability in the run game, which was never his strong suit, but also didn’t show much when rushing the passer.

His numbers weren’t eye-popping with 22 tackles, a half-sack, and three quarterback pressures but he was starting to jump off the film. His speed was evident and Winfrey seemed to be playing more freely while thinking less.

Cleveland isn’t exactly deep at defensive tackle so they’re going to need Winfrey to take a leap in 2023 and they need to give him the chance to do exactly that.