3 Browns players who could be nice surprises in 2024

1. Alex Wright, DE

A third-round pick out of Alabama-Birmingham in 2022, Alex Wright joined the Browns as a project player. He's well-built for the position at 6-foot-5 and 267 pounds but didn't play against elite competition in college.

The plan was to bring him along slowly but he did have to start five games in 2022 due to injuries suffered by Myles Garrett and Jadeveon Clowney at different points in the season. As a rookie, he had 28 tackles and batted down five passes at the line of scrimmage. The only thing he didn't do was record any sacks.

Wright was able to rectify that in 2023 by recording five sacks on the season. His first came in a Week 3 win over the Tennessee Titans and then he had a cold spell until Week 15. That's when he caught fire as Wright had one sack in each of the final four games — finishing with 13 tackles and four sacks down the stretch.

Now heading into his third season as a pro, Wright is a player on the verge of breaking out. He's still going to be a reserve since Za'Darius Smith was re-signed to a two-year deal, but it's going to be hard to keep him off the field for long if he keeps getting after the quarterback. That's a good problem to have since there's no such thing as too many pass rushers in the NFL.

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