Browns must replace at least five starters on defense in 2023

3. Ronnie Harrison showed flashes of brilliance, but 2022 was a downer.

Ronnie Harrison started 23 games for the Browns after coming over from Jacksonville in exchange for a fifth round draft pick in 2020. Browns fans gloated at what a steal they had received. And perhaps it was worth it. He shored up a weakened secretary after a season-ending injury to Grant Delpit in 2020.

Pro Football Focus provides information that sometimes helps us interpret what we see on the field, and other times not so much. For example, in 2020, everyone seemed to have the general consensus that Harrison was lights out, right? Pro Football Focus reports that opposing quarterbacks had a rating of only 81.9. Yards per completion was a high 14.9 yards/rec which sounds like a high number. However, since the overall pass rating is low, Harrison must have been doing a good job. Okay, fine. Hence he was rated as a very good corner with a grade of 74.7. That sounds about right.

In 2022, he had a down year and was not used as much. However opposing quarterbacks had a miserable passer rating of 78.8 and only 8.5 yards per completion. This is worse than Johnny Manziel. So why is Harrison given a very poor grade in pass coverage? This is another unfathomable mystery known only to Pro Football Focus. Generally, however, the eyeball test is probably trustworthy when it tells us that 2022 was a down year for him.

The Browns have too many players who are good at playing box safety or strong safety, and there actually is no free safety. For that reason, losing Harrison may be tolerable if they can come up with a free safety to replace him.