What is the story about?
The Cleveland Browns’ defense looked lost to open the season, and looked like a shadow of its former self from when Jim Schwartz was the defensive coordinator. There was hardly any pressure, the tackling was poor, and the playmaking was lacking. I know Myles Garrett is gone, but one player shouldn’t turn a defense to complete trash. Looking at the snap counts, there are a couple areas where some adjustments could be coming next week.
Below, we analyze the snap counts and stats on defense for the Cleveland
Browns’ Week 1 game against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Defensive Line
- We expected a lot from Jared Verse, and we got complete mediocrity, at least for one week. Verse graded out to around a 57.2 by PFF and did not generate any pressures.
- I thought Mason Graham made one of the bigger impacts defensively. It’s nice to see that right out of the gate after he started a bit slow as a rookie. PFF graded him as a 63.0.
- One of the biggest surprises with snap counts was how much action Adin Huntington saw. Perhaps we will see that number go down as veteran Maliek Collins gets more acclimated to football again. For what it’s worth, Huntington, Collins, and Mike Hall all graded poorly by PFF.
Linebacker
- It was a pedestrian game for Carson Schwesinger, who was around a 52.5 with his PFF grade. Quincy Williams, the new linebacker to the group, received the worst grade on defense with a 29.7. Maybe this is one of the reasons why:
- Tackling in general was an issue for Cleveland:
Cornerback
- Denzel Ward was the Browns’ top-graded player defensively, grading out to a 90.5. At least one player remained consistent on this defense.
- Myles Harden seemed to be picked on a bit early. He was one of the Browns’ lowest-ranked defenders on the day.
Safety
- Last, but not least, one of the surprises in terms of snap counts came at safety, where rookie Emmanuel McNeil-Warren only played 14 snaps (25%). It’s not that I expect him to be an everydown player, but I was envisioning his role being between 40-60% of the snaps each week as a big part of the defense. For the reps he did receive, he graded out to a 69.2, which was the third-highest on defense. It’ll be interesting to see if the team works him more into defensive packages moving forward.
- Ronnie Hickman did not have a good day. It wasn’t a great day for Grant Delpit either, but he at least made a play on a couple passes.
