The Cleveland Browns have always had very good players for their defensive backfield. This year, that has changed.
The safety position was one of the strongest groups on the team last year. But since last season,
Juan Thornhill was released, D’Anthony Bell left for the Seattle Seahawks during free agency, who had led the Browns in special teams tackles, and Rodney McLeod retired. The only safeties still under contract were Grant Delpit and Ronnie Hickman.
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Browns GM Andrew Berry did not address safety in the April NFL draft as expected, but instead he signed two free agent veterans in Rayshawn Jenkins from the Seahawks and Demontae Kazee, formerly of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Also signed was Nik Needham, who could play both cornerback and safety.
DC Jim Schwartz likes to use three safeties in his defensive scheme.
Undrafted rookie free agent Donovan McMillan of Pitt was signed along with last year’s practice squad players, Trey Dean and Chris Edmonds.
It was expected that either Kazee or Jenkins would eventually grab the other starting safety spot opposite Delpit. But that hasn’t happened. Hickman has started all three games instead.
Jenkins is playing, but he is a mainstay on punt and kickoff coverage teams and only gets occasional reps with the defense. Kazee is barely playing, and McMillon is strictly a special teams (ST) guy currently. Here is the breakdown for all three games:
Bengals
Hickman: 3 tackles, 52 defensive snaps (100% of plays), 6 ST snaps (26% of plays)
Jenkins: 2 tackles, 15 defensive snaps (29%), 10 ST snaps (43%)
Kazee: 0 tackles, 0 defensive snaps, 9 ST snaps (39%)
McMillon: 1 tackle, 0 defensive snaps, 16 ST snaps (70%)
Ravens
Hickman: 3 tackles, 56 defensive snaps (100%), 11 ST snaps (26%)
Jenkins: 2 tackles, 13 defensive snaps (23%), 19 ST snaps (58%)
Kazee: 0 tackles, 2 defensive snaps (4%), 15 ST snaps (45%)
McMillon: 0 tackles, 0 defensive snaps, 23 ST snaps (70%)
Packers
Hickman: 4 tackles, 65 defensive snaps (100%), 0 ST snaps
Jenkins: 1 tackle, 12 defensive snaps (23%), 13 ST snaps (57%)
Kazee: Inactive
McMillon: 1 tackle, 0 defensive snaps, 16 ST snaps (70%)
The issue with the safety group is not Delpit, who currently has 18 total tackles, one tackle for loss, two batted passes, and one interception. The pick was pivotal in the Green Bay contest, which set up the Browns with a first-and-goal at the Packers’ seven-yard line. Before the pick, the Browns’ deepest penetration all game had been Green Bay’s 41-yard line.
This led to Cleveland’s first points of the game as Andre Szmyt booted a 35-yard field goal for a 10-3 score with just over five minutes left in regulation.
Last year, Delpit led the team in tackles with 111, with 80 the season before and 105 in 2022. Delpit is the stabilizing force in the backend of the defense and an important part of the run-stopping game.
Joining Delpit last season was seasoned veteran and coach on the field, Rodney McLeod, and at times, Juan Thornhill. But the backend of the defensive backfield is different this year.
Currently, the Browns are ranked #5 in pass defense and have allowed just 521 yards. However, they have just one interception and are ranked #5 in touchdowns allowed with six. That is a high number for three games. Teams have completed 66.2% of passes against Cleveland and six plays of 20+ yards and one of 40+.
Hickman became the default free safety starter this year when the Browns let Thornhill go with a year left on his deal. The two basically split time at the starting position, especially down the stretch when it was apparent that the team wasn’t going to make the playoffs. DC Schwartz began to insert the young safety in order for him to gain live-action experience.
The top quartet of Delpit, Hickman, and Jenkins has so far allowed Schwartz to play three safeties in his defensive schemes or rotate and keep them fresh.
Like Delpit, Hickman has played every snap this season. There are some issues with him, however. At times, he is slow to recognize where the ball is about to go, which makes him sluggish to get over and help the cornerback, who is usually in man coverage.
No doubt Hickman has taken on a much larger role this year, and doesn’t have the luxury of McLeod’s tutelage to lean on as with other seasons. He does possess the mindset that while the game is going on, it is all on him.
As a rookie, Hickman showed flashes. Last year, he gained a ton of experience as he played 463 snaps, or 42.71% of defensive snaps. Granted, the majority of that was in the final four games when the coaching staff had given up on Thornhill and inserted Hickman to play out the final games of the schedule, where he showed decent overall movement and good range.
He played well when he was on the field last year with a suspect defensive line that had been decimated by injuries, especially at the DT spot. But this year, the defensive line is proving to be a much-improved group with the addition of rookie Mason Graham, and free agent signees Maliek Collins and Adin Huntington.
A great D-line makes adequate defensive backs better. The real issue for the Browns this year is except for Delpit, there is a lack of speed at safety. Both Hickman and Jenkins take too long to recognize the play choice and close open field gaps. This exposes the Cleveland defensive backfield to way too many intermediate passes.
Delpit is currently the team’s third-ranked tackler with 18, while Hickman is ranked #6 with 13 total tackles.
With Hickman, there is a problem with consistency in coverage, particularly in disguising middle-of-the-field coverages. He is often late in getting over to help out, especially on deep throws. Often, he is 15-20 yards away when the play is being made without any assistance from him, which makes him a spectator instead of a participant.
He seems to have issues with the change of direction in short areas, and although he has good straight-line speed, he needs to wrap up more on tackles. In just three games, he already has two missed tackles. Hickman is active in run support, but he needs to work on his open-field tackling, which is average at best.
More games can be won this year if the Browns don’t develop complete liabilities in the safety group.
With Jenkins and Kazee not playing as much as expected, does Schwartz need to bring in another seasoned veteran to compete with Hickman?
The Houston Texans recently released S C.J. Gardner-Johnson. He is a former fourth-round pick of the New Orleans Saints and was with the Philadelphia Eagles last year, where he won a ring. The Eagles then traded him to Houston, but he suffered a knee injury in the early stages of training camp this year and avoided any serious damage.
After three games, the team decided to go in a different direction and released him. He is in his seventh NFL season and has 304 career tackles with four sacks and 18 interceptions. He had six interceptions last year alone. It has been divulged that Gardner-Johnson had problems with the Texans’ scheme, which caused lapses in coverage. His contract was for three years at $27 million.
The other top free agent safeties currently available include Marcus Williams ($14M), Justin Simmons ($7.5M), and Jordan Whitehead ($4.5M).
