Dawgs By Nature
Analyzing how Cleveland’s safety room was transformed so quickly
The Cleveland Browns entered the offseason in somewhat of a disarray at the safety position, especially once the team officially designated Juan Thornhill as a post-June 1st release.
At that point, only Grant Delpit and Ronnie Hickman had seen significant time on the backend of Cleveland’s defense for Jim Schwartz and Co.
It was initially reported in early April that the team had met with veteran S Rayshawn Jenkins, who seemed like a great fit for what the team needed, but he wasn’t signed following his visit.
Fast forward to a couple of days after the completion of rookie minicamp, and Jenkins has officially been signed, along with former Cowboys, Falcons, and Steelers S Damontae Kazee. It looks like Cleveland wanted to get an extended look at UDFA S Donovan McMillon and the other players in rookie minicamp before making any more roster decisions, which is understandable.
McMillon’s performance in minicamp went under the radar, but he looked pretty good moving around the field, and his 9.2 RAS Score was definitely on display over those three days of practice.
Rayshawn Jenkins and Kazee have experience at both safety positions at the NFL level, and they each bring a different style of play to Cleveland.
Jenkins is your prototypical box-safety who throws his body around and fits the run pretty well, while Kazee is more of an open-field free safety who can cover a lot of ground.
The team is sitting in a much better position right now than they were a month ago, and instead of there being some underwhelming “shew-ins” at the position due to lack of bodies and talent in the room, there could be some difficult cuts to make at the position now.
It’s going to be interesting to see how things play out over the summer months.
Are you confident in Cleveland’s safety room? Join fellow Browns fans in the comment section below.
