Dawgs By Nature
Adding a champion in NFL free agency did not help the Browns with Juan Thornhill
When the Cleveland Browns signed FS Juan Thornhill to a three year, $21 million deal, the expectation was that the championship pedigree from the Kansas City Chiefs would come with him. The Browns needed to replace S John Johnson III, another NFL free agency failure example, and Thornhill’s play with the Chiefs fit well in that role.
Cleveland fans know the end of the story with Thornhill’s effort often called into question by those fans, injuries limiting his time on the field and an overall disappointing two seasons before being released this offseason. The Pittsburgh Steelers jumped on the chance to sign Thornhill in free agency, then traded away Minkah Fitzpatrick in a move that will put more pressure on the former Browns and Chiefs defensive back.
While Cleveland fans see Thornhill’s time in a clear way, the player sees things differently:
“You can’t read into what the media is saying about me,” Thornhill said. “Because if you sit back and you watch the film of what I did in Cleveland, I had a lot of good plays. Some of the Cleveland people just tried to bash my name a little bit. If you sit there and really watch the film, I made a lot of plays and was very productive in that defense.”
The linked article even mentions the “Jog” Thornhill nickname that was often thrown around by fans.
According to Pro Football Focus, which does “watch the film” (even if imperfect like all evaluations), gave Thornhill his second lowest season grade of his career last year (65.5) including a paltry 45.0 grade in tackling. Overall, PFF had Thornhill graded as the 72nd safety in the NFL in 2024.
Is it possible that Thornhill proves himself right and Browns fans wrong with the Steelers? Of course, Cleveland fans have seen that play out far too often. If Pittsburgh is to benefit, Thornhill must stay healthy and be put in spots to be successful on a pretty stacked defense.
How would you grade Thornhill’s time with the Browns?
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