Dawgs By Nature
The defensive back room has several jobs up for grabs
Take a glance at the Cleveland Browns’ safety room. Satisfied with what you see?
After last year, this group was in big trouble. Only two safeties remained on the roster after Rodney McLeod retired after 13 seasons, D’Anthony Bell wasn’t given an extension and signed with the Seattle Seahawks in free agency, practice squad safety Trey Dean wasn’t re-signed, and GM Andrew Berry released Juan Thornhill with one more year remaining on his three-year deal.
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All that remained was starting strong safety Grant Delpit and the first sub off the bench in Ronnie Hickman. Yep, that was it.
It was assumed that Berry would select a young safety in this year’s NFL draft. The second-best safety prospect, Nick Emmanwori of South Carolina, was available when the Browns were on the clock at pick #33, which was the first pick in Round 2. Penn State’s Kevin Winston, Jr. was also on the board at pick #67, and again, Berry selected another player. Winston was ranked as the third-best safety in this year’s class.
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Luckily, Berry later inked three veterans: Damontae Kazee of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Rayshawn Jenkins from the Seattle Seahawks, and practice squad player Chris Edmonds. The veterans offer leadership, but they demonstrate different things for the back end of the defense.
After the draft concluded, Berry signed a safety that wasn’t selected: Donovan McMillon from Pittsburgh. And guess what? McMillon could very well make this roster.
McMillon is a Pennsylvania kid. He grew up in McMurray, just 22 miles south of Pittsburgh. He attended Peters Township High School, which has a total enrollment of just over 1,200 students for all four grades. He was a wrestler and played safety on the football squad.
As a member of the wrestling team, McMillon was the WPIAL and PIAA Class 3A runner-up at 182 pounds. He had more success playing football for a school that went 20-3 in his final two years.
In his senior season, McMillon became one of the WPIAL’s most sought-after players. Rated a four-star recruit by Rivals.com, he was ranked as the nation’s #6 safety and sixth-overall athlete in the State of Pennsylvania. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette puts out a “Fabulous 22” after each football season, which covers a large region, and McMillon was listed as one of the safeties.
His X handle is @donovanmcmillo3 while his Instagram is @donovan_mcmillon3.
The schools who attempted to recruit McMillon and either contacted him or made him an offer is a laundry list: Florida, Georgia, Miami of Ohio, LSU, Oregon, Liberty, Miami, Texas A&M, Air Force, Marshall, Oklahoma, Central Michigan, Notre Dame, Ole Miss, Coastal Carolina, Army, Michigan, Penn State, Old Dominion, Iowa, Eastern Michigan, Tennessee, Maryland, Kentucky, Arizona State, Rutgers, Pitt, Bowling Green, Virginia, UMass, Kent State, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Stanford, Akron, Northwestern, Boston College, Indiana, Harvard, Michigan State, Cincinnati, Duke, Vanderbilt, Syracuse, Toledo, Purdue, Buffalo, Penn, and...
