Cleveland Browns: The growth of Jabrill Peppers

Jabrill Peppers has been put in a tough position by the Cleveland Browns, but it’s starting to turn around and he’s an easy player to root for.

I wouldn’t have picked Jabrill Peppers if I was running the Cleveland Browns draft. I was focused on pure free safety and specifically wanted players like Chidobe Awuzie, selected by the Dallas Cowboys and Marcus Williams, now a member of the New Orleans Saints. And given the struggles the Browns have had at free safety and the fact that position is still a need, it’d be easy to just chalk it up as a win and move on.

But the way Peppers has handled this season, how he’s fought through it and is finally seeing results in a position he’s never played, it’s not only easy to like and root for Peppers, but it also suggests he can be a very good player.

When the Browns selected Peppers with the 25th overall pick, Hue Jackson came out and said they viewed him as a strong safety. Gregg Williams was hoping to double dip at the position and get a free safety to go with Peppers in Obi Melifonwu in the second round. The Browns ended up taking DeShone Kizer at the 52nd pick and Melifonwu went 56th to the Oakland Raiders. Save for signing an undrafted rookie in Kai Nacua, the Browns didn’t address free safety.

It might be a chicken or the egg conversation as to how Peppers got to free safety. Derrick Kindred may have legitimately been underrated by the staff and surprised them with what he could do at strong safety, which then basically left free safety for the rookie to play. It’s also possible that the Browns viewed this in terms of a best 11 equation and simply felt this way the best way for them to get the best 11 players on the field on defense. It’s not clear how they got there.

The bottom line is that Peppers was pressed into duty at free safety, a position he hadn’t played. This after Michigan defensive coordinator Don Brown asked Peppers to switch from strong safety to SAM linebacker for the sake of the Wolverines defense. In fact, Peppers was a corner in 2014, so he’s now playing his fourth different position in four years.

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The Wolverines were consistently gouged on the perimeter the year before, so the newly hired Brown took his best athlete to deal with the problem, having Peppers play with a consistent outside leverage to force opponents inside to what was a stout, but not terribly athletic interior. This resulted in a massive improvement to the Michigan defense even if it maybe wasn’t the greatest thing for Peppers in terms of his development. In both cases, when Peppers was asked to switch positions, he did so for the sake of the team without a hint of complaint, which is commendable.

The first half of this season has been a huge struggle for Peppers. He’s been a mess in space, been caught out of position, taken poor angles on plays that have resulted in missed tackles and simply not been able to make plays on the ball. Peppers looked lost. And every time he was asked about it, he didn’t make an excuse. He owned it and vowed to get better while maintaining what has been a great attitude.

This was on display the second he got to Cleveland. After he had been here basically 20 minutes, ESPN Cleveland had what amounted to be a hit piece, allowing then employee Sabrina Parr claim she had seen Peppers out in Cleveland on multiple drugs. She was fired for it, but it set an unfortunate tone and was incredibly irresponsible. Welcome to Cleveland, Jabrill.

Peppers did have a diluted sample at the combine and it’s not entirely clear why. For reasons that aren’t clear, prospects aren’t allowed to wait and retest to get a better sample. Regardless, the assumption is Peppers was guilty and had an illegal substance in his system, which would be the first failed drug test he’s ever had. He handled this fiasco from ESPN Cleveland and all of the questions about the diluted test with professionalism, as he has with everything else.

That attitude has been a constant that makes it easy to like Peppers and why it would be understandable that a team could fall in love with the kid in the draft process. Peppers has a tremendous attitude and has a natural charisma that makes people gravitate to him. Teammates loved him at Michigan and if Sunday is any indication, this locker room thinks the world of him already.

Since the bye week, Peppers has been substantially better. He’s been in far better position, he’s seeing the field better and he’s making plays on the ball. In his case, that means physically separating the receiver from the football with force. The way he’s going, Peppers could develop a reputation of being a bit of an intimidator as he has come down hill like a missile a few times to make big hits on opponents.

And that gets back to Sunday. Peppers was flagged for a personal foul for hitting a defenseless receiver. The hit was clean, the exact way the NFL has told players to hit. Peppers led with his shoulder, hit the receiver in the ‘strike zone’ in his trunk, knocking the ball loose. This was all while bringing the physicality the NFL loves to showcase in promos, highlights and anywhere else they can sell the sport. It was a bad call. And despite the call, this play is going to plastered everywhere the NFL and the Browns can, so keep an eye out for it.

To his credit, Peppers resisted the urge to complain. He said he needed to do a better job. His teammates on defense to a man all said the same thing. Don’t change a thing. And Peppers shouldn’t. It’s a frustrating call on a player that made a play that should’ve given the Browns a chance to tie the game and instead went against them, setting up the touchdown that sealed the game. It’s a shame for Peppers, but certainly won’t hold him back.

Peppers is still not a longterm free safety, but his experience this year could be valuable for him in the future. Presumably the Browns will try to take a true free safety and have Peppers move over to strong safety, since he can offer more at the position than Derrick Kindred can. The Browns should find ways to put Peppers, Kindred and a true free safety on the field at the same time.

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Peppers getting a better understanding for space and having to be responsible for the entire field and seeing the game in front of him could help him at strong safety. Having a much smaller area to be responsible for, he can hopefully be significantly more confident and aggressive.

The larger benefit may be enabling the Browns to have a much stronger Cover-2 look. Peppers and a free safety can divide the field in half, keep everything in front of them and come up and make plays on the ball. Peppers would have half the real estate to be responsible for as he does normally and that experience at free safety may give him substantially more confidence in understanding how and where opponents are trying to go with the ball, so he can anticipate and attack.

Being a strong safety with a good grounding in free safety rules and responsibilities can be extremely valuable. It opens up some defensive play calling options in terms of disguising defenses, blitzing the true free and having Peppers cover that spot, so on and so forth.

Additionally, the hope is that Peppers will use the upcoming offseason to get comfortable and effective in man coverage. The Browns are routinely butchered by opposing tight ends in part because they don’t jam them at the line of scrimmage as well as simply needing better coverage at specific positions.

It would be great if this is something that Peppers can add to his game. And if the Browns do want him to do this, he’ll be able to practice against players like David Njoku and Seth DeValve, who are both extremely athletic space players that can cause a number of problems. If Peppers can do it, he can really be a truly well-rounded safety that can do a bit of everything.

Next: 2017 NFL Picks, score predictions for Week 13

It remains to be seen how Jabrill Peppers will work out with the Cleveland Browns and there are no shortage of skeptics. They don’t believe he can cover, has no real position and was moved from safety at Michigan because he couldn’t play it. Of those who do believe in Peppers, the vast majority seems to stem from a belief in Peppers the person as well as the player. The Browns still need a free safety and although I wouldn’t have picked Peppers myself, I am excited to see how he’s going to grow and evolve as a player and find myself coming to like him more the more I see of him.