Cleveland Browns: 7-Round 2018 mock draft, Vol. 6
By Peter Smith
Round 6 (via NE): Joe Ostman, DE, Central Michigan – 6-2.25 253 lbs
- 81 solo tackles (7 percent), 34 tackles for loss (22.8 percent), 23 sacks (41.8 percent) and 6 forced fumbles in the past two seasons.
Age: Unavailable
40 Yard Dash: 4.75s
Broad Jump: 10’2″
Vertical: 36.5″
3-Cone: 7.06s
Shuttle: 4.3s
Bench: 31 reps
At some point, people are going to stop doubting Joe Ostman. Hopefully, it will be after the Browns have him on their roster and he’s hitting opposing quarterbacks. Ostman wasn’t invited to the Senior Bowl and instead went to the East-West Shrine Game, where he looked great. He didn’t get invited to the NFL Scouting Combine and he went out and looked great at his Pro Day.
Ostman’s production is absurd. And the tape shows just the extent. Most of the time, Ostman is the only guy on the Chippewas front doing much of anything and opponents still couldn’t slow him down. While many were falling over themselves over the performance of Josh Allen in the bowl game, Ostman was the best player on the field, recording a pair of sacks and wreaking havoc in general.
Ostman is undersized, but he’s strong, has a knack for finding his way to the ball and making plays, be it against the run or the pass. For the NFL, his primary role would be as an edge rusher, but he may be able to develop into more than that. He can conceivably play a rush end or outside linebacker focused on attacking the quarterback. His ability to fight through blocks, find his way through trash makes him offer more than just a pass rusher.
One of the things Jamie Collins was asked to do at times last year was come up and play as an edge rusher. He was a defensive end in college at Southern Miss. Despite that, he’s not very successful at it. Most of his success attacking the quarterback comes as a blitzer attacking A or B gap. If they still want that type of player that can do that, Ostman is potentially a better option. The Browns can’t have too many pass rushers and Ostman offers them more competition and helps them get to the best possible product for the season.