Cleveland Browns: John Dorsey’s 5 best player additions
By Peter Smith
3. Drafting Genard Avery in the fifth round
One of the roads not taken by Dorsey in the draft was taking Harold Landry with either of his early second round picks. Landry has been outstanding in his rookie season for the Tennessee Titans. As nice as Landry would have been in the Browns defense, they came big later in the draft on pass rusher Genard Avery out of Memphis, which has been a coup for the defense.
Perhaps being labeled a tweener because he doesn’t have ideal length as a pass rusher or some teams potentially labeling him as a linebacker, he fell far later than his talent suggested it should. Initially being tabbed a MIKE linebacker, the Browns ultimately moved Avery to an edge rusher, which is a better use of his skills.
Because of the size of the Browns defensive line, Avery looks significantly smaller than the rest of the group and has the feel as more of a speed rusher. While he is agile and can flash speed off the edge, it’s important to remember (I have to remind myself) that he is a former power lifter with tremendous strength and is able to use it. He’s shown the ability to collapse the pocket and his size proves to be an asset as he’s able to get under the pads of opposing blockers and win with leverage.
It seems at least once per game Avery and Myles Garrett are both able to collapse the pocket from the edges with one, often Garrett, pushing the quarterback into Avery for a sack.
If Avery does nothing but operate as a role player attacking quarterbacks off the edge, that would be more than enough. The fact remains that Avery has experience playing linebacker and could keep developing as a SAM linebacker. In training camp, he’s flashed ability in coverage and could continue to improve there with work.
It’s possible that Avery could become the SAM backer in running situations where the Browns want more size on the defense, then go attack the quarterback in passing downs as an edge rusher. Obviously, he becomes an added threat on the blitz if he’s at linebacker, but if he can also play in coverage, he becomes a massive headaches for offenses having to account for him.