Cleveland Browns: 5 Takeaways from 2019 Senior Bowl

After a week of the Reese’s Senior Bowl, here are five thoughts for the Cleveland Browns as they approach adding to the roster.

The 2019 edition of the Reese’s Senior Bowl is completed and despite some issues with weather forcing them to move practice on one day, it was a first class event. One of the biggest indications of the success and most important details of the week is no one got injured. A few guys left early with some nicks, but no one is going to miss time that would impact their ability to train for the NFL Draft. That might be the most important result from the week, but there were a few takeaways specifically for the Cleveland Browns.

There will be discussions about players’s stocks and who helped themselves. The idea that players hurt themselves by competing doesn’t seem to hold water. Save a serious injury, players never seem to do anything worse than stay where they were entering the week. It’s simply an opportunity to get better and give teams a reason to remember a player.

Good or bad, teams will go back to the tape and try to get to the bottom of a player. A bad week, but a player with great tape, the team will try to figure out what happened but ultimately default to the tape. A great week, teams aren’t going to rely entirely on it and ignore the game tape. The hope is that a player took coaching and improved over the course of the event, which is valuable.

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Now, some thoughts that specifically pertain to the Cleveland Browns.

1. The Browns have yet another reason to be thrilled they have Baker Mayfield and Nick Chubb.

The quarterback play was questionable at best and there are cases for all eight quarterbacks as to who had the best week, which isn’t because they were all great, but rather no one was. Drew Lock will probably end up being the first quarterback chosen, but he didn’t do much to separate himself from quarterbacks that participated in the event unlikely to be picked until late day three of the draft, if they are drafted at all.

Running back is typically dominated by underclassmen, but the group that the Senior Bowl had was a struggle. The best player of the group was Wes Hills from Slippery Rock, who also shined at the NFLPA Game. He was good in the passing game, both as a receiver and blocker, but compare that to last year where Rashaad Penny was in the Senior Bowl and went in the first round. There are no shortage of reminders of how good the Browns are at these positions, but this week was yet another.

2. If the Browns can’t find edge rush help, it won’t be for lack of quality options.

This class is loaded with edge rushers and the Senior Bowl only emphasized that point. Jaylon Ferguson, Montez Sweat, Carl Granderson and Oshane Ximines are all attractive prospects. That was just the South team group.

Sweat may have had the best week of anyone and appears to have firmly entrenched himself as a first round pick. In a class full of undersized pass rushers, Sweat measured 6-6, 252 pounds with room to keep adding muscle to his frame. He had a great week too.

Ferguson came in with questions about the level of competition he faced and came with emphatic answers. Unless he absolutely bombs athletic testing, which seems quite unlikely, Ferguson will have a case to be one of the top pass rushers in the entire class. And he still might not be guaranteed a spot in the first round despite deserving it.

The Browns need more edge help to keep players like Myles Garrett fresh as well as allow them to keep up consistent pressure and allow the defense to vary up their looks. Zach Allen, Charles Omenihu both offer positional versatility but are at least nominally edge players and they looked good this week. The Browns will have plenty of opportunities to get great players at almost any point in the draft, so they can emphasize value and grab the best fits for them.

FORT WORTH, TX – DECEMBER 03: Justin Silmon #32 of the Kansas State Wildcats celebrates with Dalton Risner #71 of the Kansas State Wildcats, Reid Najvar #67 of the Kansas State Wildcats and Zach Reuter #15 of the Kansas State Wildcats after scoring a touchdown against the TCU Horned Frogs at Amon G. Carter Stadium on December 3, 2016 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)

3. The Offensive Tackle class is much better than 2018.

Looking back at the 2018 Senior Bowl roster, 2019’s group was a big improvement. Headlined by Andre Dillard of Washington State and Dalton Risner of Kansas State, who both had good weeks, the group overall has a lot to offer whether teams need help immediately or can wait and develop guys. Tytus Howard of Alabama State and Eli Udoh of Elon were impressive out of small schools, making early statements during the week and seemingly getting better as it progressed.

So much depends on how the Browns view their tackle situation. They might feel they want a frontline starter at left tackle and go looking for the next Joe Thomas. It’s also possible that they just want to keep adding talent and don’t need players to necessarily see the field early but have plenty to offer in the long run. This event and this year in general seem to have a decent number of opportunities to do both.

4. Defensive Tackle might be more difficult to address than initially thought.

There are a lot of talented options at defensive tackle and they will go at every level of the draft. However, save for Quinnen WIlliams from Alabama and likely Ed Oliver from Houston, they all have questions to answer and many of them need at least above average athletic testing results. None of them were in the Senior Bowl.

Khalen Saunders was arguably the star of the entire week with his story and his personality. He also had a productive week on the field. It’s not clear why he wasn’t more impactful as a player at Western Illinois. Unless they move someone like Zach Allen, Charles Omenihu or Anthony Nelson from Iowa, the likelihood is the Browns won’t be getting any defensive tackle help from the Senior Bowl.

The East-West Shrine Game had more to offer at this position in Daniel Wise from Kansas, Cortez Broughton from Cincinnati and Michael Dogbe, so perhaps this is nothing more than being a prisoner of the moment.

Nevertheless, it might be more reason to keep an eye on a player like Gerald McCoy and his situation with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as the Browns seek help for their 3-tech position and improve the defensive tackle position overall. The Browns should add about three defensive tackles in all an the draft may simply not have enough answers to do that for the coming season.

5. The Senior Bowl emphasizes the incredible number of talented wide receivers in this draft class.

There may not be a prospect like D.J. Moore in this draft class, but John Dorsey has never drafted a first round wide receiver anyway. The fact is, this another class where there will be what feels like 1,000 options that could come in and help the Browns day two, day three and after the draft.

Deebo Samuel from South Carolina might have had the best week of any receiver and looked remarkably similar to Antonio Callaway. UMass’s Andy Isabella showcased his speed and agility and could be a great weapon for Mayfield and Freddie Kitchens. Meanwhile, less heralded prospects such as Travis Fulgham of Old Dominion, Keelan Davis of UC Davis and Penny Hart of Georgia State all looked great and all could help the Browns in different capacities.

Mayfield being the talent that he is and having a coach that has shown the ability for scheme and call plays that Kitchens has makes it feel like every talented player is an option. Give them talented players and they’ll find ways to make them work. There won’t be any rush for the Browns to address this position and should be able to find the perfect fits for them with the talent they seek.