The Browns snagged LSU safety Grant Delpit with the No. 44 overall pick of last year’s draft, which looked to be something of a steal considering Delpit’s upside. Unfortunately, the winner of the 2019 Jim Thorpe Award suffered a torn Achilles during the first week of training camp last August, thereby ending his rookie season before it could even begin.
To help fill the void, Cleveland traded for young Jaguars safety Ronnie Harrison, and it had signed Andrew Sendejo before the Delpit injury. Sendejo, however, was one of the worst safeties in the league in 2020 according to Pro Football Focus’ advanced metrics, and he remains a free agent. The Browns did sign former Ram John Johnson in free agency last month, and between him, Harrison — who was PFF’s ninth-best safety — and Delpit, Cleveland will have a young and talented safety corps for defensive coordinator Joe Woods to work with.
But it will still be a while before Delpit can return to the field. The 22-year-old tells Anthony Poisal of the team’s official website that he is a few months away from full medical clearance. “I’ve put so many hours in the weight room,” he said. “That’s just part of life when you’re playing in the league. I’m doing everything I can to get on the field.”
As Poisal writes, Delpit’s recovery timeline should allow him to be ready for the start of training camp. It’s hard to speculate on what his role might be until he gets a couple of weeks of work under him, but his coverage abilities and physicality suggest that he will be a major factor on a team that has made a number of additions to the defensive side of the ball this offseason and that is looking to build on its most successful season since it rejoined the NFL in 1999.
I had a few classes at Ohio University with Anthony Poisal. I love it every time his writing gets referenced on other sites.
That’s cool to root for someone you know like that. Neat that you know him.
Both of my parents are OU grads!
Delpit looked to be fantastic coming out of LSU, and I was really looking forward to seeing him play. But Johnson was magnificent in L.A., and Harrison is a rising star at this point as well. Delpit can play all over the field, and Harrison looks to be most natural as a strong safety. Johnson will likely start at free, which leaves the question of where Delpit will get his snaps. I suppose he’ll spell Johnson and Harrison, but if comes back strong, Delpit figures to be a full time caliber talent. Hard to figure how the snaps will distributed, but Cleveland also did seem to favor a two linebacker defense last year. Perhaps they’ll run three safeties with two linebackers, instead of three corners? It’ll be interesting to see how they play it.
It seems db’s and safeties get plenty of injuries so having 3 excellent safeties is more blessing than curse.
You hope players like this get back to the field and show how they can transform a game.