Door open for rookie linebackers to crack Browns’ starting lineup
GM Dorsey is a former linebacker, so he’d like see plays made there.
Browns rookie Mack Wilson explained his new team’s outlook at linebacker more succinctly than anyone else has.
“John Dorsey didn’t draft two inside linebackers for no reason,” Wilson said in June. “So I feel like there’s an opportunity.”
There is indeed an opportunity for Wilson and Sione Takitaki, another linebacker from the 2019 draft class, to make a real difference in the upcoming season. Training camp, which opens July 25, will provide them with a crucial test.
Based on the Browns picking Takitaki in the third round (No. 80 overall) out of Brigham Young University and Wilson in the fifth (No. 155) out of the University of Alabama, Takitaki is likely to earn significant playing time sooner than Wilson. Either way, the door is open for both of them to contribute.
When healthy, incumbent starting linebackers Joe Schobert and Christian Kirksey fall in the solid-to-good range at this point in their careers. Schobert is in the final year of his rookie
contract, so his status is a factor to consider while discussing the motive behind drafting Takitaki, 24, and Wilson, 21.
Still, Dorsey, the former Green Bay Packe rs linebacker who became a general manager, clearly wants more toughness and impact plays at the position he knows so well. That’s the main takeaway from listening to the Browns explain why they drafted Takitaki and Wilson in April. They view Takitaki as the epitome of toughness who has the makings of a defensive culture-changer and Wilson as a fluid, athletic defender who has the ability to produce special plays.
None of this guarantees Takitaki or Wi l son w ill crack the starting lineup this year. The possibility exists, though, and it’s more than a long shot.
Schobert and Kirksey were the first-team linebackers throughout spring practices, when new Browns defensive coordinator Steve Wilks used the nickel package far more frequently than his 4-3 base scheme. When three linebackers were on the field at the same time, free-agent pickup Adarius Taylor joined Schobert and Kirksey with the No. 1 defense. Taylor was on the strong side, Schob- ert in the middle and Kirksey on the weak side.
After Dorsey cut strong- side linebacker Jamie Collins in March, the GM touted 2018 fifth-round pick Genard Avery as a likely replace- ment. But Dorsey made the comment before he changed the linebacker landscape with the selections of Taki- taki and Wilson. In spring practices, Avery played the role of an edge rusher on the defensive line much more than the part of a linebacker.
Of the veterans in the linebacking corps, Schobert figures to be the biggest key.
He received a trip to the Pro Bowl in 2017 and then actually played better last season despite getting no Pro Bowl recognition whatsoever. A hamstring injury cost him three games and undoubtedly interfered with his bid.
Schobert, 25, had 103 tack- les, including three sacks, six passes defensed, an inter- ception, two forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries last season. ProFootballFocus.com ranked him 11th among 92 qualifying line- backers in 2018. He earned PFF’s second-highest coverage grade among lineback- ers with at least 500 snaps, finishing behind only Bobby Wagner of the Seattle Seahawks.
However, Schobert also became t he face of t he defense’s glaring prob- lem — missed tackles. The Browns missed 169 tack- les last season, according to PFF. They finished with the worst team tackling grade (34.8) the website has handed out since 2011. Per PFF, Schobert missed 24 tackles on 110 attempts, giving him an NFL-low 4.6 tackling efficiency among the 71 off-ball linebackers who had at least 400 defensive snaps last year.
The Browns obviously need Schobert to improve in this area. Whether he does should influence Dorsey’s decision about how to handle the expiring contract of the 2016 fourth-round pick (No. 99 overall) from the University of Wisconsin.
Kirksey, who will turn 27 on Aug. 31, has plenty to prove, too. He has yet to meet expectations tied to the four-year, $38 million contract extension, which includes $20 million guar- anteed, he signed in 2017. He appeared in every game of his career until last season, his fifth in the NFL, when he missed two games with an ankle injury and the final seven with a hamstring injury. In seven games, he had 43 tackles, five passes defensed, two interceptions and a fumble recovery.
Of 92 eligible linebackers, PFF ranked Kirksey 85th and Taylor 91st.
Taylor, 28, received 10 of his 16 career starts last season with the Tampa Bay Buc- caneers after Pro Bowl line- backer Kwon Alexander suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament on Oct. 21 against the Browns. Taylor finished the season with 60 tackles, including a sack, five passes defensed, an interception and a forced fumble.
After Taylor joined the Browns in March by signing a two-year, $5 million contract, which includes $1 million guaranteed, he said, “I came here to start.”
But Takitaki and Wilson arrived a month later with the same plan in mind.