Cleveland Browns: Grant Delpit can emerge in second season

The Cleveland Browns have one of the best and deepest rosters in the NFL heading into the 2021 season. After the 2021 NFL Draft, it’s clear that one of the top contenders to the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC will be Cleveland, and that’s thanks large in part to some big hits in the Draft and free agency within the last three offseasons.

If Cleveland is going to get over the top in 2021, however, they are going to need to get a lot of guys healthy and have them stay healthy. One of the key players they have coming off of injury is obviously wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr., who has not really gotten to show the best of what he can do in Cleveland just yet.

Another former LSU player on the Cleveland Browns’ roster that is coming off of a season-ending injury in 2020 is 2020 draft pick Grant Delpit, a former All-American, All-SEC, Jim Thorpe Award selection who was a second-round pick a season ago.

Unfortunately, nobody got to see any of what Delpit can bring to the table as an NFL safety because he suffered an Achilles injury leading up to the season.

He’s slowly been working his way back to the field and getting back to full speed.

The Cleveland Browns used their first-round pick in the 2021 NFL Draft on Northwestern cornerback Greg Newsome II, and they managed to somehow land Notre Dame’s versatile linebacker/nickel/safety Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah in the second round.

With Delpit returning to the fold along with 2021 free agent pickups John Johnson III and Troy Hill (both from the Rams), fellow former LSU secondary mate Greedy Williams, Ronnie Harrison, and the star of the group Denzel Ward, it’s clear that Cleveland’s back end could be one of the most improved units in the league.

Delpit, at full strength, should be one of the best young safeties in the league at attacking and making plays on the ball when it’s in the air. Although coming out of LSU he was criticized for his tackling, Delpit has proven he can come downhill and make impact plays as a tackler.

The Browns have done a good job of building their secondary to the point that they can more than make it through an injury or two. This group has tremendous depth and a player like Delpit truly has star potential.

After dealing with an ankle injury in his final season at LSU followed by the Achilles in 2020, it’s fair to wonder if he’s going to be able to even be available to this team.

If that happens, the Cleveland Browns will have another ball hawk for their star-studded secondary.