The Browns are going to roll out a completely new back end of the defense on Sunday. Let’s get to know these guys before we watch them play on Sunday
Cleveland’s injury bug has slammed the defensive group. The Browns defense is one of the best in all of football and up until this point in the season, they have successfully avoided the injury bug. This week that all changed.
Last week’s game against the Jacksonville Jaguars took a toll on this defensive group. They lost Maurice Hurst, Ogbo Okoronkwo, and Grant Delpit to (regular) season-ending injuries.
They will also be down safety Juan Thornhill who is battling a calf injury and All-Pro Denzel Ward is still listed as questionable.
If you do the math there, the Browns will be down their top three safeties that they came into the season with. Rodney McLeod and Grant Delpit are on the shelf with season-ending injuries and Juan Thornhill is unavailable for this one. That means we are going to see an entirely new group on the back end of the defense.
Going into Sunday, the Browns will go with these three guys at safety, Ronnie Hickman, D’Anthony Bell, and Duran Harmon. Hickman and Bell have been special teams guys all year so their names should be familiar, but Harmon is new to the program. It will be on these guys to keep the Browns in it on Sunday.
Hickman is a rookie undrafted free agent from Ohio State. The former Buckeye made his mark last week as he came in after Thornhill was a gameday scratch from the lineup and he played great. He finished Sunday with two tackles and one pass defensed in his first start. More importantly, he gave up no big plays against a great Jacksonville passing attack