Looking at the last three years of how players performed when being drafted in the same round as the players the Cleveland Browns picked.
It is tough to know what a rookie might produce in their rookie year, especially joining a roster like the Cleveland Browns in 2024 which has the most $10m+ a year players compared to a team like the New England Patriots currently which is lacking quality nearly everywhere you look.
What I wanted to do in this article is look at the last three years of players selected in the same round and same position as the players Andrew Berry added and see how other people had performed in their rookie years. Obviously a rookie season isn’t always going to define a player, we saw Genard Avery who started strong then tailed off and plenty of players who showed very little year one and went on to have Hall Of Fame careers.
This is the latest in a series of articles looking at the 2024 Cleveland Browns draft and what we can expect from the players they have added:
Here are the last three years of defensive tackles taken in the second round and their production year one:
2023 – 49, Steelers, Keeanu Benton
Snaps – 483
Pressure Rate – 8.1%
2023 – 53, Bears, Gervon Dexter
Snaps – 433
Pressure Rate – 9.8%
2022 – 47, Commanders, Phidarian Mathis
Snaps – 3 (injury)
Pressure Rate – 0
2021 – 38, Patriots, Christian Barmore
Snaps – 598
Pressure Rate – 12.1%
2021 – 41, Lions, Levi Onwuzurike
Snaps – 396
Pressure Rate – 1.6%
From this we can say a fair expectation for Hall would be to be somewhere in the region of 450-500 snaps this season and hopefully deliver a pressure rate between 8-12%.
Here are the last three years of guards taken in the third round and their production year one:
2023 – No Guards
2022 – 67, Giants, Joshua Ezeudu
Snaps – 290
Pressure Rate – 9.8%
2022 – 90, Raiders, Dylan Parham
Snaps – 1,036
Pressure Rate – 8.7%
2022 – 92, Packers, Sean Rhyan
Snaps – 0
Pressure Rate – N/A
2022 – 104, Rams, Logan Bruss
Snaps – 0 (injury)
Pressure Rate – N/A
2021 – 86, Vikings, Wyatt Davis
Snaps – 0
Pressure Rate – N/A
2021 – 94, Ravens, Ben Cleveland
Snaps – 367
Pressure Rate – 3.4%
2021 – 98, Broncos, Quinn Meinerz
Snaps – 623
Pressure Rate – 4.4%
It is certainly an underwhelming group in terms of their year one production, not that Zinter is ever going to see the field over Bitonio and Teller based on camp performances. Other than injuries his chances to see the field are as a sixth offensive lineman, if he can win this battle.
Here are the last three years of wide receivers taken in the fifth round and their production year one:
2023 – 150, Bills, Justin Shorter
Snaps – 0 (injury)
Receptions – N/A
Yards – N/A
Touchdowns – N/A
2023 – 159, Packers, Dontayvion Wicks
Snaps – 458
Receptions – 39
Yards – 580
Touchdowns – 4
2023 – 177, Rams, Puka Nacua
Snaps – 999
Receptions – 105
Yards – 1,486
Touchdowns – 6
2022 – 148, Bills, Khalil Shakir
Snaps – 274
Receptions – 10
Yards – 161
Touchdowns – 1
2022 – 162, Broncos, Montrell Washington
Snaps – 78
Receptions – 4
Yards – 2
Touchdowns -0
2022 – 163, Titans, Kyle Philips
Snaps – 64
Receptions – 8
Yards – 78
Touchdowns – 0
2021 – 157, Vikings, Ihmir Smith-Marsette
Snaps – 86
Receptions – 5
Yards – 116
Touchdowns – 2
2021 – 179, Cowboys, Simi Fehoko
Snaps – 7
Receptions – 0
Yards – 0
Touchdowns – 0
2021 – 181, Chiefs, Cornell Powell
Snaps – 0 (didn’t make 53)
Receptions – N/A
Yards – N/A
Touchdowns – N/A
If you get Puka Nacua then this Cleveland Browns class will be elite on the back of a fifth round pick but I am going to throw him out from this exercise as it is too much of an outlier. At the same time we have Powell who didn’t make the 53 and Fehoko with no catches.
You probably expect 50-100 snaps, around 10 receptions and 120 yards then hopefully he gets some luck with his first touchdown in his rookie year. But his first challenge is to make the team and then after that it is battling to make the game day roster before we get to playing snaps and maybe getting targets.
Here are the last three years of linebackers taken in the sixth round and their production year one:
2023 – 184, Jets, Zaire Barnes
Snaps – 0
2023 – 203, Vegas, Amari Burney
Snaps – 89
2023 – 216, 49ers, Dee Winters
Snaps – 61
2022 – 182, Giants, Darrian Beavers
Snaps – 0 (injury)
2022 – 188, Lions, Malcolm Rodriguez
Snaps – 611
2022 – 193, Cowboys, Devin Harper
Snaps – 0 (injured mid season)
2022 – 219, Titans, Chance Campbell
Snaps – 0 (injury)
2021 – 185, Chargers, Nick Niemann
Snaps – 67
2021 – 220, Packers, Isaiah McDuffie
Snaps – 1
From this I would say to expect less than 100 defensive snaps from Watson in year one. It will really come down to health but since the Browns play around two linebackers per snap on average if JOK & Hicks are healthy they will dominate them. Also at the same time if people are healthy and we see 0 rookie snaps that isn’t game over Fields had none but got time in years two and three.
2023 – 218, Bears, Travis Bell
Snaps – 0 (waived, 30 another team)
Pressure Rate – N/A
2023 – 227, Jags, Raymond Vohasek
Snaps – 0 (waived)
Pressure Rate – N/A
2023 – 231, Vegas, Nesta Jade Silvera
Snaps – 24 (waived mid season)
Pressure Rate – 0%
2023 – 243, Giants, Jordon Riley
Snaps – 135
Pressure Rate – 0%
2022 – 234, Packers, Jonathan Ford
Snaps – 0 (inactive all season)
Pressure Rate – N/A
2021 – 232, Panthers, Phil Hoskins
Snaps – 28
Pressure Rate – 9.1%
2021 – 250, Bears, Khyiris Tonga
Snaps – 217
Pressure Rate – 1.3%
My expectations for what Briggs could become have taken a hit looking at this, I had him with a 40% chance of making the roster but I think that might be too high. Getting on the team and making the year inactive every week is a good turnout for the player with the hope he can get a chance in training camp year two. But his most likely future is to the practice squad and then out of Cleveland because it is very rare to have much of a career outside of running back once you end up on a practice squad.
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