Cleveland Browns Film Room: The Defensive Tackle Room Must Step Up
The defensive tackle position might be the Cleveland Browns' biggest flaw this season, and the team is running out of time to find answers from the crowded young group.
Defensive tackle was a problem for the Browns in 2020. Both Sheldon Richardson and Larry Ogunjobi played a very high number of snaps because there was no quality depth behind them, and Ogunjobi in particular struggled.
Both players are gone, and only Jordan Elliott returns from the 2020 roster. The Browns went with quantity over quality in addressing the DT room this time around, bringing in six new players plus Andrew Billings, who opted out last year. There are likely five, potentially six DT spots open, and seven players competing for them.
The problem is that the performance of the group as a whole has been poor. It’s not encouraging to see your starting 1-tech get pushed around by backups in the preseason, or your talented rookies do practically nothing on extended snaps. There is lots of potential to work with, but to this point, it’s pretty much all potential, and that needs to change, otherwise this defense will get gashed on the ground and the EDGE duo of Myles Garret and Jadeveon Clowney will not be as effective.
Malik Jackson is the elder statesman of the room. He’ll turn 32 in January, and isn’t the player he was five years ago, but he should still provide quality pass-rushing ability as the starting three-tech, perhaps even an upgrade over Richardson. The plan was to have a good rotation so Jackson wouldn’t be playing over 900 snaps like Richardson did last year.
Starting alongside Jackson will be the massive Andrew Billings, who spent his first four seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals, showing improvement each year. He doesn’t provide much as a rusher, but his 6-1 325-pound frame eats up space and allows him to anchor a run defense. At least, that’s what’s supposed to happen.
Billings showed up to camp “overweight”, and the team has been trying to shake the rust off of him this preseason. He’s played 22 snaps through two games, and he looks rusty. He’s been blown off the ball by second and third-stringers and isn’t showcasing the power or anchor that he had in Cincinnati.
To be fair, this is his first game action in over a calendar year, and preseason performance certainly does not indicate regular season performance, so Billings has plenty of time to get back into his groove. Still, his play thus far has been discouraging, leading many fans to want him cut. That is highly unlikely to happen for two main reasons. First, Billings carries a $3.3 million dead cap hit if released. That number drops to $1.35 million if traded instead, but if the Browns, who needed DT help in the worst way, don’t want him, why would another team give up capital to trade for him?
The second reason is that the two players who would presumably fill the role of starting one-tech, rookies Tommy Togiai and Marvin Wilson, have played quite poorly, which is disappointing, but not entirely surprising. Defensive tackle is one of the most difficult positions for rookies to play, because of the dramatic improvement in size, strength, athleticism, and technique from the college ranks to the NFL.
Togiai is still 21 years old and logged just 659 snaps over his collegiate career. He was extremely impressive in 2020, but on a sample size of less than 300 snaps. That isn’t a lot of experience, and it’s showed in the preseason. He’s shown essentially zero technical prowess or rush plan, content to simply attempt to push his way into the backfield. Togiai is very strong, but so are NFL players, so this hasn’t worked out very well for him.
He’s a fourth-round pick, so it’s unlikely he’ll be cut, but based on his play so far, he cannot be counted upon to play any sort of meaningful snaps in the regular season, and probably wouldn’t be active for games. Perhaps it would be best if he were to suffer a mysterious injury and land on injured reserve for the year. Togiai has loads of physical potential, but it was always going to take time for him to realize it. The chances of it happening in 2021 are slim.
Wilson is a bit of different story. He was not lacking experience as a prospect, and will turn 23 next month. Injuries and an unflattering scheme limited him in 2020 (and injuries ended his previous campaigns as well), but in 2018 and 2019, he was one of college football’s best linemen, displaying a quality anchor and elite upper body strength in addition to an impressive array of pass-rush and shed moves.
The Browns made him the highest-paid undrafted free agent in NFL history when they signed him in April, but he’s not lived up to that billing thus far. Like Togiai, he just doesn’t appear to have a sense of urgency when rushing, and isn’t playing the run well either.
Among all 115 defensive tackles who have played at least 40 snaps this preseason, Togiai ranks 102nd and Wilson 113th in overall grade from Pro Football Focus. Does that mean they’re both busts with no NFL future? Of course not, but it’s all we have to evaluate them with at the moment, and things won’t get any easier for them once the games start mattering and the starters begin playing.
The other three members of the room have thankfully shown reason for encouragement. Sheldon Day spent a few weeks on the Browns practice squad at the end of last season, and was initially thought to just be a camp body this year, but things have changed. That’s probably more due to the poor performance of the previously mentioned players and less to do with Day playing super well, but that isn’t to say Day has been bad. In fact, he’s been the team’s most consistent DT over two games (that’s a technicality because Malik McDowell has played only one game, but…).
Day is 27 years old and offers the least potential of anyone in the room, but he’s also fully developed physically, and doesn’t get pushed around by backups. He has a good amount of NFL experience, including a Super Bowl start with the San Francisco 49ers. He’s never been more than an end-of-the-rotation guy, and again, might just look better relative to his teammates because he hasn’t been bad.
That might be why Day has earned a spot on the roster, at least for now. He’d probably end up as the sixth DT, and the first to go if something came up.
Jordan Elliott, the team’s third-round pick a year ago, was one of PFF’s top-25 prospects in 2020. He had a rough rookie reason, but did show a few flashes. He was not good against the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 1 of the preseason, but had the best game of his pro career against the New York Giants in Week 2. Once again, it’s preseason, but it was good to see Elliott be as consistently disruptive as he was.
He needs to show he can do that on a week-to-week basis and against more than just third-stringers, but he was getting instant penetration, stringing together planned rush moves and counters, and staying with the play to the whistle which was great to see. If he can provide quality rotational play, that would do so much for this defense.
Malik McDowell hasn’t locked up a roster spot yet, but the 2017 second-round bust couldn’t have done much more than he did against the Giants, dominating en route to a 91.7 overall grade. He offers size, length, strength, and athleticism that no one else in the room can even come close to, and if he can provide the team anything at all in the regular season, that would be a massive win for the front office, creating value with almost no investment.
His ceiling at 25 years old is still off the charts, and if he makes this roster, he sould have a significant role; he’s too talented not to, and he played so much better than any of the other DTs on the team. That was likely the best game, regular or preseason, that a Browns DT has ever had since the 1999 return.
Defensive coordinator Joe Woods likes to rotate his defensive linemen in and out constantly, both to keep them all fresh and healthy, and to match specific personnel groupings and situations. For example, it’s unlikely the Kansas City Chiefs will be running the ball down Cleveland’s throat in Week 1, so Billings’ snap count will probably be lower than in Week 4 against the Minnesota Vikings.
The DT room should still have a good mix of skillsets even if it isn’t six deep with playable bodies, and all the active members should have roles based on situation. Some have higher ceilings than others, of course, but they will all be important.
Right now, Jackson is the only 100% lock to make the team, with Billings at around 99.9%. Elliott is likely to make it, given his draft status, ceiling, and performance against New York. McDowell has more potential than just about every other player on the roster, and along with his dominant game against the Giants, a quality performance against Atlanta should secure him a spot.
That leaves Day, Togiai, and Wilson. Day is a three-tech, but has reportedly played some one-tech in practice, and has done it a bit with his former teams. Without either rookie able to be relied on, Day’s ability to at least fill in behind Billings might just give him a spot.
Teams don’t typically cut fourth-round picks, especially ones as talented as Togiai. While it’s disappointing that he doesn’t look like he’ll be able to contribute much, if at all, as a rookie, that’s understandable. The same goes for Wilson, though the team set the UDFA contract record with cornerback A.J. Green last year, and ended up cutting him, so Wilson is not guaranteed a spot in the slightest. Ideally, he’d spend the season on the practice squad and make the 53 in 2022, but he could easily be claimed off waivers by another team. He seems to be the odd man out, barring something unforeseen.
We’ll re-evaluate the position group following the team’s final preseason game. Hopefully, Elliott, Day, and McDowell will have continued to play well while Billings, Togiai, and Wilson will have started.
