John Johnson's Impact on Browns Defense
For what the Cleveland Browns want to do defensively, John Johnson was the biggest impact player they could add in free agency. With the goal of playing three safeties consistently on defense, they got the best one on the market, which should allow them to disguise coverages and utilize their position group to the fullest extent of their abilities.
Joe Woods often starts the defensive look from a two-high look, which would theoretically have Johnson and Grant Delpit as the two safeties. From this point, the only meaningful difference between strong safety and free safety is the strong safety will have more personnel on his side.
Last year, the Browns would often go to Cover-3 out of this initial look. Andrew Sendejo was the free safety and would drop back and then Ronnie Harrison or Karl Joseph, whoever was at strong, would come down and fulfill a number of different roles ranging from run support with an eye toward man coverage or taking up a shorter zone responsibility.
This is where the presence of Johnson should provide a meaningful difference. He's more than capable of dropping back and playing as the last line of defense, but he's excellent in man coverage and playing in the box too. Grant Delpit was tabbed as the free safety last year before suffering a ruptured Achilles' and played that role at LSU.
On any given play, the call will determine who is playing free while the other comes down towards the line of scrimmage, which the opposing quarterback will have to account for as he's reading the defense.
Both Ronnie Harrison and Delpit have experience playing in the slot and around the line of scrimmage. Whether they utilize Cover-3 or more man coverage, they can have Harrison and Delpit operate as overhang defenders down in the box that can help contain the run and play coverage. They can also blitz them. Against teams with tight ends, that size will come in handy in coverage.
The Browns ran a ton of quarters coverage last year, largely out of necessity due to a lack of talent. The field would be divided into quarters and the safeties would be responsible the two middle quarters of the field.
The goal is to avoid being stuck in quarters coverage short of situations when it's prudent to use it; teams in 3rd and over 10 yards to go due to a penalty or a sack. If the Browns want to divide the field in half between Johnson and Delpit, that could be a great duo for the job.
Part of Johnson's value is that he's such a well rounded player that can do everything at a pretty high level and Delpit may be the biggest beneficiary. Coming out of LSU, Delpit was a talented combo safety and the signing of Johnson should allow the Browns to put Delpit in the best position to succeed as well as explore the limits of his ability.
Ronnie Harrison's talent is a little more specific. He's a talented run defender and can be effective covering tight ends. He doesn't have great speed, but he's so long that it can be difficult to get around him. Harrison was the team's best safety in the 2020 and there's a scenario where he could be third in 2021, which could be the best thing to happen to the Browns defense.
Much of this rests on Woods and his ability to get the most out of the safety position, but his background with defensive backs is extensive, so the Browns are loading up a the positions he should be the most equipped to maximize.
