Browns Acquire Ronnie Harrison For 5th Round Pick in 2021, Address Safety Depth
The Jacksonville Jaguars have been trading away players for draft assets for future and the Cleveland Browns have taken safety Ronnie Harrison off their hands for a fifth round pick in 2021.
The Jaguars drafted Harrison in the third round of the 2018 NFL Draft out of Alabama as they attempted to keep their defense powered up. He's tall at 6'2" and listed at over 210 pounds. Coming out of Alabama, he ran a 4.63 40, but didn't test anything else.
To this point with the Jaguars, he's been a pretty mediocre run defender and a decent cover option. That might fit well with the Browns as they need safeties that can cover. Harrison has done a decent job in coverage and should step in and step in and address the depth at strong safety, though Harrison could seemingly do both jobs.
Harrison has started 22 games in his career and 14 in the 2019 season. That could be important because Karl Joseph, the player he would be backing up, is effective, but also tends to get banged up because he plays so aggressively and without protecting himself much.
That style can be incredibly effective, but it also tends to make it necessary to have a backup option that can step in and play. Harrison has played and while he may not be a great player, there's at least a sense of what he brings to the field.
The Browns had 10 picks in the 2021 before this move and had a pair of picks in the fifth round; the other being a fifth round pick acquired from the Los Angeles Rams for offensive lineman Austin Corbett.
Presumably, this is the Browns fifth round pick as the announcement did not mention anything about it being from the Rams. That would leave the Browns with nine picks in the 2021 draft and they still would have still have an extra pick in the third and fourth rounds.
This is the advantage of having extra draft picks. Obviously, they can simply use them, but in a draft filled with uncertainty as the college football season continues to be up in the air, there might be more value in taking a flyer on a player like Harrison than making a pick.
In the future, it seems likely the Browns will package some picks to get some bigger impact players to get proven talent now. In this case, it's simply an easy way to address a depth issue behind Karl Joseph that can potentially also help at other spots and perhaps special teams.
Harrison is still only 23 years old and is under contract for the rest of this year and next, offering the Browns a substantial amount of time to evaluate him, but with the freedom to cut bait. He earns $750,000 this year and $920,000 for 2021.
