What Maliek Collins injury means for the Cleveland Browns

As the Browns lost to the San Francisco 49ers 26-8 to fall to 3-9 on the season, the news only got worse after the game as a breakout player among the defense was ruled out for the remainder of the season.

It’s been a great year for defensive tackle Maliek Collins, developing into one of the league's best pass rushers from the interior part of the defensive line.

Now, adjustments will have to come for Cleveland’s defense as they try to navigate the rest of the season without him as Collins underwent a season-eding quad surgery.

Collins has broken out to be an elite interior presence this season. Collins 6.5 sacks ranks within the top 20 of all NFL players this season, and ranks within the top five of defensive tackles.

He’s provided the help that Myles Garrett has been looking for his entire career, and it’s showing. Garrett has enjoyed the best season of his career, racking up 19 sacks, and is looking to break the all-time sack record, and win DPOY.

Those goals become a little harder now. With Collins playing, teams couldn’t direct too much attention to Garrett, otherwise the interior of the line would get blown up. Now, teams can go back to putting a bigger emphasis on Garrett, forcing the young defensive tackles to step up.

That means Collins' injury will now provide some opportunities to see where the rest of the defensive line is.

Rookie Mason Graham has looked solid all season long, but has yet to see that impact turn into major stats. He has just 19 tackles and half a sack on the season. His major job has been plugging up the interior to slow run games down. Without Collins now, Graham should see a bigger role with more opportunities to really get after the quarterback. This’ll be his time to show just what he can do.

Meanwhile, rotational pieces such as Mike Hall Jr., Shelby Harris and Adin Huntington all will see their roles increase. Harris is expected to take over the starting position. He’s on a contract year, and was heavily featured in trade talks this season.

If he’s able to perform, he’ll be able to earn himself some extra money this offseason, whether in Cleveland or somewhere else.

Meanwhile, Hall and Hunting are both going to be trying to earn a starting job. Hall Jr. had a rocky start to the season, missing substantial time with an injury. Since coming back, he’s looked good in the pass game, racking up 1.5 sacks.

Huntington is currently dealing with a quad injury, but has racked up 12 tackles and half a sack, while also playing as a fullback on offense and playing special teams this season.

It’ll be an internal battle among the interior of Cleveland’s line, seeing who fits in nicely with Garrett and who will be featured more heavily in the Browns defense next season.

Meanwhile for Collins, the injury poses an interesting question for any future contract talks. He is currently just in year one of a two-year, $20 million deal.

With the breakout year he was having, it seemed like signing him to an extension would be a top priority for Cleveland before the end of next season.

Now, it’ll be a lot harder to resign a veteran over the age of 30 coming off a season ending quad injury that required surgery.

All of a sudden, most of the work he did this season has to be tucked away, and it’ll be more important to see how he progresses throughout the offseason and next year. If he returns to strength, he’ll still see that extension, but if the injury proves to be too much, the Browns may need to look towards some younger options.

Either way, it’s clear the Browns defense is going to have to make some big rotational changes among the defensive line for the remainder of the season. It’ll be evaluation time for a fairly young defensive line now missing its second most impactful player.