Browns' Position Battles to Watch Ahead of 2021 NFL Season

Competition to get on the field for the Cleveland Browns in 2021 figures to be fierce. 

After the team's run to the divisional round in the 2020 postseason, general manager Andrew Berry spent the offseason making a playoff roster even stronger.

The Browns had few losses of note (Sheldon Richardson and Larry Ogunjobi being the exceptions) while adding a bevy of talented players including John Johnson III, Troy Hill, Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah and Greg Newsome II. 

The result is going to be a preseason marked by competition to get a lion's share of the reps. Some positions are locked up. The team's core of stars, including Baker Mayfield, Nick Chubb and Myles Garrett, leaves little mystery at certain spots. 

Still, there are some positions where the rotation is far from settled. Here's a look at a few key preseason battles worth keeping an eye on as we get closer to the season. 

Defensive Tackle

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If you had to identify one area where the Browns got worse in the offseason, it would likely be defensive tackle. 

Sheldon Richardson and Larry Ogunjobi were the most-played tackles on the roster last season, but both ended up being cap casualties. 

The Browns utilized some of that freed-up cap space to bring in some veteran competition, but this will mostly be a young man's game. Malik Jackson represents the experienced options in the group. He played 49 percent of the defensive snaps for the Eagles last season and is entering his 10th NFL season. 

The rest of the options are much less experienced but have varying levels of upside. 

Jordan Elliott saw some run in his rookie season. Coming out of Missouri, he got off to a strong start and was the top-graded rookie defensive tackle by PFF through the first two games of the season. His grade by the end of the season was much less impressive at 55.3. 

Andrew Billings is a bit of a question after opting out of 2020. He was a starter on the Bengals defensive line in 2018 and 2019 but was still developing entering his fifth year in the league. He is the most traditional nose tackle on the roster. 

Joining the competition as rookies are Tommy Togiai and Marvin Wilson. The former was a fourth-round pick out of Ohio State while the latter was surprisingly undrafted after getting first-round hype prior to the 2020 season. 

Linebacker

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Safety was a constant concern last season. Karl Joseph and Andrew Sendejo combined to give up 14 touchdowns with just one interception when targeted last season. 

There's a clear answer there, though. Both John Johnson III and Ronnie Harrison were top 10 safeties last season, according to PFF, and Grant Delpit is coming back from injury to be the third safety in sub-packages. 

The same apparent pecking order doesn't exist in the linebacking corps, though. 

The Browns kept most of the unit from last season. B.J. Goodson is gone but Mack Wilson, Sione Takitaki, Malcolm Smith and Jacob Phillips return. But all of them making the roster will be a question. The team added Anthony Walker in free agency, while Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah and Tony Fields II arrived via the draft.

Athleticism and versatility will likely rule the day when it comes to establishing the hierarchy. Defensive coordinator Joe Woods has alluded to wanting to use dime personnel (four defensive lineman, one linebacker and six defensive backs) more. 

"I'm used to running a lot of dime. In the past where I was at, we ran over 400 snaps of dime a year. Last year, we only ran 16 snaps," he told Nathan Zegura of Cleveland Browns Daily. "So you can see the impact we could have and it's really about putting more speed on the field, about creating matchups where you feel like you have the advantage."

That would indicate that the abundant linebackers on the roster are going to have to battle it out in training camp to get on the field.

Cornerback

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Much like the previous two positions discussed here, cornerback is going to look different in 2021. Denzel Ward will be one of the starters on the outside, but that's about all that's set in stone. 

Free-agent addition Troy Hill will likely be starting in the slot. He played 49.9 percent of his snaps there last season, per Player Profiler, So while that's where he's had the most success, he's also capable of playing on the outside. 

Assuming he'll still spend most of his time on the inside, Terrance Mitchell's spot as the outside cornerback will be up for grabs. Mitchell departed in free agency but first-round pick Greg Newsome II and 2019 second-round pick Greedy Williams will be in the mix. 

Williams missed all of 2020 with a nerve injury in his shoulder. However, he had a promising rookie campaign in which he made 12 starts and held opposing quarterbacks to a passer rating of 84.9 when targeted. 

The Browns drafting Newsome would indicate uncertainty about Williams' long-term future. That's life in the NFL. It's also in their best interest to give the most snaps to the player who actually looks the best, thus it should be an open competition. 

How Williams recovers from injury and Newsome looks adjusting to the pro game after playing just three games in 2020 will be an important storyline moving forward.