Big Changes Ahead For the Cleveland Browns’ 2024 Defensive Line
Photo Credit: Adam Wesley via USA TODAY Sports
It’s difficult to call this Cleveland Browns season successful after the dismantling they took in the Wild Card round in Houston, but if you step back and take a broader view, it’s simply amazing this team made it as far as they did.
Not only did Cleveland sign their fourth quarterback off the street (Joe Flacco), but they also lost their three top safeties, three top offensive tackles, and an All-Pro running back throughout the season.
This team’s ability to overcome adversity is something I’ve never seen and shows the type of leadership that Kevin Stefanski brings with him. It also tells me that this group of men was so aligned and so tight that nothing could slow them down.
While this season has come to an end for the Browns, this is no time for anyone to hang their hats. And as close as this 2023 group was, there are substantial changes to every NFL team year. The core group may stay the same for some years, but the fill-in pieces that can often be the most important are always turning.
One of the biggest short-term fixes this year was the defensive line. While Myles Garrett is certainly a core piece, the rest was pieced together by Andrew Berry with short-term deals.
Dalvin Tomlinson and Ogbo Okoronkwo appear to be longer-term solutions for Berry; they’re both under contract in 2024, but it’s worth noting that Tomlinson is likely in the back half of his prime as he turns 30 in the next two months.
Okoronkwo has shown he is a great pass rusher on third-and-long, but it still remains to be seen if he can be an every-down player. Za’Darius Smith was the clear No. 2 defensive end in the 2023 season, and without help in free agency, it’s hard to see this group being nearly as effective next season.
We’ve certainly seen flashes of good from Alex Wright who is a young defensive end prospect who has put a decent amount of film together over the last two seasons. But other players like Siaki Ika, Isaiah McGuire, and Sam Kamara hardly even got to see the field in 2023.
The big pieces that won’t be around (as of now) in 2024 are Za’Darius Smith, Maurice Hurst, Shelby Harris, and Jordan Elliott, who all ended up having strong years on the interior defensive line.
One thing is for certain, Garrett can’t do it all himself, and we saw exactly that once he was neutralized towards the end of the season with a shoulder injury. The combination of that injury and the Houston Texans’ Laremy Tunsil being an elite NFL tackle kept the Browns from getting any pressure and allowed C.J. Stroud to pick apart the secondary.
I would not be upset to see Smith return in 2024, but the price will need to be right for it to happen. I’m not against drafting another pass rusher as a development project, but without a first-round pick to all but guarantee a capable starter, defensive end is a position that must be addressed in free agency for this defense to continue to have their edge next season.
Five or 10 years ago, teams had one pass rusher and they made things work with that. Now you see elite tandems all over the NFL, and offenses have figured out how to take one single guy out of the game plan.
Harris, Hurst, and Elliott all played well alongside Tomlinson at defensive tackle this season but may have pushed their value over what Berry will be willing to spend on the position in 2024. Remember, for three-straight years we waited for him to upgrade this position, and it finally happened in 2023.
Hurst and Elliott make the most sense to bring back in 2024, and both would likely be on one-year deals. Elliott has been with the Browns his entire career and finally lived up to his potential last season. Hurst has a history of injuries but finally made it almost an entire season before hitting IR in Week 17.
It’s easy to say you drafted Ika in the third round last year, so he is your plug-and-play guys. But unfortunately, we saw nothing on film in 2023 that leads me to think he can start next season. At his weight, he can’t be on the field in passing situations, and he has shown no ability to balance himself in the NFL as he spent more time on the ground than his feet in his limited snaps.
The investment paid off for Berry in 2023, as he finally spent money at defensive tackle. Tomlinson shored up the group, and the veteran presence and deep rotation of other players worked out extremely well. Not only did the interior line perform well, but they freed up linebackers like Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah to also make a ton of plays at or behind the line of scrimmage.
The state of the 2024 defensive line shouldn’t cause Browns fans to hit the panic button. Berry understands that every game in the NFL is won in the trenches and will do what it takes to make sure the group is viable once again. Even though the group will likely look very different in 2024, expect them to be equally effective.
Up Next