At the risk of sounding like a broken record, the Cleveland Browns can’t catch a break. TGFTC, right?
This week, the Browns lost their best pass-rusher, Desmond Bryant, to a freak, season-ending pectoral injury. And that hurts, because pass-rushing is kind of important (re-watch Super Bowl 50 for a reminder) and the Browns ranked 29th in football with just 29 sacks last season.
Bryant, a regular starter for three years running who is smack dab in the middle of his prime, led the team with six sacks in 2015. Now, he’s gone and they have just one other established pass-rusher on the roster.
That would be Paul Kruger, who had just 2.5 sacks in 16 games last season and has failed to live up to expectations and his contract since coming over from Baltimore three years ago.
Meanwhile, 2013 first-round pick Barkevious Mingo has just seven sacks in 46 career games, and the team really hasn’t invested much in the pass-rush since.
They’ve got 2015 second-rounder Nate Orchard and 2016 second-rounder Emmanuel Ogbah, but Orchard had just three sacks in 11 starts last season and Ogbah can’t be expected to make a huge impact as a rookie.
Still, some or all of those guys will have to step up, because a team with as many holes as the Browns can’t afford to give quarterbacks like Ben Roethlisberger, Andy Dalton and Joe Flacco all day to throw.
