After handing over serious draft capital to the Houston Texans – and, by extension, the Arizona Cardinals – as part of the Deshaun Watson trade, the Cleveland Browns entered the 2024 NFL Draft without much hope of landing any of the premier players available, as they filled any of their remaining deeps in the draft just in case.
And yet, despite their situation, the Browns still bolstered their depth in the trenches in a major way with their two picks on Day 2 of the draft, including a young upstart on the defensive line with near-limitless potential and a guard on the opposite side of the ball who used to be his enemy in college.
These rookies could be players for the Cleveland Browns in 2024.
2. Michael Hall Jr. will push Shelby Harris at defensive tackle
With one of the smallest draft pick caches in the NFL heading into the 2024 NFL draft, the Browns were never going to leave the draft with a number of blue-chip prospects who could immediately make an impact as a rookie.
Fortunately, the Browns don’t have a lot of holes heading into 2024, and they still found a way to nab someone special with major upside in Michael Hall Jr., the OSU star who should push for playing time right away as a rookie.
Standing a shade under 6-foot-3, 290 pounds with a massive wingspan and a relentless motor, Hall is a darn good defensive tackle position who can rush the passer from the 3-tech position, and at only 21, he has the potential to get even better as he grows into a bigger role.
Do the Browns need Hall to contribute right away? No, they have Shelby Harris at that position this fall, and he’s a good veteran starter, but in the OSU product, the Browns have so much more, as the team’s GM pointed out after the draft.
“With Mike, he’s really tailor-made for our attack front. He’s explosive, he’s quite quick. He can rush the passer. He’s long, and he plays, really with a very high motor. He’s really the quintessential 3-technique in our defense. And for us, pass-rushers will always come at a premium, especially those that can affect the pocket from inside, and we think that’s something that Mike will be able to do along our front. So, we’re really excited to kind of keep him home, so to speak, and think his skill set and passion really matches perfectly for our organization,” general manager Andrew Berry told ESPN.
“He was really one of the more disruptive forces in college football, specifically in pass rush. It’s not a space-eating position for us. We want guys who can move. And so our prototype for the position is going to look a little bit different than other schemes in the league.”
For a team with few very holes heading into the fall, Hall is one of the truly exciting young players on the roster who will get serious snaps as a rotational player. If he can prove his abilities and be more disruptive than Harris overall and Dalvin Tomlinson on obvious passing downs, don’t be surprised if he starts getting snaps and becomes the team’s next great front-seven player up front.
Happy birthday to Browns rookie DT Michael Hall Jr, who turns 21 today. #Browns pic.twitter.com/486P68OoYx
— Browns fan UK (@brownsfanuk) June 13, 2024
1. Zak Zinter will push Joel Bitonio at left guard
On paper, it would appear Zak Zinter was drafted as a guard-of-the-future for the Browns, a multi-position backup plan at multiple important positions should one of the team’s Pro Bowl maulers miss time to an injury.
If you are a Browns fan and you believe that was the point of the Zinter move, then you (probably) are correct, as unless Joel Bitonio or Wyatt Teller goes down with an injury, he will probably spend the entire season on the bench but calling it a “red-shirt year” would be a mistake, as, according to Andrew Berry after the draft, there simply aren’t “red-shirt years” in the NFL.
“You know, I think for any player that we add – any rookie that we add, time will tell. Like, I don’t think any of us can really make that call,” Andrew Berry told reporters via Cleveland.com. “As we sit here today, the one thing I always talk about with Kevin, there typically aren’t any red shirts in the NFL. Like, everyone who’s on the 53 will be called into action at some point, but we’re just excited to get him in the building and get him up and running.”
Could Zinter end up playing an important role for the Browns in 2024? Sure. Could one of the team’s guards show their age, with Bitonio playing his 11th season with the team this fall? That’s possible, too, but as Kevin Stefanski pointed out after the draft, the Michigan product has an incredible chant to learn from two Pro Bowlers, and that will be useful for his future, too.
“Yeah, extremely valuable. And he’s coming into a really talented room, a room that supports each other, they’ll push each other. But anytime you can attach yourself to veterans that have been there and done it at your position, I think is huge.”
Zak Zinter (broken leg) is out here for the first #Browns rookie minicamp practice. He said two weeks ago he would be good to go and practice, and here he is. @fox8news pic.twitter.com/4DAUkBxpJa
— John Sabol (@John_Sabol) May 10, 2024
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