Getty Linebacker Deion Jones of the Cleveland Browns celebrates after sacking quarterback Joe Burrow of the Cincinnati Bengals during an NFL game in October 2022.
The Cleveland Browns continue to spend like a team that wants to win now, but all that money has yet to buy any insurance on the defense’s second level.
The team’s top three linebackers each landed on the injured reserve (IR) list for at least four games in 2022 and collectively missed a total of 25 out of 51 regular season contests. Even with the rabid support of the Pound in Cleveland, that Dawg just ain’t gonna hunt a Super Bowl appearance — and maybe won’t even sniff one.
Linebacker is a position that still affords the Browns some options at this late stage of free agency, including a player for whom the franchise traded during the middle of last season — Deion Jones.
On Wednesday, July 5, Jacob Roach of USA Today’s Browns Wire pitched Jones as one of three linebackers Cleveland ought to consider adding with the start of training camp just a few weeks away.
“After trading for Deion Jones during the season, the veteran had some highs and some lows in the Brown and Orange,” Roach wrote. “He played better in coverage than he did as a run defender, while he also added 2.5 sacks as a pass rusher. [Jones is] another non-superstar player, but he could provide valuable depth and step in and give some quality snaps if needed.”
Deion Jones Offers Browns Insurance Policy at Linebacker
GettyThe Cleveland Browns traded for linebacker Deion Jones during the middle of the 2022 regular season.
The Browns front office doesn’t appear to share Roach’s ideas on bringing back Jones in 2023 — or at least didn’t as of last week, according to Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com.
“I think the Browns are comfortable with their linebacker room considering that most of their players who suffered season-ending injuries are expected back at, or near, the start of the season,” Cabot wrote on June 29. “If Anthony Walker Jr., Sione Takitaki, Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah and Jacob Phillips can all stay healthy, they should have a robust linebacking corps this season. At this point, they have no plans to bring back Jones.”
Those are four substantial “ifs” the Browns are counting on based on the injury histories of all four players in the last year alone. If Cabot is correct and Cleveland intends to stand pat with the linebackers it has on the roster, that decision reads as puzzlingly as the team’s choice not to pursue a quality defensive tackle last season.
The Browns have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into a defense that will field, at least on paper, a formidable pass rush and high-level coverage on the backend of the defense. The team has nearly $16.9 million in salary cap space remaining for 2023 and while Jones’ most recent four-year deal with the Atlanta Falcons in 2019 paid him $57 million in total, he can be had for far less this season and moving forward.
At a reasonable price, Jones is one of the better insurance policies the Browns are liable to find in free agency. While his Pro Bowl days of the 2017 campaign are likely to remain well behind him, Jones appeared in 11 games and earned five starts for Cleveland amid its injury issues at the position last season.
Former Steelers Linebacker Myles Jack Remains Free Agent Option for Browns
GettyLinebacker Myles Jack (left) and defensive lineman Larry Ogunjobi (right) of the Pittsburgh Steelers tackle running back Leonard Fournette (middle), formerly of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, during an NFL game in 2022.
Another free agent option for the Browns is former Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Myles Jack.
“The Browns need an inside linebacker [who] can be a tackling machine to play clean-up behind the defensive line,” Roach wrote. “In four of the last five seasons, Jack has finished with over 100 tackles, including the last three seasons in a row. He is getting older and isn’t a superstar player, but he can provide experience and veteran leadership that could help the linebacker room.”
Jack will play the upcoming season, his eighth in the NFL, at the age of 28. He is liable to be a more expensive option than Jones, though he should also provide better support against the run — an area that will be of significant importance to the Browns coaching staff should the team ultimately decide to add another linebacker to the roster.