Getty Images Wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. and cornerback Kevin Johnson.
Former Cleveland Browns cornerback Kevin Johnson has decided to hang up his cleats, with the former first-round pick announcing his retirement this week.
Johnson ended up playing a significant role for the Browns last season due to injuries, seeing significant time at cornerback. He started six games and played on 53% of the defensive snaps over the season.
Johnson had signed with the Titans this offseason, however, the team placed him on the reserve/retired list on Friday.
In his six-year NFL career with the Texans (2015-2018), Bills (2019) and Browns (2020), Johnson played in 65 games, with 25 starts. He recorded 191 tackles with an interception and 22 passes defended. He was the 16th overall pick in 2015.
Johnson suffered various injuries throughout his career, including a rough foot injury and various concussions.
Browns Eager to Get Grant Delpit, Greedy Williams Back
While Johnson is among the players to depart this offseason, the Browns made some key additions to the secondary this offseason with names like safety John Johnson and cornerbacks Troy Hill and Greg Newsome.
The Browns will also be getting safety Grant Delpit and cornerback Greedy Williams — a pair of former second-round picks — back from season-ending injuries.
Delpit ruptured his Achilles to during training camp to end his rookie year before it began. Delpit has been at OTAs and looks well on his way to being on the field next season.
“It feels good. Better every day. It is a long process, a long journey to get fully back healthy, but the plan is to be fully healthy by training camp. I am on track for that,” the LSU product told reporters.
“It has been a lot. This injury is like nothing I have had before. I never thought about my Achilles and what it is used for until I hurt it. It is an eye-opening experience for me. I have done a lot to come back in rehab and just do all of that right now. I am doing sprints, cutting and all of that. Just on the backend of my rehab now and just trying to get rid of that annoying pain. It is coming along, and I should be ready by training camp. It is a crazy injury. It is crazy how it happened, but I am glad it happened, I guess, while I am young so I can still have my whole career ahead of me.”
Greedy Williams Still in Contention for Starting Role
Getty ImagesGreedy Williams of the Cleveland Browns.
The Browns selected Newsome with their first-round pick in this year’s draft. With Denzel Ward holding down one of the cornerback spots, there were whispers that Newsome could slide into the starting spot opposite of Ward, sending Williams to a reserve role. Browns general manager Andrew Berry said that’s not the case.
“Really this pick has no reflection or bearing on Greedy,” Berry told reporters. “From our perspective, cornerback is a group where we want to be deep and we want to have a lot of guys who can cover. I think we saw the value of having really good cover corners last year, and that’s an area where we want to be deep over time.”
Williams missed all of last season with severe damage to the axillary nerve in his shoulder. Like Delpit, he suffered the injury in training camp.
“Greedy continues to get good news, and I am just so happy for the kid,” Stefanski said. “He just battled his butt off in the rehab room for months and had a great attitude throughout. I am just really, really happy for him as he keeps getting better and better. He has a ways to go, but he is trending in the right direction.”
As Berry puts it, you can never have too many good corners, so depth is a good problem to have.
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