Identifying many issues with the 2024 Cleveland Browns roster heading into training camp is hard. Sure, there are some questions about depth in some areas, but if depth is your biggest issue, you feel pretty confident about the overall makeup of your roster.
However, one of my biggest concerns is the depth of the defensive tackle room in terms of run stuffers. Outside of the two veterans, Dalvin Tomlinson and Shelby Harris, most of the room consists of great pass rushers with questionable run-defense ability.
One of last year’s third-round picks, Siaki Ika, is the lone depth piece known as a run stuffer. But if the team leans on him for serious snaps this year, they could be in trouble against the run up the middle. Ika regressed his final season at Baylor and was borderline unplayable for the Browns as a rookie.
Ika struggles to play with good leverage and his bad hand usage sticks out when you see him get pushed around in the run game. He has the mass and strength profile to get it done but can’t seem to put it together and offers next to nothing as a pass rusher.
Players can always make leaps, but this player showed all the knocks on him coming out of college, which was spot on last year. The team could keep Ika over a player like Maurice Hurst II, which would be a mistake.