In poaching safety John Johnson and cornerback Troy Hill from the top-ranked Los Angeles Rams pass defense in free agency, the Cleveland Browns deliberately coveted the versatility of both players. It’s a point reinforced by yet another member of the team’s front office.
Browns Director of Player Personnel Dan Saganey joined the Cleveland Browns Daily program on Thursday. One of the first things Saganey did was tout the versatility of the new members of the Browns defense.
“He’s very versatile, he can play at all three levels of the defense and bring you production.”
He quickly noted why that’s important to the Browns coaches and front office,
“Versatility is a big piece of what we’re looking for at the safety position. John’s proven to be a high-quality player with that specific versatile skill set that we’re looking for,” Saganey stated. “And he’s done if for a lot of years.”
He noted that adding to the existing versatility of holdover safeties Ronnie Harrison and Grant Delpit “three versatile players, three really good football players” at safety.
Saganey also brought up versatility as the first trait when he moved onto new cornerback Troy Hill, also from the Rams.
“Troy brings inside/outside flex,” he said. “He’s played a lot of football with the Rams in a really good secondary I think he’s a good communicator, he’s tough, he’s quick. He can cover, he can play man and he can play zone.”
Saganey concluded,
“The name of the NFL, as we all saw last year, is adaptability; the more you can do the better. I think he fits all those different areas that we were looking for.”
Saganey’s words echo that of GM Andrew Berry when he talked about the choices the team made in free agency recently.