Cleveland Browns Happy With Their No. 12 Overall
Jun 16, 2015; Berea, OH, USA; Cleveland Browns defensive lineman Danny Shelton (71) during minicamp at the Cleveland Browns practice facility. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
The Cleveland Browns went into this offseason needing to seriously upgrade their front seven. They were ranked dead last in the NFL against the run and No. 27 in sacking the quarterack. So in the first round of the 2015 NFL Draft, the Cleveland Browns selected nose tackle Danny Shelton.
And the 6’2″, 340-pound Shelton is expected to help the Browns against the run and the pass. In 2014, Shelton had 16.5 tackles for a loss and nine sacks for the University of Washington Huskies. Shelton wasn’t able to get to the Browns’ facility until mini camp lately so he could graduate from college but the Browns love what they see now.
Defensive coordinator Jim O’Neil told Cleveland.com, “I’m glad we have Danny. I was confident with the guys we had coming back. But am I glad we drafted Danny No. 12 overall? Hell yeah. He’s a big body who was dominant at Washington and in the Pac-12 for two years.
“He’s a guy that’s going to command four hands on him or two bodies on him. When you have that, you keep linebackers clean over top. The thing he doesn’t get credit enough for is he’s not going to have great sack production, but he’s going to push the pocket and get the quarterback off his spot. That’s going to open things up for the rest of our pass rushers.
“That’s what we really needed in the pass game, somebody that could push the pocket, collapse the pocket on the quarterback back, get him off the spot and now flush it to a guy like Paul Kruger or [Barkevious] Mingo or Nate Orchard or Xavier Cooper or Des Bryant or Armonty Bryant, all those guys. To me, he’s going to help us tremendously there, too.”
The Browns’s secondary is very nice so if Shelton works out that way, the defense will shut offenses down.