Cleveland Browns training camp preview: Safety remade to succeed in Jim Schwartz's system

BEREA — Training camp is fast approaching for the Browns.

The team will first gather in Berea, starting with rookies and quarterbacks on Wednesday. The veterans will report on Friday, a day before the team travels to The Greenbrier Resort in southeast West Virginia for the first eight practices of camp.

The Browns enter camp with a roster capable of challenging for an AFC playoff berth, maybe even an AFC North title. However, there are also questions abounding at each position.

This is the ninth installment in a position-by-position look at the Browns roster heading into camp. It looks at the locks or near-locks at each position, those who are on the bubble and those who likely won't be on the 53-man roster when cutdown day arrives on Aug. 29.

Earlier installations of this series looked at the offensive side of the roster: quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers, tight ends and offensive linemen. The defensive linemen, linebackers and cornerbacks have also been featured.

Today, it's a look at a position group that may be one of the biggest question marks, but could also have as big an impact as any. It's time to look at the safeties.

Cleveland Browns safeties entering training camp

Locks to make the 53-man roster: Grant Delpit, Juan Thornhill, Rodney McLeod

On the bubble: D'Anthony Bell, Ronnie Hickman

Unlikely to make the roster: Bubba Bolden, Tanner McCalister

As valuable as the cornerbacks will be in the secondary, the safety positions may hold an even higher level of importance coming into defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz's scheme. That's because of the premium Schwartz places on having play-making safeties who can serve almost as a coach on the field as well.

The best example of this from one of Schwartz's previous stops is Malcolm Jenkins. The former Ohio State standout played safety for him during his time with the Philadelphia Eagles, including the 2017 Super Bowl championship season.

The other safety on that Eagles team was Rodney McLeod. To underscore the importance of the safety position for Schwartz, one of the last big free-agent signings this offseason for the Browns was to bring in McLeod, who was with the Indianapolis Colts last season.

"He could play a game right now," Schwartz said of McLeod following a late-May OTA. "We changed the terminology. You try to roll terminology and signals over just so people you’ve played before don't have a good grasp. So the first couple days that sort of threw him for a loop. But veteran players like that, that have played the techniques, it comes quickly for those guys."

As valuable as McLeod has been to the Browns since signing, he wasn't even the big-ticket signing they had this offseason. That was Juan Thornhill, who won two Super Bowl championships and played in a third with the Kansas City Chiefs.

In Thornhill, the Browns believe they have found a better schematic fit than John Johnson III, who they released in March after two seasons. The presence of both him and McLeod, though, are geared to help the one holdover in the secondary — 2020 second-round pick Delpit — hit that next level.

Delpit has finished each of the last two seasons relatively strong, particularly last season. He's spent both seasons trying to make up for the time lost when his entire rookie season was wiped out by a torn Achilles in training camp.

One thing that's been evident both in watching or listening to the safeties is that there's not necessarily going to be one set alignment for them. However, there's a good chance there's going to be a lot of times where all three are on the field at the same time."

"I think we're all playmakers in our own way," McLeod said during minicamp on June 6, "and then Jim's going to find the best way to utilize all of us in our strengths, and that's what I'm most excited about. … So I think we're going to make a lot of plays this year.”

Who fills in behind the main three remains a question. Bell is entering his second season and could get the nod because of experience.

After Bell, former Ohio State safeties Hickman and McCalister are in the mix after having been signed as undrafted free agent rookies after the draft. Bolden, meanwhile, was on the practice squad a year ago.

Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on Twitter at @ceasterlingABJ.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Browns camp preview: Juan Thornhill, Rodney McLeod remake safety spots