Browns Sign Breakout Safety to Extension

The Cleveland Browns are signing safety Grant Delpit to an extension, Bran Stainbrook of the Orange and Brown Report first reported. Delpit is amid a breakout season with the team after dealing with multiple injuries throughout the early portion of his career. Now, he resembles the player he was at LSU, boosting the Browns’ secondary to become one of the best in the NFL. With him, Martin Emerson, Greg Newsome, and Denzel Ward, that group will be intact for the foreseeable future.

The Browns are a team on the precipice of a playoff berth, but the quarterback situation has them on the ropes. Cleveland has started four different quarterbacks and will start Joe Flacco this week against the Jaguars.

The 38-year-old Flacco wasn’t awful in their game against the Rams, but he threw an interception late in the game, spiraling into a fourth-quarter collapse for Cleveland. That was the turning point of the game. Trailing 20-19 with 6:32 remaining, Flacco’s deep pass intended for Elijah Moore was underthrown and picked off by free safety John Johnson III.

Overall, Flacco completed 23 of 44 passes (52.4%) for 254 yards, two touchdowns, one interception, and a quarterback rating of 75.4. Walker replaced Thompson-Robinson after he was injured initially, completing 6 of 13 passes for 56 yards.

As for Delpit and his continued breakout, the Browns’ defense is exactly why they are where they are at this point in the season. The 25-year-old has one interception and 74 tackles, and while the production might not match his 2022 four-interception season. Delpit’s tape is much better, and teams are actively avoiding him.

The group has struggled to find a consistent partner for him with injuries to Juan Thornhill and Rodney McLeod throughout the season. Regardless, Delpit is one of the big reasons Cleveland’s defense took a massive leap from decent in 2022 to one of the better units in football in 2023.