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Yesterday, the Cleveland Browns cut their first overall pick from the 2011 draft, defensive tackle Phil Taylor. Once tabbed to anchor Cleveland’s defensive line, Taylor was unable to impress the team enough to keep him around this season.
While the Browns released one of their former first round picks, another will be under increased scrutiny this year. Coming into his third season in Cleveland, linebacker Barkevious Mingo is definitely going to need to prove something this year.
Drafted sixth overall in 2013, Mingo was expected to be an impact player for the Browns’ defense. While he didn’t have ideal size for an outside linebacker, he definitely possessed enough weapons to impress scouts. In the first few weeks of his rookie year, Mingo definitely had moments which made it easy to see why the team drafted him so high.
The only problem was these moments started becoming interspersed with games where you often forgot Mingo was actually playing.
This could effectively sum up Mingo’s first two seasons with the Browns. He’s been a very hot and cold player, looking like a potential star some Sundays, like a ghost on others. Despite playing 15 games in both of the past two seasons, Mingo saw drops in almost all of his stats last year.
The issue with Mingo continues to be his size. He’s a very quick linebacker, but due to his slender build, offensive lineman don’t have as much trouble pushing him around. Mingo has needed to develop pass-rushing moves ever since he joined the Browns, and the team is still waiting to see this to take place.
Where Mingo does excel, though, is in pass coverage. While his size may hurt him when blitzing, it benefits him when stepping into passing lanes.
At the same time, you don’t draft someone sixth overall with the hopes they can be a decent situational player. Cleveland wants Mingo to be someone it can trust on most defensive setups, and he’s yet to truly prove he can handle this task.
The Browns are still searching for a viable player at left outside linebacker to pair up with Paul Kruger on the right side. Looking at the team’s current depth chart, the only candidates are Mingo and lineman-turned-linebacker Armonty Bryant. So, while Mingo isn’t on terribly shaky ground in terms of his starting job, he still needs to prove his worth this year.
One positive working in Mingo’s favor is, for the first time in his career, he’ll be working with the same defensive coordinator in back-to-back seasons. The Browns went through a coaching change between Mingo’s first and second year, and it wouldn’t be surprising if this had a negative impact on his development. He’ll be working with defensive coordinator Jim O’Neil for the second season in a row, which will hopefully result in a positive season.
At least, it better. Mingo may not be in a contract year, but this hardly means he can afford another season of average-at-best play. Cleveland made a significant investment in Mingo during the 2013 draft. This year would be a great time for him to show the team he was worth it.
Casey Drottar is the Cleveland Beat Writer for www.Rantsports.com. Follow him on Twitter or “Like” him on Facebook
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