A safety's brain, Browns safeties coach Ephraim Banda said, is like an SD card.
There's a lot – a lot – of information that goes into putting a successful safety duo on the field. Coverages, reading an offense, knowing when to pressure and when to provide cushion are all crucial components in defending the back end of the field.
Which is why, according to Banda, it is beneficial to have so many returning faces in the safety room ahead of the 2024 season.
"Any time you can go into year two with pretty much the same group, you're excited as a coach," Banda said. "I can start to layer a lot more on them because they have a good foundation. Their memory card is already coming in with some stuff downloaded so I can compact that and add more so they can play better."
With a combined 35 starts between the five returning safeties – Rodney McLeod, Grant Delpit, Ronnie Hickman, Juan Thornhill and D'Anthony Bell – the Browns boast a group of safeties with a balance of veteran experience as well as young talent.
A full offseason was much needed, however, as several safeties experienced injuries that either ended their 2023 campaigns early or limited them down the stretch.
Delpit was placed on the injured reserve list with a groin injury, missing the final four games of the regular season and the Browns' Wild Card loss to the Texans. McLeod tore his bicep in late November after a strong first season with the Browns. And Thornhill fought through a calf injury that kept him from full strength for much of the latter half of the season.
After taking time off to recover, Head coach Kevin Stefanski is pleased with the state of the safeties.
"It's a very good group," Stefanski said. "I really like that you have some older players, some veterans, some young guys. You have guys that can do a variety of different things on the job. […] It's a really, really cerebral group."
Thornhill, a two-time Super Bowl champion with Kansas City, made 11 starts last season, including in the Wild Card round.
"He's done a nice job of taking care of his body throughout the spring and summer," Stefanski said of Thornhill. "It's a challenge to play up to your ability when you're having a nagging injury. So, he's feeling healthy, and we're excited about that for him."
Banda told reporters that Thornhill added five to six pounds of muscle in the offseason.
Delpit, who started alongside Thornhill for much of the season, emphasized how badly he wants to appear in a playoff game. Both times the Browns have made the playoffs during Delpit's time in Cleveland have seen the former LSU Tiger sidelined with an injury.
As Delpit enters his fifth year as a pro, Banda is impressed with the growth from a player he has known since high school.
"He's grown a lot," Banda said of Delpit, who he recruited when the safety was in high school. "Sometimes he comes across as stoic and quiet, but when you see him behind closed doors or you see him on the field make a play, it comes out. And my challenge to Grant is to make sure that that defense that's on that grass feels that consistently, because that's leadership and people respond to that."
Delpit was having a strong season in 2023 before the injury, backing up a 2022 full of career highs. He looks forward to getting back on the field when the Browns take on the Cowboys in Week One.
"To be honest, I feel like I haven't shown anything yet," Delpit said. "It excites me, being able to take care of [my contract extension] and put it behind me and reach for new heights. I can't wait."
The Browns defense reached historic levels in 2023, with 18 interceptions (third in NFL), a 74.7 passer rating allowed (second in NFL) and a 57.4 completion percentage allowed (first in NFL).
In their Week 9 win over the Cardinals, the Browns allowed just 58 total yards of offense, marking only the fifth time this century a defense has allowed fewer than 60 yards of offense.
McLeod saw significant action against the Cardinals and was a critical piece in the Browns' success last year before his injury.
"He's been great for our culture, he's been great for our team," Stefanski said. "He played really well for us last year before he was injured. He's an energy multiplier, he's a champion. I can't say enough great superlatives about Rodney and what he means to this team."
McLeod, who won a Super Bowl with the Eagles in 2017, has said that this season would be his last as a pro. The veteran was unable to play in the playoffs in 2023 and watched the Browns' defense struggle from the sideline in the 45-14 Wild Card loss. Banda said during minicamp in June that the Browns' goal wit McLeod is to "send Rod out a winner."
While losing in the playoffs was a painful experience, particularly for a defense that had performed so well, with the loss came much-needed growing pains.
"We learned a lot about approaching a game like that," Banda said. "We learned a lot about handling adversity because that's where true growth is had. [...] So for us, it's been an awesome experience to come off of that, learn what we did wrong, so that when we get into that arena, that environment, feel that pressure and we can respond in a better situation. We can be better in those environments."
While memory is everything to a safety, sometimes there's a need to clear the flash drive of both the good and the bad.
"It's a new year," Delpit said. "We can't take what we did last year but we know that we want to be the best in every aspect of defense. […] Right now, it's the first week of training camp, so we're still putting pieces together. But we'll continue going forward with that one goal in mind."
