Since drafting first-round safety Jabrill Peppers, the Browns have attempted to answer the question that no other team could: How will he be used?
"He's football player, a very dynamic player," Browns head coach Hue Jackson said, via the team's official site. "Obviously, he's going to play defense for us, but we'll find a role for him over there on offense. No question."
The term "mismatch player" has been thrown around an awful lot since the draft and creates the need to be cautiously optimistic for Browns fans. Is "mismatch player" just a rebranding effort for the "hybrid" player Browns defensive coordinator Gregg Williams had in Los Angeles? Safety-turned-linebacker Mark Barron is listed with the exact same height and weight as Peppers, though he made the transition from safety to linebacker and not the other way around. Will it end up being a similar role?
"We were really excited just to get a player that fits our scheme and the experience that Gregg has had finding players like Jabrill and making them successful," said Sashi Brown, the team's executive vice president.
Brown went on to say Peppers has "perhaps a dynamic play style and athletic ability that probably Gregg hasn't had in that position and the other guys he's actually turned into Pro Bowlers."
A look back at Williams' Pro Bowlers over the last decade -- Sean Taylor, Roman Harper, Darren Sharper, Jonathan Vilma, Robert Quinn and Aaron Donald -- doesn't provide much context. But I'm sure in Pappers' rookie year they'd take the production of Barron, who picked off two passes, broke up eight more, recovered a fumble, logged a sack and posted 90 solo tackles. Add in some returned kicks and a few trick plays on offense, and that's a Year 1, first-round value.
