Tuesday, March 14, 2023

Browns sign Dalvin Tomlinson, keep Takitaki

     The Cleveland Browns continued their revamp of their defensive line with the signing of defensive tackle Dalvin Tomlinson to be the bulwark of the interior line for this season.

Tomlinson was signed to a reported 57.5 million over four years with twenty-seven of that total to be guaranteed.

The twenty-nine-year-old Tomlinson played for the Minnesota Vikings in the last two years after spending his first four years in the NFL with the New York Giants, who selected him from Alabama in the second round of the 2017 draft.

Tomlinson finished last season with two and a half sacks with twenty solo tackles in thirteen games for Minnesota, which was the first time in Tomlinson's career that he didn't play every game in a season.

At 6'3 and 325 pounds, Tomlinson provides the ability to stop the run and his thirteen sacks over his career indicate an ability to at least pressure the opposing quarterback, if not take him down.

Tomlinson will be the top man in the Browns defensive tackle rotation and will definitely help what was the weakest position on the entire squad in 2022.

Still, Andrew Berry may not be finished adding to the defensive tackle room as the Browns still could use another tackle and the remainder of the corp could use another player that can step into the rotation immediately.

The Browns currently have returning starter Jordan Elliott, unproven second-year man Perrion Winfrey, disappointing third-year player Tommy Togiai, and mediocre veteran Taven Bryan to choose from as the starter beside Tomlinson and none of those options have to be appealing to Andrew Berry, although Winfrey finished the season strong to give Cleveland hope that he could be a contributor.

Berry will likely add another free agent, although not as expensive and proven as Tomlinson, and perhaps a draft pick to add some depth to the rotation.

Dalvin Tomlinson isn't the total cure to the Browns issues with the interior line but he's a strong start to working towards fixing what was clearly broken last season.

Cleveland also re-signed linebacker Sione Takitaki to a one-year contract worth two and a half million.

Takitaki was in the midst of his best season for the Browns after being moved to middle linebacker after the season-ending injury to Anthony Walker before suffering his own season-ending knee injury in December.

Takitaki will miss some of the early portion of the season but the Browns are hoping to have him back sometime in the middle of the season.

Cleveland may be shopping for a veteran middle linebacker with only former third-round pick Jacob Phillips on the roster with Anthony Walker and Deion Jones eligible for free agency with Walker, who the Browns are reported to be fond of, will miss some of the season as well.





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