The Cleveland Browns didn’t waste any time when the 2021 NFL Draft ended, signing priority UDFA DT Marvin Wilson to rookie free agent deal. Tom Pelissero of NFL Network broke the news, describing Wilson’s market as a “swift bidding war.”
Wilson was a consensus five-star prospect and the top defensive tackle recruit in the country coming out of Texas’ Episcopal High School. The Bellaire, Texas, native received 27 offers from the best programs around the nation before choosing Florida State.
Should Wilson have entered the NFL Draft last year he would have likely been drafted in the first half of the draft, being projected by most as an early Day 2 selection. However, he made the decision to return to school in hopes of driving his value up higher. Unfortunately, the result was contrary to what he had envisioned. Wilson was asked to play a different role in the Seminole defense and as a result hurt his draft stock to the extent he went undrafted. This opened the door for a number of teams to seek out his services once the UDFA period opened on Saturday.
The Browns are getting an extremely powerful 6-foot-5, 305-pound defensive tackle with with terrific upper body strength, good balance and a nice array of pass rushing moves. The issue will be figuring out what happened to him in 2020 and finding a way to bring out the excellent player he portrayed in 2018 and 2019.
