With roster cutdown day now in the books, the Cleveland Browns are now looking to clean up the scraps. You know how the saying goes: One man’s trash is another man’s Joe Haden … or something like that. The important thing to remember is that not everyone that gets cut is “terrible,” but sometimes they are just not good fits for their former team. James Harrison was cut by the Baltimore Ravens four times, but eventually turned into the monster for Pittsburgh that we remember today.
Height: 6-2
Weight: 236 pounds
Previous Team: Cincinnati Bengals
Jefferson was an absolute stud in college at Texas and made an impact immediately, earning Freshman All-American honors. He also won the Big-12 Freshman Defensive Player of the Year award. Jefferson’s collegiate career only continued to get better as he was named first-team All-Big 12 as a junior along with conference Defensive Player of the Year and even second-team All-American honors. Obviously, with all of those accolades, Jefferson decided to forgo his senior year for the 2018 NFL Draft.
The Cincinnati Bengals selected Jefferson in the third round and he saw playing time in 10 games before suffering a foot injury and winding up on IR. Cincinnati releasing Jefferson is a bit of a surprise considering he is only 22 years old and entering his second professional season. Jefferson was primarily a special teams contributor, but most figured he would get more of an opportunity in 2019. After the new coaching staff drafted Germaine Pratt, it appears they saw it as the time to move on.
Jefferson is still young and brings with him an exciting mixture of athleticism and ideal size. He also checks all of the intangible boxes with a background that displays a want to get better. Jefferson was moved around the linebacker corps during his Texas days and clearly has no issue grinding on special teams and in the weight room until he makes an impact.
The red flags were very clear with Jefferson coming out of Texas, which makes releasing the obvious project even more questionable. There are no off-the-field concerns with Jefferson, but his film has extremely frustrating streaks as Jefferson is clearly in the wrong area more often than not and this carried into the NFL. All of that unique athleticism that was touted means nothing if he continues to get lost.
Cleveland fans should be excited about this addition as Jefferson has the potential to grow into a high-caliber starter in this league. He checks every physical trait you could ask for in a linebacker and despite playing on the outside in Cincinnati, he could honestly play either inside or out at a high level. It appears that with good coaching and patience, the Browns could have snagged a game-changer.
