Grant Delpit is a name that the Cleveland faithful has been waiting to hear more consistently over the loudspeakers in FirstEnergy Stadium, and that’s going to happen a lot more in 2022. Though his true rookie season was lost to a devastating achilles injury, he came back with a vengeance and steadily improved throughout every game in 2021.
Delpit brings so much to this Cleveland Browns defense, and it seems as though he’s primed for a breakout season in 2022. Let’s take a look at a few of the things that he does best.
Pass Coverage
As a defensive back, there’s a fine line between “obvious keys” and “instinctual keys”. An example of an obvious key for a safety is to follow the quarterback’s eyes. Though this is usually a tried and true key for a safety, it can sometimes be used to the quarterback’s advantage because they’re able to “look off” certain players to open up zones in coverage.
An example of an instinctual key would be when a veteran or seasoned defensive back understands what a play might be, and can jump routes because they already know where the ball could be going based on the specific environment of the play.
Delpit has shown an unusually good mix of both of these things as a safety, which is extremely impressive because in college he was also used as a linebacker and cornerback in some situations as well. He was forced to play a multitude of positions because he was usually the best athlete on the field. Delpit more than held his own in every spot that he’s lined up in, which was the main reason why some scouts thought that he’d also be a weakside linebacker in the NFL as well.
The only downside of this is excessive positional movement is that he wasn’t really given the chance to master the “in’s” and “out’s” of playing the safety position at LSU. As I mentioned earlier, the fact that he hasn’t had a lot of mishaps in coverage thus far is extremely impressive.
Run Defense
Coming out of LSU in 2020, one of the main knocks against him was his inconsistent ability to tackle. Though some of this was warranted, I don’t think that this was ultimately a problem for him. He shows consistent effort in the run game, whether it’s stepping up and taking on lead blockers to free up teammates or making the play himself.
Watching him defend the run, you can see why LSU used him as a linebacker. He’s incredibly instinctive and has an enormous amount of football IQ. He does a great job of eliminating targets, which allows him to stay disciplined enough to not bite on play-action and option plays.
Blitzing
Usually, this isn’t really a category that one would use to describe a safety, but Delpit has shown that he can effectively get to the quarterback and create pressure on a consistent basis. He pressured the quarterback on 50% of his total blitzes this past season, which is exceptional for a defensive back. He does a great job of finding holes and soft spots in pass protection and times his blitzes incredibly well.
Grant Delpit is going to be an extremely fun player to watch in 2022 and beyond. It’s going to be interesting to see some of the ways that Joe Woods uses him going forward.
He has the athleticism, skillset, and football IQ to develop into one of the best safeties in the league.
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