Three Gifts of a Performance on the Defense for the Cleveland Browns Against New Orleans

Three players in particular played pretty well for the Cleveland Browns defense against the New Orleans Saints.

Brandon Little | Dec 25, 2022

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Cleveland Browns

Cleveland Browns lost their ninth game of the season on a frosty, cold Christmas Eve day yesterday. The New Orleans Saints came to town and played a game that ended up simply being the tail of two halves.

Despite the loss, Cleveland had some good moments. On the defense specifically, a few players stepped up.

Reggie Ragland

The Ragland signing came out of nowhere for Cleveland when Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah went down with an injury. Cleveland is down at least four linebackers on the season, including starters across the middle. Ragland stepped up and made 10 tackles against the Saints to lead the way.

Expecting much out of Ragland wouldn't have been smart going in, but he played pretty well. Mainly in the run game, Ragland was able to work sideline to sideline and didn't shy away from delivering tough contact.

Grant Delpit

Delpit continues the upward trend of some good football. Against the Saints, Delpit took a tipped pass and made a long return on the interception.

Additionally, Delpit continues to be good up around the line of scrimmage. It looks a lot like the former second-round pick could be the strong safety of the future. Delpit had seven tackles and a tackle for loss against New Orleans.

Tony Fields

Fields has come on this season as a linebacker who is going to give you some good moments as a reserve. Out of necessity, Fields has played the most football he has as a pro lately.

Against New Orleans, Fields made nine tackles, which was second most on the team. Beyond this season, the Browns may have to look into firmly having Fields in the mix. The jump from just a special teams player to a defensive contributor is a plus for Fields.

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Brandon Little is a writer for Sports Illustrated’s Browns Digest website and you can follow him on Twitter @BrandonLittleFB here. You can follow Browns Digest on Twitter here.

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