With injuries piling up all over the roster, the Cleveland Browns have had to turn to young and inexperienced players at several positions. Down their top-three safeties, Cleveland turned to undrafted free agent rookie Ronnie Hickman Jr. to start at free safety against the Chicago Bears.
Hickman was ready for the moment and ended up PFF’s highest-graded rookie this week with an overall grade of 90.6. The craziest part about it is that he played all but four snaps Sunday and a majority of them were at free safety. In college that is where he struggled the most and most of his success came as a box safety playing closer to the line of scrimmage.
It continues to be a testament to how well-coached and prepared everyone is on the roster. The team continues to be nearly unfazed by the injuries and lives by the “next man up” mentality. General manager Andrew Berry continues to show how good of a roster builder he is with people stepping up all over the roster to keep the team in the playoff race.
