Browns Underlying Stories: Alex Wright

As a rookie, Alex Wright playing far more than was expected and struggled mightily. A raw prospect coming out of UAB, Wright was tabbed as a project, but played a full workload of snaps his first year. With all of that experience along with a productive offseason, Wright has an opportunity to make positive contributions in his second year as part of a deeper defensive line rotation, increasing the number of ways the Browns can defend opponents.

Wright was drafted with the long game in mind, but between injuries and the organization's hesitancy to invest in a compromised season caused the former Blazer to play a total of 543 snaps. After receiving a decent amount of praise for his work in training camp, it quickly became evident just how unprepared Wright was for prime time.

The hope is that Wright could be a decent run-stopping end option that would evolve as a pass rusher with the flexibility to kick inside. Neither occurred in year one where Wright recorded just a 3.8 percent pressure rate without a sack for the year. To his credit, Wright did deflect five passes on the season.

As a run defender, Wright had a few decent performances including the Houston Texans and the season finale against the Pittsburgh Steelers, but the overall season was remarkably poor.

Wright was drafted with size and reach, including 34" arms. He was also 21 years old, played in Conference USA and looked notably raw there. At 6'5" 271, the Blazers often had him play a standup edge role, giving him plenty of freedom as a pass rusher. He was productive, which is part of the reason they drafted. The Browns also liked how he performed when the Blazers faced the eventual national champion, the University of Georgia.

Playing defensive line as a rookie in the NFL is difficult in the best circumstances, but Wright was neither neither ready nor put in a position to succeed. That became painfully clear when both Jadeveon Clowney and Myles Garrett were out with injuries against the Atlanta Falcons. 

The good news for Wright is it would be difficult for him to play any worse. He's got the size the Browns want at that position and has drawn praise from Jim Schwartz for his work ethic this offseason. It also helps that the Browns don't need Wright to be a full service player at this point because of the strength of their rotation.

In his rookie year when Wright was tasked to set the edge, he would too often allow himself to get reached in no small part because he attacked at poor angles, opening running lanes.. Some of that can improve with additional strength and working to improve his first step, but it's also important to take better angles and employ good technique.

The additions of Za'Darius Smith and Ogbonnia Okoronkwo were made with a specific focus on rushing the passer. They can play the run as well, but their primary function is attacking the quarterback. That creates a niche for Wright to function as a run stopper to allow Smith, Okoronkwo and Myles Garrett to get a breather.

Wright could become someone who can function as an interior pass rusher for the same reason he's able to help in run defense. If he's able to move the line of scrimmage and maintain his pass rushing lane, he doesn't need to necessarily get to the passer. Like last year, he can put his big mitts up there and deflect passes while potentially being able to disengage from blockers to tackle a quarterback attempting to scramble.