2023 NFL Breakouts: Second and third-year defensive players ready to explode ft. ft. Drake Jackson, Daxton Hill and more

#2, Baron Browning, Denver Broncos (EDGE)

A top-10 overall recruit for Ohio State back in 2017, it took Baron Browning until his senior year to become a full-time starter for the Buckeyes. Settling in at SAM linebacker, he impressed with his movement skills despite his oversized frame for guys typically playing in space as regularly, along with showing some effectiveness as a blitzer.

Overall, he put up 109 total tackles, 17 of those for loss and nine sacks across just under 900 career snaps. He ended up being the final pick on day two of the 2021 draft (105th overall).

So far, he has played 14 games in each of his two seasons in Denver and also actually logged exactly 60% of snaps when available. However, he went from an exclusive off-ball linebacker as a rookie to a true edge defender in year two, and after putting up 58 tackles as a rookie, but very few legit impact plays, he recorded five sacks, eight tackles for loss, an interception and two more passes broken up in his second season.

Trimming down a little bit for 2022 at 6‘3“, just over 240 pounds in his first year as a full-time edge rusher, he also racked up 38 pressures across just 284 pass-rush snaps.

This guy’s burst off the ball and ability to tilt his rushes is highly impressive. Von Miller was and largely still is a generational talent in his flexibility to bend and turn the corner low off the ground, but this guy is the closest thing the Broncos have seen since then over the last couple of years.

Just like the veteran, Browning has instances where he jumps the snap as he reads the center’s head bob down or some other tell, putting immense pressure on tackles to meet him at a spot, which forces those guys to flip their hips a lot earlier than they’d like to, if they want to still cut off his angle.

Plus, as he gets to the top of his rush, he’s able to drop that inside knee and shoulder a little further, in order to dip underneath and get around as he’s just about to get beyond the quarterback.

Looking at the Next Gen Stats tracking, he finished right behind Nick Bosa and Maxx Crosby as the first three names outside the top 10 in terms of fastest get-off among pass-rushers and he actually finished second to only another double-digit sack guy in Josh Sweat in terms of shortest time from the start of the play to hitting the QB.

Browning recognizes when tackles set too softly on him or try to catch him, straightening his path and going through their chest. You see him even ride guys like 360-pound Orlando Brown Jr. backward with the long arm, in part because of how well he rushes with leverage.

Off the bull rush, he showcases impressive coordination to almost euro-step around blockers on power-to-speed maneuvers, as he initially aims at the center of the man in front of him before swatting down the near-wrist and pulling the inside foot around.

Plus, while I don’t typically love seeing it, he throws out such a fluid outside spin move every once in a while, where he’s just able to stay on his feet as he circles around the tackle.

I also saw him realize after getting chipped and the tackle got too far up the field, taking the direct path as quarterbacks hitched up and getting a hit on those guys. He had a few snaps of absolutely whacking running backs trying to chip-help on him and actually got both their feet off the ground on multiple occasions.

For only a second-year player, Browning not only showed quickly how he could identify the weaknesses of his opponents and how to set them up throughout games, by stringing together moves, but his execution of twists was also excellent.

He does a great job of attacking far enough up the field to get the guard and tackle fanned out that way basically when he has a B-gap rusher inside of him. He then sticks his outside foot in the ground as his hips are already pointed towards the middle and curving his path towards the QB as he loops around the inside hip of the guard. In that, he shows tremendous flexibility in his ankles throughout that curvilinear movement, in the mold of a running back turning the corner.

Along with the juice he provided as a pass-rusher, the Broncos still utilized Browning’s easy movement skills dropping out into coverage. He spent 78 snaps in pass defense last season, where they would have him stand up over the guard and bail out into the hook area, in order to pick up crossers or get underneath ticket-ends curling up over the middle, or peel off the edge and widen with the running back releasing his way.

Understanding that Browning has primarily been deployed off the ball throughout his time at Ohio State and as a rookie for the Broncos, his take-on technique and how he times stacking-and-shedding blockers understandably is still a bit of a work in progress.

However, he does use natural leverage and 33 ½-inch arms to his advantage in that regard, while rarely allowing opponents to take up and step into his space in that regard. Moreover, you really like his activity near the point of attack, where particularly when lined up over tight ends, he can stay mostly square and then disengage once he sees the back commit, in order to create stops for minimal yardage.

When tight-ends are asked to seal him on the backside, Browning typically caves that side in and eliminates any cutback opportunity. This is not somebody you can leave unblocked on the backside, where (even if he has to hesitate for a split-second to make sure the quarterback didn’t pull the ball) he can still run down the ball carrier, especially if that guy tries to cut back into that void between Browning and the tackle/tight-end zone-blocking away from him.

With that being said, how aggressively he wants to come off the ball did hurt his team at times too, as he got called for seven total penalties this past season, all on different variations of coming across the line of scrimmage prematurely. Improving his consistency will now be key for Browning.

Watching the Colts game in Week 5, he was an absolute game-wrecker, with ten total pressures on just 22 pass-rush snaps. Yet, he didn’t even reach half of that mark in any other contest throughout the year.

Where he still needs to grow is when tackles really jump out to him coming from those wide alignments, to punish them with quick inside moves and also just as he’s at the apex of his rush with tackles fully having his hips committed towards him to slide underneath once he’s even with the QB.

Getting to his counters earlier should be a focus of 2023. In the run game, while he doesn’t get ridden too far from his landmarks, I think there’s room for improvement with landing his hands inside the frame of tackles and locking out early, before they can create that initial momentum and turn him a little bit on drive-blocks.

He quickly flattens down the line approaching pullers, but doesn’t create traffic in the backfield like some other guys do when given the chance. You’d like to see him make whenever tight-ends are assigned to block him, it being a more apparent mismatch.

Looking at the Broncos' depth chart and their moves since the conclusion of the 2021/22 season tells a story. They handed Randy Gregory a five-year, 70-million dollar contract, made Oklahoma’s Nik Bonitto their top draft pick in 2022 (64th overall) and recently brought on Frank Clark for a year (coming over from Kansas City). This wouldn’t make you believe they have a superstar in the making.

However, Vance Joseph wants to keep his rushers fresh. So the one-on-one opportunities he will create for Browning (as they bring at least the max amount of guys offenses can account for in protection when they blitz), means that even if he doesn’t quite crack 70% of snaps, he can be highly productive on those.

Going through the list of what I’m looking for in young edge defenders – getting off the ball, flexibility, forceful hands, change-of-direction and mental growth – this guy checks every single box.