When the Browns open the season against the Steelers, look for Denzel Ward to cover Antonio Brown.
That’s the word from Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com who writes that the Browns drafted Ward to be a shutdown corner and are likely to start him Week One and let him learn on the job.
Covering Brown is a tall order for any rookie, but if the Browns didn’t think that Ward was capable of that kind of task, they wouldn’t have used the fourth overall pick in the draft on him. The Browns thought Ward was the best defensive player in this year’s draft, and they want him to show it right away.
Although it was overlooked on an otherwise terrible team, the Browns actually had a pretty good run defense last year. If Ward can shore up the pass defense, it’s easy to see him being one of the key building blocks for a turnaround in Cleveland.