Browns pick the 6-foot-4, 252-pound defensive end in the first round of the draft.
He’s also a former NFL defensive player of the year.
“He’s the prototypical defensive end that can play all over the field, but he’s a little more in the mold of an outside linebacker and a little bit more of a cover guy,” Browns GM Ray Farmer said.
“You can’t really compare him to the guys that went first overall, because he’s going to have to adjust to his new team.
But he’s got great size.
He can run with the best of them.
He had a terrific combine, he’s very athletic.
We feel he can play inside, outside, he can line up anywhere.”
Farmer said he’d like to see more of what he called “tactical versatility” on defense.
“We feel like if he can become a guy who can play the 3-technique and can play some 3-tech, then he’ll have a chance to be a special player in the NFL,” Farmer said during the NFL scouting combine.
“But if he’s just an outside player, he’ll probably never make it.
I think the Browns feel like he can be special.”
The Browns have had interest in several linebackers, but they’ve mostly been high on UCLA defensive end Solomon Thomas.
He was drafted No. 1 overall by the New York Jets in 2012, but had surgery to repair a torn ACL in his left knee in March 2014.
Thomas was a two-time All-Pac-12 pick and was named to the All-American team.
Thomas is the No. 10 overall pick in this year’s draft, and is likely to get a contract.
He said his knee is 100 percent healthy and he feels 100 percent ready to contribute.
“I feel like I can be a first-round pick, I feel like my knees are 100 percent,” Thomas said.
