This is my concern with Berry. He leads with his head too often. As talented as he is, I can’t shake the feeling that he’s a short-timer like Poole.

Also: You’ve got an ILB where OLB should be in your post, danvail.

Heres why this is:

The ILB and safety positions make vastly less impact on the outcome of the game than outside pass rushers and CBs. So a veteran outside pass rusher or CB or even DT who is still a solid player can get that one extra veteran contract (costly for teams). Meanwhile their colleges who play ILB and Safety just don’t have the same impact on the game in general (except some certain rare examples, and even they don’t effect the game as much as the elite pass rushers) so the ILBs and Safeties are more replaceable with younger players who don’t cost so much.

Look what happened this year: the Giants basically told Antonio Pierce to get lost while the Colts nearly jettisoned Gary Brackett. And both those guys play for tampa 2 teams where the MLB actually has much more importance than a 3-4 ILB.

While I love Berry, even drafting him at #7 is a huge risk because you are putting a huge financial commitment into a player who would have to be literally the best safety in the league and have a rare impact on our defense to justify the cost of his rookie contract. If you are the Browns and you don’t think that Berry is a head and shoulders upgrade over Earl Thomas, then the prudent move is to trade down and get Thomas at a much lower price.

I’d still take Berry over every player in this draft except Suh and maybe Bradford. Easily.