Middle Linebacker · Cleveland Browns

Carson Schwesinger

No. 49 · 2nd season

The second-round pick they'll be talking about for a while

There's a version of every draft where a player slips a little, lands somewhere with something to prove, and spends their first year making the people who passed on them uncomfortable. Carson Schwesinger is that version.

Schwesinger came in as a second-round pick — not the top of the board, not the name called first when everyone holds their breath. Second round means you're expected to contribute, maybe, eventually. It doesn't usually mean this.

Defensive Rookie of the Year. Out of everyone who suited up for the first time this season, across every team, every position, the award went to him. That's not a footnote. That's a statement about how a first year can go when the right player finds the right moment.

For the Cleveland Browns, a franchise that has been waiting on a lot of things for a long time, a player arriving and immediately being the best first-year defender in the league is worth sitting with. What Schwesinger does in year two — now that everyone knows his name — is the story that's just beginning.

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