Brown’s defense

We do play some zone here and there to keep opposing offenses off balance.

...is pretty good!

I would like to see Zordich coach the safeties in addition to the cornerbacks. The cornerbacks have been great in man coverage since he was hired.

I’m willing to bet that Kinnel and Metellus are capable of being good in man coverage if coached properly.

10th ranked defense in the country. 
Gary, Hudson, Bush, Hill, Long, Metellus were all 2nd year guys. 

Our defense, Brown's defense, is spectacular. Get lost.

this was about the Cleveland Browns’ defense. The humor that would unleash would have been priceless.

(I understand because a family member asked me this same question.)

The backdrop for the question: Our safeties were the weakest part of our defense in 2017. They were often isolated and targeted in coverage.

OP is essentially asking, "Knowing that our safeties struggle in pass coverage, why not substitute a back-up corner like Brandon Watson at safety when possible?"

The general answer is because safeties also have run defense responsibilities and (I suspect) Watson probably wasn't better than Kinnel or Metellus in that aspect.

to substitute on obvious passing downs then maybe.

But to put a lightweight CB(s) back there and expect him to step up in run game defense is asking to get someone hurt imo.

I don't pretend to know anything deeper than Master Brown does and so I will step back into my cornfields and let the man do his job.

It is expected that safeties be capable of covering WRs 1on1 in high level college football. Delano Hill was really good at it, but we've seen Kinnel and Metellus get burned pretty badly multiple times this season, including some balls that were dropped or over thrown.

So while leaving 3 safeties on the field (I'm including Hudson) is the norm, yes it was... annoying(?) when, in obvious passing downs, all 3 of them were left on the field instead of bringing in Thomas and Watson.

Problem is, if you bring in 4 CBs, then your run support will be lacking unless the 3rd and 4th CB are willing to get their noses up in the run game. Plus, you'd take out 1 of the guys whose job it is to get everyone lined up correctly.

So while bringing in another CB could eleviate the pass defense issues, it doesn't solve all of the problems. Getting the safeties to a point where they can cover is the end goal.

Alas, Keith Washington.

In UFR-speak, Kinnel and Metellus picked up +1s in both run and pass way more often than they got -3s. The latter are just more memorable, but shouldn't cause overreaction. All defenses bust sometimes. /Shrug emoji

Oh boy, it's the safety and coverage debate.

Defense is fine just like any other defense it can’t carry you forever against quality opponents. You actually need some type of offense and a quarterback that doesn’t like throwing the ball to the other team.

If our defense ever comes anything close to a defense with no safeties, I fear our run defense will suffer. Man coverage already strains run defense so much that bringing in 5 guys who are 6' 2" 170 lbs sounds pretty sketchy as corners, save for guys like Jourdan Lewis, just aren't the tacklers Kinnel, Woods, Peppers are. Guys like Channing Stribling just didn't strike fear into the hearts of running backs in the open field last year