Cleveland Browns Free Agent Review: DT Malik Jackson

Our Cleveland Browns free agent preview continues with DT Malik Jackson.

Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images

How and When He Joined the Browns: Last year, Jackson signed a 1-year deal worth $3.75 million with the Browns, his tenth year in the NFL.

Productivity Level Last Season: Jackson played in all 16 games with the Browns last year, registering 24 tackles, 0.5 a sack, and 4 passes batted down. According to Pro Football Focus, Jackson performed at a below average level, ranking as one of the worst defensive tackles in the league.

Why Keeping Him Could Make Sense: At this stage of his career, Jackson seeing starting reps isn’t ideal. However, he could be much more valuable as a rotational player.

What the Browns Should Do: Cleveland technically has $1.89 million in dead money against the cap allocated to Jackson already. He was signed by Andrew Berry in 2021 with the intention of him being a one-year rental, nothing more. Cleveland needs to develop their defensive tackle position badly. The Malik McDowell situation was unfortunate because it takes away one of those developmental guys; but I still think Jackson won’t be retained.

Let us know below whether or not the team should try to re-sign Malik Jackson.