5. D’Anthony Bell keeps making plays.
With returning starters Julian Love and Coby Bryant leading the way, and with Emmanwori adding an exciting element to the position, it’s going to be tough for other safeties to find a role in the defense, but D’Anthony Bell, a free-agent addition this offseason, keeps showing in practice that he has playmaking ability as well. Bell has been a special teams standout during his three seasons with the Browns, and that figures to be his mostly likely role with his new team, but he has also been very active on defense, picking off a pass earlier in camp, then adding a forced fumble the next day. On Thursday, he sniffed out a run play for what likely would have been a tackle for loss were live tackling allowed, then later had a physical pass breakup on a pass over the middle.
“He’s a physical player, plays fast, decisive,” Macdonald said. “Great attitude about him, great spirit. He’s got a playmaking ability that a lot of the guys on our defense have, which is really cool. I wish you could take credit for it as a coach, but I think it’s one of those things where ball finds energy. You play the right way, play fast, you run to the ball, you make decisive decisions in real time, seems like the ball comes your way. I think the most value you’re going to see from him is this guy is a tremendous special teams player, has a leadership capability to him, and has a real command of our punt team right now.”