Cleveland Browns fans were all on board when the team signed Juan Thornhill a couple of years ago.
He was a proven winner with Super Bowl experience who would provide veteran leadership and make impact plays at safety.
Unfortunately, that was rarely the case.
Whether it was because of injuries or flat-out subpar play, he failed to live up to the expectations.
Even so, in a recent chat with The Athletic’s Mike DeFabo, he blamed the fans for the narrative around him, stating that the film showed that he actually played well:
“You can’t read into what the media is saying about me,” Thornhill said. “Because if you sit back and you watch the film of what I did in Cleveland, I had a lot of good plays. Some of the Cleveland people just tried to bash my name a little bit. If you sit there and really watch the film, I made a lot of plays and was very productive in that defense.”
Of course, the fans will respectfully disagree with pretty much everything he said.
The former second-round pick saw his production take a huge dive after signing a three-year, $21 million contract in Cleveland, even when he was healthy.
That reached an all-time low in the Week 11 loss to the New Orleans Saints when Derek Carr found Marquez Valdes-Scantling on a deep throw and Thornhill barely tried to tackle him, jogging instead of going full speed and failing to prevent a score.
Thornhill also got in numerous altercations with the fans on social media, and it’s pretty obvious that he’s just not going to be held accountable for his subpar play and even worse attitude.
Now, with Minkah Fitzpatrick out of the picture, he will have to embrace a big role with the Pittsburgh Steelers right out of the gate.
It’ll be interesting to hear what he has to say if he doesn’t live up to the expectations.
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Insider Calls For A Shift In Browns’ QB Focus
