Ogbo Okoronkwo is looking to break out in his second season with the Cleveland Browns.
The 29-year-old pass rusher told Aaron Wilson of KPRC 2 Houston this weekend that he's looking get to the quarterback much more often this year.
"This year, I'm trying to… I'll say it, I'll speak it into existence. I'm going for double-digit sacks this year," Okoronkwo Saturday. "That's the goal every year. I'm just gonna put in the work. I hate to say numbers, but that's what I'm looking to get."
Double-digit sacks would be a big step up from Okoronkwo's previous performance. In five seasons with the Los Angeles Rams, Houston Texans and Browns, the former fifth-round pick has just 14 career sacks. Okoronkwo logged 4.5 sacks in 14 games played for Cleveland in 2023, good for fourth on the team behind Myles Garrett, Za'Darius Smith and Alex Wright. On the field for 52.8 percent of defensive snaps last year, he also earned a career-high 12 tackles for loss and eight QB hits.
A depth piece behind the reigning Defensive Player of the Year in Garrett and a three-time Pro Bowler in Smith, Okoronkwo would need an all-time year to hit double-digit sacks. It's unlikely but not impossible. Bryce Huff racked up 10 sacks in 460 snaps for the Jets in 2023, primarily as a third-down pass rusher, and channeled that production into a $51.1 million contract with the Eagles. Like the '23 Jets, the '24 Browns benefit from a deep bench on defense at all three levels.
Okoronkwo should benefit from being fully healthy from a torn pectoral that sidelined him for three games late in the 2023 campaign. The DE told Wilson that he feels "great" and is "100 percent ready to go" for 2024.
