CLEVELAND — Rodney McLeod has been around the block. The Browns safety, now in his 12th season in the NFL, has watched and played with a lot of great players.

That added impact to the words the veteran had to say to teammate Grant Delpit during the Browns' season-opening 24-3 rout of the Cincinnati Bengals.

"I said, 'Man, you everywhere right now,'" McLeod said after the game. "'It's hard to miss you.' Man, I think teams will start putting that target circling (No.) 22 moving forward."

McLeod's words were more than Delpit himself had to offer up after the fourth-year pro had one of his most productive all-around games. While the safety didn't get a hand in on any turnovers, he was all over the place otherwise.

Delpit's seven solo and eight combined tackles were both team highs for the Browns, who won their season opener for the second year in a row and for just the third time since returning to the league in 1999. Not only that, but he had a tackle for loss, a quarterback hit on his former LSU teammate Joe Burrow and a pass defensed.

That pass breakup may have been one of the game's biggest plays. Cincinnati was faced with a third-and-4 from the Browns 33, trailing 10-3 midway through the third quarter, when Burrow threw a deep pass down the right sideline to Tee Higgins.

Delpit was stride-for-stride with the Bengals receiver, knocking the ball away inside the Browns 10. Cincinnati missed the subsequent 51-yard field goal try, Cleveland added a field goal, and the Bengals never threatened again.

"Yeah, the receiver was, like, pushing a little bit," Delpit said, "so he gave me a nice little push. Just tried to shoot that arm up, time up the ball. (It's) hand placement and it's a lot of practice doing it."

That production was all part of a overall defensive performance by the Browns to leave Burrow and the Bengals flummoxed. Burrow had a career-low 82 passing yards and a 52.2 passer rating before he was pulled with just over five minutes remaining.

Cincinnati, which has now lost six of seven and nine of 11 to the Browns, finished with 143 total yards.

"It feels good," Delpit said after the win. "Myself, I keep quiet. I don't really, don't do a lot of rah rah and all that and I let my play do the talking, and as a defense as a whole I think we do that as well. So it is good to see what we can do, put it on tape and carry it into 'Monday Night Football.'"

A win on "Monday Night Football" at the Pittsburgh Steelers next week would do a variety of things to help validate this Browns team. It would make them 2-0 for the first time since 1993, give them their first 2-0 AFC North start since 2019 and would be just their third win ever in what is now called Acrisure Stadium, including just their second regular-season win there.

However, what Sunday's performance may have been was another step in validating Delpit, who faces a critical season in the final year of his rookie contract. The flashes of what made him a star at LSU and the No. 44 overall pick in the 2020 draft have shown occasionally over the previous two seasons after he lost his entire rookie year to a torn Achilles.

Delpit seemed to be turning things up as last season wound down, including three picks in the final three games, two of those in a Week 17 win at the Washington Commanders. Still, coming into this season, there remained work to be done.

"Very versatile guy who shows up to work every day with a hard hat on, willing to get better, whether it's in the classroom, weight room or on the field," McLeod said. "He's there, and so for him I'm proud to be able to see all the work that he's done in the offseason really come to the surface today for everybody else to really witness it. I'm hoping that he has an incredible year, but it is a great start."

Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on Twitter at @ceasterlingABJ

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Grant Delpit starts critical year off big in Browns' opening win