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'Got to put on a show': Browns' Grant Delpit calls New Orleans homecoming 'very special'
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- 'Got to put on a show': Browns' Grant Delpit calls New Orleans homecoming 'very special'
BEREA — Grant Delpit isn't acting like Sunday's game at the New Orleans Saints in the end-all, be-all for him. The Browns safety isn't acting like going back to the town where he spent the first seven years of his life is nothing, either.
"It's very special," Delpit told the Beacon Journal on Monday. "I probably got like 40 family members going, 40, 50 family members. So, got to put on a show."
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The game in New Orleans is a homecoming of sorts for multiple Browns players. Quarterback Jameis Winston , most notably, will be starting against the team for which he was a beloved player over his four seasons as mostly a backup .
Delpit , though, has a more personal connection that has very little to do with the Saints. Instead, it's about family, one that called the city home until one of the worst natural disasters in the history of this country struck in 2005.
"I mean, I never played for the Saints. I was always just a fan. So, it's just really just going home, playing for my family members. I want to make them proud, but I know they watch me on TV every week, so it shouldn't be too much different."
Cleveland Browns safety Grant Delpit (9) celebrates a win next to Jacksonville Jaguars tight end Brenton Strange (85) on Sept. 15 in Jacksonville.
Delpit spent the first seven years of his life living in the New Orleans East neighborhood of the city. However, at age 7, he and his family were among the thousands displaced from the city by Hurricane Katrina.
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Delpit and his family — his mom Endya and dad Marc, as well as his sister Grace — eventually relocated to Houston . They stayed with Delpit's aunt on the west side of the city, a total of 11 people living in a house built for two .
Houston was where Delpit remained until his senior year of high school, when he transferred to IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida. Regardless of where his path took him after 2005, much like so many others from New Orleans, he remained a Saints fan.
"It's really like people in New Orleans, just they love the Saints, bro," Delpit said. "It's like good, hard-working people that go through their whole week of work just to watch the Saints. That's the prize at the end of the week — to watch the Saints play. That really sets the tone for the rest of the next week. They just absolutely love the Saints, dog, and I did as a kid growing up, too, so I understand their feelings."
The Browns haven't played in New Orleans since 2018. That was two years before they made Delpit the No. 44 overall pick in the second round of the 2020 draft out of LSU.
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Delpit had spent three college seasons back in his home state. Bookending his time at LSU were two games inside the Caesars Superdome — a season-opening win in 2017 over BYU and a College Football Playoff national championship win over Clemson in 2019.
"It's a special place," Delpit said. "Just being a kid growing up, going to every game, just being around the stadium, people knowing me around the stadium. I think I've won every game I played in there, so hopefully we keep it going."
Delpit will likely play a big role in what is just his second game ever against his childhood team. In his first game against them — on a frigid, sub-zero Christmas Eve day in Cleveland in 2022 — he had an interception in what turned into a Browns loss.
Now, as they head to New Orleans, Delpit will be one of those most likely tasked with having to cover the Saints' dangerous running back, Alvin Kamara . Specifically, he's going to have to work to defend him in the passing game, where he leads the Saints in targets (69), receptions (51) and receiving yards (421).
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"No, I'm not stressed," Delpit said of facing Kamara. "I'm not stressed. I know we'll come up with a good game plan."
Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Browns safety Grant Delpit calls New Orleans homecoming 'very special'
