Cleveland Browns football is BACK – and it feels so good to witness a win, even if it is only in the preseason. My mental health for the next five months will be solely dictated by the performance of this team, so I watched all 119 snaps of football intently. Here is what I saw.
- Shedeur Sanders is good at football. I said in my last article that I wouldn’t buy into too much preseason hype, but it’s hard not to with this guy. There were definitely some blatant mistakes and flaws in his game that he does still have to work on, whether it be making the right read or getting the ball out of his hands more quickly. That being said, there were also definite flashes of NFL talent in his placement and accuracy – including his first touchdown pass to Kaden Davis, which was delivered perfectly through an impossibly tight window. Especially after seeing tonight’s performance, it’s difficult not to buy into the idea that this kid is special. Tyler Huntley’s showing was fine, but I’m still of the belief that he’s just a placeholder until one of the other quarterbacks is healthy enough to take snaps in a preseason game. There’s just simply nothing special enough about him to warrant burning the months of work you’ve put in with any of the other quarterbacks on the roster.
- Our offensive line can NOT get hurt. Sanders definitely had a few plays where he held on to the ball too long, or tried (and failed) to run for his life and make something out of nothing in a very Caleb-Williams-esque manner, but there were considerably more where the pocket just broke down in front of him. We did manage to avoid taking many sacks, but that speaks more to Sanders’ elusiveness than it does to the capabilities of the backup offensive linemen on our roster.
- Kaden Davis is probably our WR6. Yes, it was only one game, and Luke Floreia and Gage Larvadian are still in the mix. The fact that they were both returning kicks for us (and DeAndre Carter wasn’t) makes me think there’s a possibility that one of them ends up taking over that role. However, it’s clear that Kaden Davis, with his two touchdowns, was the go-to guy in the red zone tonight. The coaches did a good job of splitting up targets and reps, with nobody being thrown to more than four times, and Davis still stood out among a very large group of receivers (14 players who faced at least one target).
- The tight end position is less clear than we thought. David Njoku and Harold Fannin will make the team. Blake Whiteheart will most likely be our third tight end. But will we keep four and who would be the fourth? Sal Cannella had a strong showing today and he and Brendan Bates have been solid all offseason. It’s a battle between the two of them to potentially make this roster, so keep an eye on their names throughout the rest of the preseason.
- The running back room is also cloudy. We’ll undoubtedly be entering the season with Jerome Ford and Dylan Sampso and we’re almost definitely taking Pierre Strong too. There’s a chance those are the only three we go with while we await a resolution on Quinshon Judkins’ legal troubles – but in case we take a fourth, would it be Ahmani Marshall or Toa Taua? Both have had decent camps and both have had decent performance in the game, so there’s a real chance one of them could break into that room in the coming weeks.
- Carson Schwesinger was everywhere tonight with six total tackles in the limited time he played. He had a very solid game despite one glaring mistake where he left Tetairoa McMillan open in the end zone on the Panthers’ second drive of the game (the ball was dropped, but it should have been a touchdown). As for the other linebackers, Winston Reid was probably the biggest impact maker against the Panthers, and Nathaniel Watson had a very strong performance, too. The two aren’t fighting for a starting spot alongside Schwesinger by any means, but they are battling to make the roster – and it’s encouraging to see the younger players put forth strong showings like they did in this game.
- Our cornerback depth is not great. The two players whom I predicted would most likely make the 53-man squad, Chigozie Anusiem and Myles Harden, both got beaten on 1v1 go routes – the former losing against rookie 1st-round pick Tetairoa McMillan and the latter against sophomore UDFA Jalen Coker. Granted, it’s only one play for each of them, but it still isn’t great to see. On the other hand, though, Tony Brown II looked very strong in his limited time on the field today – as did LaMareon James. Dom Jones’ performance was nothing special – it didn’t feel like he did much while watching the game, and on the times he did get targeted, he seemed to be getting lucky – either with poor ball placement or a no-call on what probably should have been pass interference.
- Julian Okwara was feeling himself. Again, it’s only a preseason game – and by that point in the game, the Panthers were at the deepest point of their depth chart. With that in mind, though, Okwara was clearly better than the tackles he was lining up against. Our depth might be a problem everywhere else, but we have a stockpile of good defensive linemen.
- Dustin Hopkins already missed an extra point attempt. Cut him now before his regular-season performance keeps me up for another four months straight.
Overall, we performed well (as evidenced by the scoreboard). The mistakes we made were very coachable ones, and catching those mistakes is the purpose of these games in the first place. Shedeur Sanders has taken his first real step towards climbing the depth chart, while the rest of the team is likely in the same order as it was before kickoff – but it’s good to see the team competing. Every player on our team, including those who didn’t play, has an opportunity to learn from the 60 minutes of game film that we put on tape in this game. We have one week to make any necessary corrections and come back with an even stronger performance against the Eagles.
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