It went about as you would expect for the Cleveland Browns in their preseason opener against the Green Bay Packers. Cleveland chose to play just a few starters and was torched early by quarterback Jordan Love and the majority of the Packers’ starting offense on the opening drive. Cleveland eventually fell by a score of 23-10 and scored a late touchdown.
The biggest negative coming out of the game is center Luke Wypler exiting the game on a cart. You have to look at it as a positive when the Browns choose not to play starters in the preseason, at least that’s my viewpoint.
The Browns have themselves a nice quarterback problem … maybe
While the position rides on Deshaun Watson showing his worth and living up to the big swing , the Browns do have a well-rounded quarterback room overall. Jameis Winston started against the Packers, and then Tyler Huntley and Dorian Thompson-Robinson both played.
Winston was 4-of-5 for 30 yards and led the Browns on a drive that resulted in a 55-yard field goal by kicker Cade York. He did his job and moved the ball for the Browns despite a sack being taken. Tyler Huntley played the rest of the first and all of the second quarter for the Browns. Huntley looked to have the offense under control pretty well against some key players for the Packers’ defense. Huntley was 6-of-9 passing and had a couple of good runs as well.
Dorian Thomson-Robinson made some big throws across the middle of the field late in the game and hit multiple wide receivers while doing so. DTR completed 14-of-18 passes for 134 yards and led the Browns down the field for a late touchdown when Aidan Robbins punched it in from a yard out.
Cleveland isn’t going to keep four quarterbacks but they have four that should be on an NFL roster. Perhaps they will move one like they did last year with Joshua Dobbs, or they have to cut a player. It will come down to Huntley, who they signed as a free agent. Second-year and former UCLA standout Thompson-Robinson would be the other.
Devin Bush had a nice presence for the defense early
Cleveland played just three defensive starters and Bush was one of those. I expect that if Bush can stay healthy, the former first-round draft pick is going to be a nice player for the Browns at their SAM linebacker spot. Bush will have to replace Takitaki , who he actually looked a lot like when he stuffed Packers running back A.J. Dillon on one of his six tackles.
Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah is obviously the star of the linebacker position and the Browns expect free agent signee Jordan Hicks to be a consistent veteran for them. Neither of them played in the preseason opener and it was Bush that was able to give a strong first impression in Cleveland.
Pierre Strong Jr. won’t be on the roster in Week 1
Cleveland doesn’t know for sure yet when Nick Chubb will return and if they do they’ve kept it quiet. Entering the season, I don’t think the Browns should roster five running backs because they can bring one up from the practice squad for any games that Chubb would miss. There is zero chance they roster that many. The odd man out here for me is Strong, who the Browns traded for last preseason from the New England Patriots.
Strong just isn’t a running back that can run between the tackles and that was clear on his six runs for 15 yards. Sure, Strong is a player that can do some damage when he gets in space. But once there is contact he normally isn’t picking up much yardage after with a slight frame.
Jerome Ford and D’Onta Foreman will hold the fort down until Chubb is ready and they can be brought back up from the practice squad. Nyheim Hines is a running back by position but will be a factor in special teams and the passing game. Sure, there is enough preseason left for Strong to show his worth. Though, I think the player was on the outside looking in entering training camp anyway.
Related: Browns reportedly had quite the trade package ready to send to the 49ers for WR Brandon Aiyuk
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