What is the story about?
This offseason, the wide receiver position has been the talk of camp for its performance, which contrasts heavily from a year ago. That continued into the first preseason game. As for the quarterback performances? It was certainly mixed, but a turnover from each quarterback didn’t help matters. After a 10-0 start, the Browns were shut out the rest of the way, losing 34-10. Cleveland was out-gained 430 yards to 314 yards, but won the time of possession battle 34:03 to 25:57.
Below, we analyze the snap
counts and stats on offense for the Cleveland Browns’ first preseason game against the Chicago Bears.
Quarterback
- There’s been plenty of discussion about the Browns’ quarterback situation, but no one is blowing anyone away. I think Deshaun Watson looked more comfortable than he has in previous years — which is like treating his play with kids gloves, but it is a slight improvement. He did the least to hurt his stock.
- Shedeur Sanders’ pass may have slipped for the interception. Mistakes happen, but if this is a competition, that still stands out as a negative, as do the two throws that he had batted down right over the middle. Sanders looked exactly how I thought he did last year — you see a lot of the tools for him to be a capable starting quarterback, but I don’t think you’ll get the consistency on a lot of those finer things around the edges.
- Dillon Gabriel looked lost. Compare that to last preseason when he was as crisp as could be. I know he’s working with the back-end of the roster, but so were the Bears’ third- and fourth-string quarterbacks, and they looked sharp.
Running Back
- After the game, we learned from Todd Monken that it’s a battle between Ahmani Marshall and Raheim Sanders for the third running back spot. The backup offensive line looked rather putrid to me, so I guess it’s hard to evaluate the backs. But Marshall certainly didn’t fare too well in those circumstances.
- Davon Booth came on during the final series and picked up some big runs, but I wouldn’t look at that as him getting a promotion any time soon, since it was garbage time.
Wide Receiver
- I thought there were a couple nice routes that Denzel Boston and Isaiah Bond ran that the quarterbacks didn’t get them the ball on.
- KC Concepcion remained the star of camp in my book. He handles the ball well on everything, including a big punt return too.
- Gage Larvadain and Luke Floriea followed up their stellar camps with some big catches again. Meanwhile, Cedric Tillman did not play (injury), as the odds of him being a roster casualty continue to rise.
Tight End
- Harold Fannin was only targeted once on a quick throw over the middle, but dropped it.
- Carsen Ryan might have been responsible for an alignment issue that forced the Browns to call a timeout.
Offensive Line
- For what it’s worth, the Browns’ highest-rated linemen per PFF were C Kingsley Eguakun (74.6) and OG Teven Jenkins (74.6).
- The rest of the Browns’ starting line only played the first two series (10 snaps), but they gave rookie LT Spencer Fano the first half.
- Dawand Jones was playing well into the second half, which surprised some people that he was still in there.
