Cleveland Browns: 10 players to watch in the preseason
By Shane Carter
The Cleveland Browns return to the field on Thursday night for their opening game of the preseason. Here are 10 players to watch in the coming weeks.
It’s been months of waiting for Cleveland Browns fans, who saw players come and go in free agency, an exciting 2017 NFL Draft, and hung on every pass in Organized Team Activities.
But the wait is over. Football is back! Well, sort of.
The preseason is here and this is the time for the new guys to shine. Players hoping to earn a roster spot or show enough to land on the practice squad go all out for the four preseason games. Rookie draft picks and undrafted free agents, as well as NFL vets looking for another shot somewhere, are the main focus during the preseason and for good reason.
The stars. The contract players. Every team’s shiny toys; we all know they’ll make the team. The preseason isn’t for them. It’s for the players whose future isn’t assured and the players who are trying to live up to the hype.
Some may not think the preseason is watchable until you’ve gone through withdrawal and crave something related to football. This is why fans pay so much attention to free agency and the draft. This is why the NFL Network exists. The NFL is on from August to February and in the months after, fans need something, anything, to keep them going.
Luckily for Browns fans, this season offers something that the city hasn’t felt in football in 15 years: hope. The preseason is going to showcase that hope through the exciting new additions and players fighting for jobs that we’ll see on the field this year.
There are 10 specific players that fans should pay attention to starting Thursday night, when the Browns host the New Orleans Saints. All of these players are not only trying to earn a spot, but some are there to earn a starting spot. These 10 players could be the beginning to the turnaround.