Cleveland Browns: 3 Players who hurt their standing in preseason Week 1
By Randy Gurzi
3. Greg Joseph, Kicker
This one was unfortunate because kicker Greg Joseph really did start out the game very well. He was called upon late in the second quarter to attempt a 43-yard field goal and that went right through the uprights. It ended up being the only field goal of the night kicked as he and rookie Austin Seibert will have to wait until Week 2 to see who gets the next crack at trying for three. It wasn’t the final kick though.
Both Joseph and Seibert had two extra-point attempts and all was well through the first three. Seibert had connected cleanly on each of his and Joseph did as well with his first try — he knocked the ball through following Baker Mayfield’s opening touchdown pass to Rashard Higgins.
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However, Joseph failed in his second attempt. Following the punt return for a touchdown from Damon Sheehy-Guiseppi, Joseph hit the left upright and everyone in Cleveland let out a collective sigh.
Joseph, who has been leading the kicking competition thanks to a strong camp has been just fine when kicking field goals for the Browns. The undrafted rookie was a solid 17-of-20 after joining the team in Week 3 and had a long of 51-yards. The problem was, he was shaky with the extra points.
Despite going 11-of-11 on kicks under 40-yards all season, he was 25-of-29 on extra points, which are from 33-yards out. For whatever reason, Joseph just struggles from that spot and it was enough to convince the team to use a fifth-round pick on Seibert. The rookie has struggled in camp but going 2-for-2 on his extra points helps him and hurts the second-year kicker.