4 Takeaways: Cleveland Browns practice featured a struggling passing game
By Randy Gurzi
The Cleveland Browns passing game is still being perfected
Another day of practice is in the books for the Cleveland Browns as they put some work in on Saturday. It was another day without pads as the team was out there in shorts but they still had plenty to watch.
Most notably was the matchup between new offensive tackle Jack Conklin and defensive end Myles Garrett. Those two went toe-to-toe, but we all really wanted to see Garrett test the rookie Jedrick Wills.
Cleveland’s star pass rusher wants that as well, but the team isn’t ready to throw the rookie to the wolves just yet.
Outside of that, the news focused a lot on the team’s passing game, and not all the news about it was pretty. That’s one of our main takeaways from the day, as we start out with some good and bad from the passing attack that Kevin Stefanski is still trying to install.
Quick Hits: Case Keenum has struggled, Garrett Gilbert has not
What will really matter when it comes to the Cleveland passing attack is how Baker Mayfield does. He’s the No. 1 quarterback for the Browns and this team will go as far as he does.
Having said that, they’re still paying an awful lot of money to their backup, Case Keenum. Part of the allure with Keenum is the fact that he has played under Kevin Stefanski in the past, meaning he should be ready to go — and should be helping Mayfield pick things up as well.
While we don’t know how things in meetings are going, we can see that Keenum hasn’t been dominating on the field. Instead, he’s been struggling and on Saturday, he threw the ball to a lot of defenders.
Case Keenum has been throwing to the defense plenty in camp.
— Jake Burns (@jake_burns18) August 22, 2020
While he has been struggling, the third-string quarterback has not. Garrett Gilbert, who was the No. 2 guy all of last season has been looking good on his passes.
Garrett Gilbert has been worlds better than Case Keenum thus far in camp.
— Cory (@realcorykinnan) August 22, 2020
Again, how Baker Mayfield performs is what really matters. And for Keenum, this shouldn’t be too alarming since he’s a consummate professional.
Cleveland paid him a lot of money to be a trusted backup and should they ever have to turn it over to him, he’s going to be just fine. Right now, he’s simply getting on the same page as his new teammates. The timing will be there soon.