Footballs are flying through the air and that means several players will have a chance to compete for a roster spot during the Browns preseason opener.
While the preseason isn’t the most exciting thing in the world to the casual viewer, it is highly important to shape out rosters. The Cleveland Browns will get their first glimpse at what this roster could be on Friday, August 12 when they travel down to Jacksonville to take on the Jaguars in Week 1 of the preseason.
The game plan will be very vanilla, as most every preseason game is, as no team wants to show the rest of the league what they will be doing when the games count for real. What these games will do is help determine who will or won’t make the final 53-man roster. Now, this won’t be make or break during the first week of the preseason, but it could put some players ahead of others on the depth chart.
Depth is vital for any team in the NFL as injuries are bound to happen in such a violent sport. A lot of the starters are already set and likely won’t play this Friday, but those who play behind them could be called upon at any given moment, so these reps are important, especially against other NFL players.
A lot of difficult decisions will be made from now until the end of the preseason by head coach Kevin Stefanski and general manager Andrew Berry. Let’s take a look at three players to watch on the Browns in the Preseason Week 1.
3 Cleveland Browns players to watch in Preseason Week 1
Browns player to watch No. 3: Josh Rosen
Fifth time’s the charm, right?
Well, that’s not how the saying goes, but that is most certainly the question quarterback Josh Rosen must be asking himself heading into his fourth professional season.
The former 10th overall pick by the Arizona Cardinals back in the 2018 NFL Draft has not lived up to top-10 status. In fact, the Browns are his fifth team in his first four seasons. Cleveland passed on him with the first overall pick when they drafted Baker Mayfield instead, and now he’s also wearing new threads in 2022.
After Arizona, Rosen went to Miami, Tampa Bay (where he carried Tom Brady’s water bottle), San Francisco, and then Atlanta, before landing in Cleveland. Typically, a quarterback competing for the third position on the depth chart wouldn’t be a big deal, but it absolutely is with the uncertainty of QB1, Deshaun Watson. Jacoby Brissett will start in his absence, however long that is, so whoever is named QB3 will essentially be named QB2 until Watson returns.
Rosen and Joshua Dobbs will play a significant amount of the preseason games and both will look to make the roster. Whoever does not make the roster could be a good practice squad option for the Browns, should whoever that is clear waivers. The talent is there for Rosen; it’s just he hasn’t found the right fit yet in the early goings of his career.
In 24-career games, Rosen has thrown for 2,864 yards, 12 touchdowns, and 21 interceptions while completing 54 percent of his passes and being sacked 61 times. Yikes. The good thing about the NFL preseason is that second chances are given a ton, so hopefully, for Rosen’s sake, he can make the most of it this go around.
Browns player to watch No. 2: A.J. Green, CB
Each and every single season, NFL teams will sign undrafted free agents, and that is the case for third-year cornerback, A.J. Green. This can often be times used as motivation as 32 teams passed on a certain player in the NFL Draft, thus leading him to be an undrafted free agent.
In his first season, Green spent most of his time on the practice squad, only appearing in two games for the Browns. In 2021, Green was able to get more playing time and really impresses the coaching staff and fans alike. He played a key role when some of the starters missed time.
This year, Green will have a good chance at making the 53-man roster and the theme of this piece is depth, and depth at the cornerback position is arguably the most important in the NFL, especially to the Browns. Cleveland has a slew of talented receivers in their own division to deal with twice a year and on the schedule for the upcoming season, so they will need all hands on deck to compete.
Green played in 12 games a season ago, making one start, and really made a difference when his number was called. He recorded an interception, broke up six passes, allowed a quarterback completion percentage of 40.9, and only surrendered two scores. He also recovered two fumbles.
He played in 176 defensive snaps (22%) and 189 special teams snaps (60%) and made the most of his opportunities. So far in training camp, Green has been impressive and is doing whatever he can to make the roster.
While he likely won’t need to start unless the likes of Denzel Ward, Greg Newsome II, Greedy Williams, or rookie Martin Emerson miss time, he will be a key rotational player for the Browns in 2022. His play on special teams will give him another edge to make the roster and continue to maximize his minutes.
In Week 1 of the preseason, Green will likely get a chance to play a majority of the snaps and continue to get reps that will only help himself and the team moving forward.
Browns player to watch No. 1: Demetric Felton, RB/WR
Is Demetric Felton a running back or a wide receiver? That’s a great question that could go either way throughout training camp, depending on how things play out.
One domino that could fall is whether or not Kareem Hunt is still on the roster heading into Week 1 of the regular season. Hunt requested a trade as he is seeking a new deal, but at this time, the Browns won’t acquiesce to that request. That doesn’t mean that they will or won’t down the road, but it is something to watch in terms of where Felton fits on this roster.
The 2021 sixth-round pick out of UCLA was drafted as a running back but has been used as a wideout during training camp at times. If he remains a running back and Hunt stays on the roster, he will likely be the odd man out of the running back room as Nick Chubb, Hunt, D’Ernest Johnson, and rookie Jerome Ford are all ahead of him on the depth chart.
The 24-year-old has played in 16 professional games and showed flashes of his dynamic play, but not enough to move him up the depth chart. He rushed only seven times for just 24 yards but caught 18 of his 21 targets for 181 yards and two touchdowns. He also returned 32 punts for 227 yards, an average of 7.1 yards per return, and nine kickoff returns for 172 yards, an average of 19.1 yards per return.
The addition of wide receiver and return specialist Jakeem Grant throws another wrench into the question of where Felton fits on this roster. Grant will likely be used as a slot receiver; a place Felton could also occupy. Grant will handle the majority of the returns, making it that much harder for Felton to find his place.
Another thing to consider is how many wide receivers the Browns will carry into the season. If the number is seven, I like Felton’s chance’s a lot more, as Amari Cooper, Donovan Peoples-Jones, Anthony Schwartz, rookie David Bell, and Grant occupy the spots ahead of him. Add in undrafted free agent rookie Mike Harley Jr. and that amounts to six, should Harley Jr. make the roster.
Felton is an interesting training camp and preseason study for the coaches to evaluate and the fans to speculate on. It is hard to envision Berry giving up on one of his late-round project players so early, but this is the NFL where anything can happen.