3 pleasant surprises for the Browns after first preseason game

Cleveland Browns Surprise Player No. 1 – Isaiah Thomas

When looking at the Browns biggest surprises from the preseason game in Jacksonville, it’s hard to not have Ford first, but Isaiah Thomas just continued to jump off the screen at me every time he was in the game.

The 2022 seventh-round pick from Oklahoma was a question mark two weeks ago to make the roster, and now the argument could be this guy needs to start seeing more and more snaps to see if he can make the rotation at defensive end.

Not only did he have two huge sacks where he used finesse moves to get around the opposing left tackle, but he also had a fantastic play in the backfield where he tackled the running back for a big loss on a zone read play.

Thomas was able to make the quarterback think he was going after him and then adjusted on the fly to tackle Travis Etienne in the backfield. It’s worth noting, that Thomas had one of his sacks and tackle for loss against starters for the Jaguars.

Perrion Winfrey was the rookie I was most excited to watch, but Thomas and Ford stole the show and might have been the best rookie on either side of the ball for Cleveland. If he can continue to have a high motor and ensure he is sound against the run, he could find himself getting five-to-10 snaps a game as the fourth defensive end on this roster.