3 Cleveland Browns players to pay attention to in Week 3

Thursday Night Football is coming up and the Browns and these three players will be key to them finding success

It’s been a few days since the embarrassing loss to the New York Jets and yet the finger-pointing and blame game continues to be in full force for the Cleveland Browns. In addition, players like Myles Garrett are annoyed with the fans booing them at the end of that debacle and want them to have more respect for what the players do every Sunday.

So, things aren’t exactly running smoothly with this team right now as they welcome the Pittsburgh Steelers to town on Thursday for a primetime game.

Both the defense and special team units need to step up against the Steelers and hopefully the offense can continue to pour on the points as they are currently averaging 28 per game.

With the quick turnaround for this big game, Cleveland players and coaches will be even more exposed, especially if the Browns play poorly. It will be interesting to see how the players react in this one after the deflating loss this past Sunday. Let’s take a look at three of them that will certainly be in the spotlight this Thursday.

3 Browns players to pay attention to in Week 3

Player No. 3: Myles Garrett, DE

The spotlight on Garrett this week is more about seeing how fans and Garrett react after he called them out after the game Sunday. His words may not sit very well with the fans especially if the team is losing at some point in this one. He did record another sack this past week and is closing in on overtaking former linebacker Clay Matthews for the lead infranchise history.

Garrett’s tag team partner Jadeveon Clowney will miss the game Thursday because of an injury he suffered last weekend, so Garrett will likely draw even more attention. Rookie defensive ends Alex Wright and Isaiah Thomas may get more opportunities in this game because of the injury to Clowney. Both players have shown some promise and will be fun to watch as well.

Garrett will need to make a play or two and show his leadership on Thursday night regardless of a win or loss. He’s been a member of the Browns now since 2017 and as one of the captains, it’s time for him to demonstrate the ability to lead and keep his teammates on the same page. Thursday will be a moment for Garrett to turn the recent negativity surrounding the franchise around with a more positive performance.

No. 2: Grant Delpit, Safety

Grant Delpit also got plenty of heat this week due to his poor play on the field. In these first two games of the season Delpit has been out of position on his coverages that have led to several big pass plays.

It’s been extremely frustrating since Delpit missed his rookie season with an Achilles injury but started to come on late in 2021. With a full year between him and the injury, expectations were high, but haven’t been met.

He’ll likely get his chances in this game Thursday to get back some of his dignity with better play on his part. There’s been too much confusion in the secondary amongst several players, but it’s been even more alarming that teammates aren’t taking accountability for their poor play. Cornerback Denzel Ward even threw Delpit under the bus with his comments after this most recent game.

Delpit will have to step up or he may be sidelined for future games. The Steelers know that he has been having trouble these first couple of weekends and they will likely target him as the place to throw to. We’ll have to pay attention to how Delpit responds to this likely challenge. His promising career could take a major hit with this team if he can’t find a way to improve quickly.

No. 1: Nick Chubb, RB

Nick Chubb is a regular player to watch on any given Sunday because he’s such a great running back with a skill set that’s better than most in the league. The first two weeks of the season have shown just how valuable he is to the Browns.

This past week he scored three touchdowns on the ground that included the last score that most thought meant game, set, and match. Instead, some in the Twitter-sphere have actually tried blaming him for not taking a knee at the two-minute mark of the game that would have allowed the team to run out the clock.

All of that thought process to blame the one player that did so much for the team on Sunday is simply ridiculous. Besides the misdirected criticism of Chubb’s game this past week, he has a new chance to pass Kevin Mack as the No. 5 rusher in team history. He currently sits at No. 6 with 5,044 yards. He would need 80 yards to overtake Mack on Thursday which is well within reach.

The mind-blowing aspect of Chubb’s climb up this elite running back ladder is how many fewer carries (947) he’s had compared to a player like Mack (1,291). That’s over 300 fewer carries for Chubb. No. 4 on the rushing list is Greg Pruitt with 5, 496 yards which is also likely to be claimed by Chubb before the season ends. It took Pruitt 1,158 carries to reach that milestone.

Chubb is making sure his name is mentioned among the best backs in the game and Thursday is another chance to watch him leave a mark.

3 areas where Cleveland Browns must improve before Thursday

After a disastrous loss on Sunday, the Cleveland Browns have a short week to get rid of the feeling. These 3 items will need cleaned up if they want to win.