It's hard to say anything positive after watching the Cleveland Browns in Week 1. The good news is that it was only one game, though the less optimistic folks might feel otherwise. Perhaps the worst is yet to come.
That's not what we're here to do. Even the toughest losses have positives, and watching two rookie offensive linemen hold their own in their first taste of NFL action is no small feat. If anything, that's more than enough reason to feel excited about the future.
By every measure, Austin Barber and Spencer Fano looked the part in Week 1. Todd Monken gushed about both of them and predicted they'd both be great for a long time.
While that might be mostly coachspeak, the numbers and the tape actually back it up.
The Browns found two pillars of their offensive line in the 2026 NFL Draft
Fano had a brutal assignment, going against Josh Hines-Allen for most of the season opener against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Pro Football Focus wasn't that kind to Fano, giving him a 59.8 pass-blocking grade. PFF did not, however, charge Fano with allowing a single sack or quarterback hit.
Expectations will always be higher for the No. 9 overall pick, and there's no messing around with blindside protection. But given the circumstances, Fano did more than OK. It's hard to fairly evaluate an offensive lineman with subpar quarterback play.
As for Barber, he had perhaps the brightest rookie debut on the team. He spent most of training camp in a swing tackle role before moving to right guard, and he was thrown into the fire in Week 1 because of Teven Jenkins' back injury.
How did he respond? Barber put up an elite 82.6 PFF grade, giving up just one pressure on 51 snaps. The running game didn't get going, but it was mostly due to the negative game script. Barber was still able to move bodies and climb to the second level as a run blocker.
Browns' offensive line was much better than Deshaun Watson's five sacks suggest
Judging offensive line play is, at times, subjective. Multiple factors come into play, and not all sacks and pressures are on the five guys up front. That was certainly the case in Week 1, as the raw numbers don't match the advanced stats.
At first glance, box-score watchers would see that Deshaun Watson was sacked five times and immediately conclude that pass-protection was deficient. In reality, ESPN's blocking metrics had the Browns' offensive line tied for third in pass-block win rate and seventh in run-block win rate.
Per Daniel Oyefusi, these metrics measure how often offensive lines successfully sustain their blocks for at least 2.5 seconds, so they clearly did their part. PFF shared a similar assessment. None of the Browns' offensive linemen were charged with giving up a sack, putting all five on Watson.
It's easy to be pessimistic after this game, and most of the problems can be traced back to the quarterback situation. But there seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel with Fano and Barber up front.
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