3 Cleveland Browns to watch in the Hall of Fame Game

1. Jaelon Darden, WR/KR

It was extremely unfortunate that Marquise Goodwin was sidelined early in camp and we still don't know what will happen with him when the regular season begins. What we do know is that it's opened up snaps in practice for younger players who seemed to be on the long shots to make the team when camp opened.

One such player is Jaelon Darden who was a former fourth-round pick for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2021 but was released late in the year in 2022. Cleveland claimed him and he appeared in two games for the Browns, gaining a total of 15 yards on two punt returns.

Now, he finds himself fighting for a spot on a deep receiving roster while also trying to unseat Jakeem Grant — a former Pro Bowler — as the return man. At first, it felt as though he had a very slim chance of making it but he's taken advantage of every opportunity and even made a few big plays downfield during practice.

Listed at just 5-foot-8 and 174 pounds, Darden was electric for North Texas. He ran a reported 4.46 in the 40-yard dash during his pro day but has always played much faster than that.

As a pro, he has 487 yards on 52 punt returns and 426 yards on 26 kick returns. On offense, he's put up just 82 total yards from scrimmage with an average of 8.2 per touch.

At 24 years of age, he still has plenty of time to make good on his potential and should get plenty of chances throughout the preseason. Thursday will be the first time we get to see if he's able to do enough to start climbing the depth chart.