3 standouts (and 2 duds) from Browns tie against Eagles

Browns standout: Mohamoud Diabate, LB

Throughout the first two games of the preseason, Mohamoud Diabate had been slowly showing progression. The undrafted free agent out of Utah had three tackles against the New York Jets in the Hall of Fame Game and then added just one against the Washington Commanders.

Despite the stats not popping off the charts, he was still showing more awareness and comfort in the Cleveland defensive scheme. And on Thursday, he had his best outing yet.

Diabate started the game by putting the first points on the board. The Eagles had the ball on their own two-yard line following a fumble from John Kelly and on just the second defensive snap, Diabate broke through the Philadelphia offensive line and hit Kenneth Gainwell in the end zone, resulting in a safety.

On the second drive, the Browns defense struggled to wrap up the ball carrier and several plays resulted in extra yardage because of this. That stopped when Diabate hit Greg Ward on a one-yard catch, stopping him in his tracks. Just a couple of plays later, the Eagles had to settle for a 56-yard field goal, getting just three on a promising drive.

He wasn't done there either as he later forced a fumble when he punched the ball out of Trey Sermon's hands in the second quarter. Diabate also had a couple of quarterback hurries and went into the half with seven tackles.

With Jacob Phillips suffering an injury sending him to the IR, there's a spot open at linebacker and right now, it looks as though Diabate is doing all he can to seize that opportunity.