Now more than a week into Cleveland Browns training camp, it’s becoming clearer by the day that the team’s ongoing quarterback competition is headed nowhere fast. At the conclusion of Todd Monken’s final day of offensive installs on Aug. 6, Zac Jackson of The Athletic warned fans not to expect a decision on the Week 1 starter for another "two weeks and two days."
While disheartening, there’s an even bigger problem brewing in camp that’s being masked by the big-name nature of Shedeur Sanders vs. Deshaun Watson.
General manager Andrew Berry was lauded for his work to overhaul the offensive line this offseason, but the latest progress reports have been concerning. Constant lineup shuffling, due in part to an early rash of injuries, has led to a slow start, to the point where it’s been difficult to judge the quarterbacks in competitive 11-on-11 periods in full pads.
“The Browns are decimated at defensive tackle right now,” ESPN’s Daniel Oyefusi said this week on Jackson’s podcast. “Adin Hutchinson and Elijah Chatman were taking the No. 1 reps at defensive tackle — and the offensive line still didn’t stand a chance. So that was kind of a little disheartening, even for an offensive line that’s just getting to know each other and figuring things out. But again, offensive lines usually do take some time, even well into a season, to really figure things out so you kind of want to keep some perspective with that.”
Cleveland’s new-look offensive line reportedly has a long way to go
It’s definitely too soon to panic about the offensive line, but we’re also now counting down the days to the Browns’ preseason opener against the Chicago Bears on Aug. 15.
The biggest issue right now appears to be a lack of continuity. Monken has been alternating Watson and Sanders with the first- and second-units since Day 1 of camp, but they’ve rarely worked with the same O-line groupings. Aside from Tytus Howard at right tackle and Zion Johnson at left guard, the Browns have been mixing and matching.
Rookie Spencer Fano, as the No. 9 overall draft pick, saw enough first-team reps at left tackle during the spring to be considered an essential lock to be the Week 1 starter. But Fano has been rotating at that spot with veteran Dawand Jones, who has earned recent praise from both Monken and O-line coach George Warhop.
Teven Jenkins entered camp as the frontrunner to start at right guard, but he’s now missed half of the team’s practices with an undisclosed injury. KT Leveston, a former seventh-round pick who was expected to compete for a depth role at tackle, has been a fixture with the first-team offense at guard since Jenkins went out.
Browns fans were wondering if fifth-round rookie Parker Brailsford could make a push to start at center, but per Jackson, he was spotted wearing a brace on his wrist and missed consecutive practices this week. The biggest issue there is that Elgton Jenkins, the team’s veteran starting center, has also missed practice time, allowing Luke Wypler to work exclusively with the first unit.
In a nutshell, Cleveland’s offensive line situation is anything but settled with training camp set to ramp up over these next few practices. And it’s definitely not a good sign that Monken’s group is struggling to protect the quarterbacks with Mason Graham, Maliek Collins, and the bulk of the defensive tackle group sitting out practice this week.
Jackson wrote Friday that undrafted rookie edge rusher Tyreak Sapp has mixed in with the defensive tackles due to injuries. The Browns' offense should be winning that matchup.
A projected left-to-right starting five of Fano, Johnson, Elgton Jenkins, Teven Jenkins, and Howard gave fans optimism this offseason. But the play on the field has been uneven at best, and if it takes the first month of the regular season to iron things out, as Oyefusi mused to Jackson, the start of the Monken era could get off to an inauspicious start.
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