Who Are the Early Winners At Browns Training Camp?
Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
As we close in on the first preseason game for the Cleveland Browns, the excitement level has officially hit its peak before the wave of disappointment of seeing the starters in limited action washes over us. While we may see a glimpse of a few young starters, most of the first-team repetitions will take place during the joint practices that will occur next week with the Minnesota Vikings.
But hey, just because we won’t see a ton of starters for the Browns this week doesn’t mean there’s nothing to get excited about as we get back into football mode. We are now less than a month away from the start of the NFL regular season, and there are plenty of players trying to make a name for themselves.
To this point, it’s very difficult to judge training camp performances, especially in the trenches, where there is very little contact. Still, we are starting to see some separation by players in certain positions, and we are starting to see some young players blossom.
As the team heads into their first week of preparation for the Green Bay Packers, here are some key takeaways thus far.
Martin Emerson is Going to be a Problem
The one group who continuously gets challenged in practice is the defensive backs. Not only is it an easy position to get live reps vs. the first-team receivers, but it’s also a much lower injury risk in 7-on-7 drills compared to the full 22-man practices.
One of the standouts thus far has continued to be Martin Emerson, who was perhaps the biggest young standout of the 2023 season. Emerson’s length allows him to take away the short routes with ease, but he has proven he has enough athleticism and flexibility to turn and run with the fastest guys in the league.
Last year Emerson had some penalty issues, as he is a very physical cornerback. It’s an issue that still needs to be cleaned up, but in the grand scheme of things you’re more than willing to take a few penalties to get top-tier coverage.
The Browns are extremely deep at the corner position with Denzel Ward, Greg Newsome, and Emerson, but with the injury history at the position, that depth should suit the Browns just fine. Ward and Newsome have already both been to the tent, but appear to have avoided serious injuries.
Heading into the season Jim Schwartz could have a really tough decision to make. Even though there are three defensive backs on the field a ton of the time, Newsome probably won’t be happy to be pushed to third corner on the depth chart. What happens when Emerson makes a case to leap-frog Newsome? It might be a good problem to have, but it’s still a problem.
Cedric Tillman Separating as Next Man Up
With Amari Cooper, Jerry Jeudy, and Elijah Moore all but penned in as the wide receiver starters, along with David Njoku at tight end. The real question at the skilled positions was who would be the next man up.
It felt like Cedric Tillman was always a safe bet to make the roster, but the No. 5 through 7 wideout spots (depending on how many Andrew Berry keeps) were really up for grabs. David Bell, Jaelon Darden, Michael Bush, and Jamari Thrash are the last four who are fighting for two or three spots, and to this point, Thrash and Darden have been showing the best out of that group
But the biggest winner in this camp may be Tillman, whose training camp took a secure roster spot and made it a guarantee. Although it will be tough for him to get a lot of snaps on Sunday, barring injuries, it sounds like he has taken a few major steps forward in camp.
Tillman has always had the athleticism and size to be an NFL wide receiver, but he needed to gain some strength in his hands and continue to improve as a route runner. In last season’s limited action, he struggled to get separation even against safeties and linebackers.
The Unknown Injury Replacement
At this point, we have few details, but we must mention that injuries have already become a factor. Last week we saw D’Onta Foreman leave the field on a stretcher, and early this week we have already seen reports of Za’Darius Smith being carted off in a lot of pain.
We are still a month away from the season and the Foreman injury already sounds like it may not have been nearly as bad as initially feared, but if a guy like Smith goes down this defense takes a major step back.
At the same time, an injury will always create an opportunity for someone else. We just aren’t sure who will step up and potentially grab Smith’s spot.
Myles Garrett is undoubtedly the best player on this unit, and because of that, Smith sees far fewer double and triple-teams, which makes Smith’s pass-rushing ability that much more impactful. Even if Smith is out a while, though, teams aren’t going to stop throwing a bunch of people to slow Garrett down. Will someone else be able to take advantage of that? We are still early into this preseason, but we’ll have a clearer idea of who might seize that opportunity in that spot after seeing these guys on tape this Saturday vs. the Packers.
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