Browns have mixed bag of reps on offense across positions in first preseason game

This offseason, the wide receiver position has been the talk of camp for its performance, which contrasts heavily from a year ago. That continued into the first preseason game. As for the quarterback performances? It was certainly mixed, but a turnover from each quarterback didn’t help matters. After a 10-0 start, the Browns were shut out the rest of the way, losing 34-10. Cleveland was out-gained 430 yards to 314 yards, but won the time of possession battle 34:03 to 25:57.

Below, we analyze the snap counts and stats on offense for the Cleveland Browns’ first preseason game against the Chicago Bears.

Quarterback

• There’s been plenty of discussion about the Browns’ quarterback situation, but no one is blowing anyone away. I think Deshaun Watson looked more comfortable than he has in previous years — which is like treating his play with kids gloves, but it is a slight improvement. He did the least to hurt his stock.
• Shedeur Sanders’ pass may have slipped for the interception. Mistakes happen, but if this is a competition, that still stands out as a negative, as do the two throws that he had batted down right over the middle. Sanders looked exactly how I thought he did last year — you see a lot of the tools for him to be a capable starting quarterback, but I don’t think you’ll get the consistency on a lot of those finer things around the edges.
• Dillon Gabriel looked lost. Compare that to last preseason when he was as crisp as could be. I know he’s working with the back-end of the roster, but so were the Bears’ third- and fourth-string quarterbacks, and they looked sharp.

Running Back

• After the game, we learned from Todd Monken that it’s a battle between Ahmani Marshall and Raheim Sanders for the third running back spot. The backup offensive line looked rather putrid to me, so I guess it’s hard to evaluate the backs. But Marshall certainly didn’t fare too well in those circumstances.
• Davon Booth came on during the final series and picked up some big runs, but I wouldn’t look at that as him getting a promotion any time soon, since it was garbage time.

Wide Receiver

• I thought there were a couple nice routes that Denzel Boston and Isaiah Bond ran that the quarterbacks didn’t get them the ball on.
• KC Concepcion remained the star of camp in my book. He handles the ball well on everything, including a big punt return too.
• Gage Larvadain and Luke Floriea followed up their stellar camps with some big catches again. Meanwhile, Cedric Tillman did not play (injury), as the odds of him being a roster casualty continue to rise.

Tight End

• Harold Fannin was only targeted once on a quick throw over the middle, but dropped it.
• Carsen Ryan might have been responsible for an alignment issue that forced the Browns to call a timeout.

Offensive Line

• For what it’s worth, the Browns’ highest-rated linemen per PFF were C Kingsley Eguakun (74.6) and OG Teven Jenkins (74.6).
• The rest of the Browns’ starting line only played the first two series (10 snaps), but they gave rookie LT Spencer Fano the first half.
• Dawand Jones was playing well into the second half, which surprised some people that he was still in there.