The Cleveland Browns defeated the Jacksonville Jaguars in both teams’ first preseason game. The Browns controlled the game from start to finish despite not playing their starters while the Jaguars played many of theirs.
For Cleveland, training camp and preseason games are more about staying injury-free and the back end of the roster than it is about installing schemes. Unfortunately, injuries hit two players during the game. Stephen Carlson will likely miss the entire season with a knee injury while Mack Wilson will miss a few days with a minor shoulder injury.
With those priorities in mind, evaluating the team during the preseason will be interesting. Gone are the days of hoping a player pops off the screen and can be one of the team’s top five to ten players. Instead, the evaluation is about who can take the next step up, who is struggling and could not make the roster and what is learned about the team as a whole.
We continue our Browns stock watch with three players whose stock dipped, for a variety of reasons, based on their performances against the Jags.
LB Mack Wilson
(AP Photo/Ron Schwane)
Linebacker Mack Wilson has struggled at the NFL level since being drafted. Last year, his knee injury had him pondering retirement and his play on the field suffered greatly. This year, training camp has seen a rejuvenated Wilson fighting for his roster spot. The Alabama product has played well throughout camp and many were looking forward to seeing that translate on the field (as it did with Donovan Peoples-Jones and Demetric Felton). Instead, Wilson had to leave the game early with a shoulder injury. While the injury will not keep him out long, the linebacker didn’t have a chance to prove his improvement on the field (only 4 snaps on defense) and now will miss a little time. Couple that with the quality play of Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah and the return to practice from Anthony Walker and Wilson’s fight for a roster spot has become more difficult.
OL James Hudson III
(AP Photo/Tony Dejak)
File this primarily under “he’s a rookie” but James Hudson III struggled on Saturday night. Starting at left tackle, the fourth-round rookie wasn’t up to the level of the other backups who started in place of the team’s great offensive line. Not only was Hudson not comparable to the other four linemen, but it was also glaringly obvious as focus turned to the line. His technique was poor at times and he was outmatched. There were moments where his physical gifts showed but not enough to overcome the limitations. The good news for Hudson, and the Browns, is that he was not drafted with this year in mind. The team has a great starting five and Chris Hubbard provides a veteran swing tackle option in case of an injury. Instead, Cleveland hopes that Hudson can grow under offensive line coach Bill Callahan and be ready only in case of an emergency. In his first game, Hudson showed that he is not ready but it is only one game and the team doesn’t need him to be ready yet.
Edge Curtis Weaver
Brian Losness-USA TODAY Sports
With Takk McKinley away from the team and the starting duo of Myles Garrett and Jadeveon Clowney sitting out, there was a lot of hope for Curtis Weaver to get his chance. Instead, Weaver just didn’t seem to be enough. Weaver was drafted by the Miami Dolphins but picked up off waivers as an injured player. There has been a lot of talk of him refining his body during his year off with the hopes that he could exceed his draft status. The knock on Weaver coming out was that he wasn’t fast enough or have enough flexibility to threaten the edge with speed but wasn’t strong enough to overpower tackles from the outside. Both still seemed to be a problem against the Jaguars where the Boise State product seemed tentative. While this video got a lot of attention for Tim Tebow’s poor block, Weaver’s performance (#59) left a lot to be desired as well:
Like Wilson and Hudson, it is only one game for Weaver. They all will have two more chances, hopefully, to raise their stock and stay off of the “stock down” list. After one game, concerns will linger until proven otherwise.
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