CLEVELAND — Let the games begin!
After a roster overhaul in the offseason, the Cleveland Browns get their preparations underway in earnest for the 2019 regular season when they open up preseason play tonight against the Washington football team at FirstEnergy Stadium in Cleveland.
It will be the fans’ first look at new Browns coach Freddie Kitchens and how he handles game management, as well as the new-look offense and defense, both of which underwent significant changes with key personnel acquisitions since the start of the new league year in March.
Here is a look at three things to watch for during the Browns’ first game of the preseason.
How long will starters player?
Kitchens was non-committal in whether his starters would play long, if at all, when the preseason gets underway tonight.
But with two practices scheduled with the Indianapolis Colts on Wednesday and Thursday of next week, Kitchens is weighing the benefit of building chemistry against preserving health as long as possible ahead of the regular season. Typically, the starters play a series or two in the first preseason game and gradually build up the volume of work, culminating with playing into the third quarter of the third exhibition outing.
“I think they definitely need to play together, and we will monitor it as it goes along from the standpoint of their timing and stuff like that,” Kitchens said.
“Our practices are pretty physical from that standpoint. We will see and monitor that -- the relationship the receivers and quarterback have together, their timing and stuff like that. A lot of things factor into those questions. I am not trying to dismiss it. Some of it factors into who is available.”
What, if anything, will Hunt do?
Running back Kareem Hunt missed the first week-plus of training camp with the Browns, but he got back onto the field for the Orange and Brown Scrimmage at FirstEnergy Stadium last Saturday and returned to the practice field for Monday and Tuesday’s work.
Although Hunt was limited to individual drills, he welcomed the opportunity to be involved in the on-the-field work after missing time because of a groin injury.
“Definitely feels good to be back out there and get my legs back underneath me,” Hunt said after Monday’s practice. “Being out there and just running around again.”
Prior to Saturday’s scrimmage, Hunt was last on the field in a padded practice or game in late November of 2018, but he put the eight days on the shelf with the groin injury to good use by getting himself ready for a return to the field, both mentally and physically.
“I’ve just been spending a lot of time in the playbook and in the film room and controlling the things I can control when I can’t be out there,” Hunt said. “I’m still doing a lot of work and working out.”
Who kicks first?
Neither Greg Joseph nor Austin Seibert had perfect starts to training camp, but of the two, the incumbent, Joseph, is ahead of the rookie who was selected in the fifth round of the 2019 NFL Draft after a record-setting career at the University of Oklahoma.
Based on his recent successes in practice, Joseph should get the first look at field goal and point-after-touchdown attempts.
In 14 games with the Browns last season, Joseph converted 17 of his 20 field goal attempts (85 percent), with all three of his misses coming at distances over 40 yards. Also, Joseph made 25 of his 29 point-after tries (86.2 percent).
Over 54 games in four years with the Oklahoma Sooners, Seibert converted 310 of his 315 extra-point tries (98.4 percent) and 63 of his 79 field goals (79.7 percent) for a career total of 499 points. Additionally, Seibert punted 179 times for 7,457 yards, an average of 41.7 yards-per-punt.
Seibert is the all-time leading scorer in both Oklahoma and Big 12 Conference history and ranks first among kickers in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) in career points.
