Hickman won't rule out a QB trade as Green holds the No. 3 job
Todd Monken says the Watson-over-Sanders backlash hasn't reached him, but assistant GM Catherine Hickman's non-answer on a QB trade keeps the room interesting behind Taylen Green's new roster spot.
Monken shrugs off the Watson backlash, and Hickman won't rule out a QB trade
The Watson-over-Sanders call has followed the Browns all the way to a statue outside the stadium, where fans have staged their protest at the Jim Brown monument. Asked point blank whether any of it has reached him, Monken said, "Absolutely not. That has nothing to do with my decision." He also described the sit-down he had with Sanders the morning of the call, saying Sanders walked out of it smiling "because he understands what's in front of him."
The more interesting story is the one that won't quite close. Asked directly whether Cleveland has fielded trade offers for its quarterbacks, Hickman gave an answer built to be picked apart: "Not that I will comment on." That is not a denial, and it lands on a QB room with less margin than it had two weeks ago.
The room got its actual shape over the weekend. Dillon Gabriel goes on injured reserve with a back injury Monken called not serious, and Taylen Green has made the initial 53-man roster as the No. 3, Mary Kay Cabot of The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports. Green earned it in August — 5 of 7 passing and 66 rushing yards on 8 carries in the half he played against New England — and now holds the job for as long as Gabriel's four-week minimum stretches.
Preseason closes 1-2 after a finale that was over by halftime
Cleveland finishes 1-2 in the preseason after the 37-13 win over New England on August 28, and it was decided long before the final whistle — the Browns led 27-0 at the break. Andre Szmyt made all 3 of his field-goal attempts and went 4-for-4 on PATs, and tight end Carsen Ryan, playing through a foot injury, caught both of his targets for 9 yards.
Patriots37-13
Bills7-31
Bears10-34Quinshon Judkins and Harold Fannin Jr. sat out the whole game, a healthy scratch this late in camp rather than anything to worry about. The two losses before it — 34-10 at Chicago on August 15 and 31-7 at home to Buffalo on August 22 — are background noise now that the roster has turned over twice since; the Patriots game is the one Cleveland will point back to walking into the opener.
The receiver room has its answer, and it started with a phone call home
Cleveland's unofficial depth chart has its starting three: Jerry Jeudy and Denzel Boston flanking rookie first-rounder KC Concepcion. It caps a summer-long competition the club's own account turned into a docuseries, Wideouts, tracking who would actually be standing there when the roster came out.
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The finale episode landed with a caption that said more than any highlight could: "first call after making the roster = straight to mom." It's the kind of detail that gets lost in a depth-chart graphic — a guy who spent camp fighting for a job, and the first thing he did with the news was call home.
Concepcion, for his part, is already looking past the roster fight and toward Week 1. He told reporters after Wednesday's practice that he's looking forward to carrying his strong camp into the regular season, "starting with the Browns' Week 1 clash against the Jaguars on Sunday, Sept. 13," Chris Easterling of the Akron Beacon Journal reports.
Jacksonville opens the season as a touchdown-plus favorite over Cleveland
Sunday afternoon in Jacksonville is the opener, and the Browns arrive as the underdog — the line opened at Jaguars -7.5, with the total set at 40.5 and read as low-scoring. Jacksonville comes in 2-1 in its own preseason, capped by a 19-0 shutout of the Buccaneers, a shell of a score that says more about a defense clicking early than an offense that's fully installed.
That offense is worth watching regardless: Trevor Lawrence's top targets are Brian Thomas Jr., Parker Washington and Jakobi Meyers, with Travis Hunter also in the mix, and Anton Harrison has been moved to left tackle after three seasons on the right side, per a Yahoo Sports breakdown of Jacksonville's post-cutdown depth chart. The backfield is a committee behind Bhayshul Tuten, which is its own kind of tell — a team still figuring out who its best runner is nine days before it counts.