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Questions to answer for Cleveland Browns in season opener against Dallas Cowboys
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- Questions to answer for Cleveland Browns in season opener against Dallas Cowboys
BEREA — The regular season opener for the Browns is a little more than a week away. That's a little more than a week away from them being able to start answering questions, both short-term and long-term, about themselves.
Between now and Sept. 8, the Browns will officially have four practices and a Saturday walkthrough to iron out the creases before facing the Dallas Cowboys in front of more than 67,000 fans inside the stadium and millions more watching on television. That's four practices and a walkthrough not to get to their peak performance, but just to one good enough to, as coach Kevin Stefanski is fond of saying, "go 1-0 that day."
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No one expects a final verdict on quarterback Deshaun Watson by around 7:30 that night, or whether or not the defense has found a level even higher than the one it played in the first year under coordinator Jim Schwartz. Despite the inevitable overreactions that will emerge from the opener , long-term answers aren't coming against the Cowboys.
That's not to say there won't be answers provided against Dallas. But they're to short-term questions that, truthfully, could develop into long-term issues if the answers aren't good enough.
So what are those questions for which the Browns will need to provide some answers when the season kicks things off in eight days? Here's a sampling of them:
What's going to happen at left tackle?
Cleveland Browns offensive tackle Jack Conklin (78) celebrates after running back Nick Chubb (not pictured) scored a touchdown Sept. 27, 2020, against the Washington Football Team in Cleveland.
Jack Conklin was back at practice this week for the Browns, the first time he's been on the field for football drills since his devastating knee injury in the last year's season opener. That's great news for the offensive line, but it only partially answers the questions about the tackles.
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The player whose practice return the Browns still await is Jedrick Wills Jr., the team's regular left tackle. Wills has passed his physical and is on the active roster, so he very well could be practicing as early as Monday.
If Wills does practice all next week, then this issue, at least in terms of who will play the position, gets answered. It'll be the 2020 first-round pick who is playing on his fifth-year option.
If Wills can't go for some reason, then what? It sounds like the idea of Conklin — who has been a right tackle throughout his NFL career, but was a left tackle at Michigan State — flipping to the left side, at least temporarily, is being contemplated.
If that's the case, the Browns are at least stabilized on the offensive line, with Dawand Jones — who started in place of Conklin last season before his own knee injury — staying at right tackle, where he's been all training camp. Conklin at least gives a two-time All-Pro, admittedly on the other side, to try to deal with Dallas all-everything edge rusher Micah Parsons .
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Otherwise, if it's not Conklin, then it's likely James Hudson III against an elite pass rusher.
Can the 'new-look' Cleveland Browns offense finally be unveiled?
Cleveland Browns offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey during practice Aug. 5 at the Browns training facility in Berea.
It's not just that the Browns kept everything super vanilla in the preseason. Or that Watson didn't play a single snap in a preseason game. Or that there's no doubt — behind the curtain of now-closed practices and walkthroughs — some of the real winkles of the Stefanski-Ken Dorsey offense are being fine-tuned to be unleashed against the Cowboys.
It's that there's hardly been a single day this calendar year when the Browns have had all of their available personnel on the field together to truly rep the offense. That's changing over the last week with players returning from injuries.
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Obviously, Nick Chubb won't be there to tote the ball when the Browns need those big fourth-quarter carries, at least until October. But Amari Cooper , Jerry Jeudy , David Njoku and Elijah Moore , the cornerstones around whom the team is building this passing offense, are finally starting to get consistent reps together.
That group, in its entirety, was seen only sparingly during camp. Now that they've had some time together, it's time to unveil what the real Browns offense may or may not look like in a mostly full form.
What will Myles Garrett do for an encore after last season's eye-popping opener?
Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett (95) celebrates after sacking Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow (not pictured) on Sept. 10, 2023, in Cleveland.
The stage for Myles Garrett's NFL Defensive Player of the Year season was set on the first afternoon of the regular season. Who can forget either Garrett faux-dribbling as he lined up in the A gap on a fake blitz, or the pop in the stadium with his game-sealing fourth-down sack of Cincinnati Bengals star Joe Burrow ?
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Garrett's going to get another big stage to make a grand entrance to the season. It may be even bigger than a year ago when he was facing the team, the Bengals, against which he's had as much success as any.
How does Garrett playing his hometown team suit you for a motivating narrative? Or, how about the thought of him lining up against a rookie left tackle in Tyler Guyton ?
Garrett has a chance to set the tone, both for himself and for a Browns defense that's clearly not forgotten the way last year ended in the playoffs. A big day against Dallas would do just the trick.
What's wrinkles will emerge with the new kickoff return now that it's the regular season?
Browns special teams coordinator Bubba Ventrone goes over plays during minicamp, Tuesday, June 11, 2024, in Berea.
There was a whole lot made about the new kickoff rules in the preseason. It had its share of successes, at least at a base level.
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The NFL reported there was a 70.5% return rate in the preseason — the highest since 2014 — compared to 54.8% last year. There were also 18 returns of 40-plus yards across the league, with the average drive start for the return team increasing 4.6 yards from last year to the 28.8 yard-line, including an average of the 28 yard-line on kickoffs that were returned.
What will that mean for kickoffs once special teams coordinators like the Browns' Bubba Ventrone start taking the wrapping off the schemes they've kept to the side until the regular season? Will there be more gadget plays run during the returns, and does it mean more big-time players getting involved in the return game?
Or will it see the opposite, and teams start just kicking it into the end zone and giving the opponent the 30? It's a strategy change the Browns and Cowboys will both be toying with in the opener.
Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Browns questions to answer in season opener against Dallas Cowboys
