Cleveland Browns vs. Washington Redskins: What I'm watching
When the Cleveland Browns take on the Washington Redskins, there are a few areas that I'm interested to watch. On the offensive side of the ball, it's all about the young offensive linemen; Drew Forbes, Brian Fineangonofo, Willie Wright and the recently signed Jon Yarbrough are all players with NFL caliber athleticism, so it will be fun to see them in action.
Forbes is obviously the headliner of the group as the only one drafted and with some notoriety as Prospect X. He's really physically impressive and could play either guard or tackle, which is one thing to watch in the preseason. Where do they put him? Or does he move around?
It's unrealistic to expect him to go out there and look like he did in college, but even if he's not consistent, it'd be nice to see some of the characteristics that made him an impressive prospect.
It's a similar situation for Fineangonofo, though he might be even rawer, but he's purely a tackle. He and Forbes could either play as bookends or theoretically next to each other, depending on how the Browns want to approach it.
Willie Wright, the converted tackle out of Tulsa, is nasty on his college tape and looks like he could make a really nice transition to the interior. He could showcase the skills that will keep him in the NFL whether it's the Browns or another team. And Yarbrough hasn't been in Cleveland long, but he's another smaller school prospect that has some athletic qualities that could be attractive to teams.
On defense, it's about the rookie linebackers. Sione Takitaki's journey in coverage will be fun to to watch while he hopefully shows some of that aggressiveness that earned him a reputation early in camp. Mack Wilson has made a few big plays in coverage in the past week, so he'll have his first opportunity against an opposing team to shine.
There are also undrafted rookies like Willie Harvey, Anthony Stubbs and Dedric Young trying to make the case they are the rookie linebackers the Browns should be excited about. The play both on defense and special teams will be critical for all of the rookie linebackers, so who is on the field in those situations will be important as well.
All the new star players the Browns have added like Odell Beckham, Olivier Vernon and Sheldon Richardson will have their chances to showcase what they can do, but for now, it's all about seeing what the Browns have in development.
