Kevin Stefanski Identifies Key "Teaching Moment" in Preseason Game vs Panthers

It's true that everything needs to be taken with a grain of salt in the NFL preseason. Some teams, like the Los Angeles Rams, hardly even deploy their key players for the upcoming campaign. For a young, rebuilding team like the Cleveland Browns, though, preseason is crucial for development.

In their first preseason game against the Carolina Panthers, the main story revolved around fifth-round pick Shedeur Sanders, who got the start with Kenny Pickett, Dillon Gabriel, and Joe Flacco all out. The former Colorado Buffaloes star made the most of his opportunity, finishing with 14-of-23 passing for 138 yards and two touchdowns.

Head Coach Kevin Stefanski has said that the quarterback competition is far from over, but it's undeniable that Sanders was impressive in his preseason debut. Pickett and Gabriel returned to practice on training camp Day 12 and got right to work to make up the ground they lost while sidelined with hamstring injuries. While the QB battle was the primary takeaway from preseason Week 1, it wasn't the only notable moment from their 30-10 win against the Panthers.

Rayshawn Jenkins, Xavier Legette, Cleveland Browns, Carolina Panthers, NFL, preseason — Aug 8, 2025; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Cleveland Browns safety Rayshawn Jenkins (28) rips off Carolina Panthers wide receiver Xavier Legette (17) helmet in the first quarter at Bank of America Stadium. Both players were ejected on the play. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-Imagn Images | Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

Kevin Stefanski: Rayshawn Jenkins' ejection was a "teaching moment" for the Cleveland Browns

Early in the first quarter, the Cleveland Browns lost another key player against the Carolina Panthers. Unlike Kenny Pickett and Dillon Gabriel, safety Rayshawn Jenkins wasn't injured. Instead, he was ejected from the game for unsportsmanlike conduct after engaging in a fight with Panthers wide receiver Xavier Legette.

Jenkins was hardly the instigator. The two got tangled up following a run play from Carolina. Jenkins took multiple shots from Legette before throwing a retaliatory punch to the Panther's helmet. Both players were disqualified with offsetting penalties.

Here's the @wcnc angle of the fight between Xavier Legette and Rayshawn Jenkins that led to their ejection from tonight's #Panthers vs. #Browns preseason game pic.twitter.com/9vdUx3sAyQ
— Danielle Stein (@Danielle_Stein9) August 9, 2025

Browns Head Coach Kevin Stefanski recently claimed that Jenkins' ejection was an invaluable example for the team moving forward:

"Good teaching moment for our football team. We never ever, ever, ever, ever want to throw a punch that gets you thrown out immediately. I saw the whole thing happen. They were locked up, their player got off, I think three punches before Rayshawn threw a punch, and that's a great opportunity for them to lose their guy."

"We keep our guy, it's our advantage. We negated that advantage by retaliating. So that was not a smart play by a smart football player, a smart man who I have a ton of respect for, but we got to learn from that and we can't let another player, their aggression bait us into getting thrown out of the game."

Playing in the AFC North, the Browns have garnered a reputation for being a physical football team, sometimes to a fault. Stefanski recognizes that there's a difference between toughness and recklessness, though. Cleveland will want to take full advantage of situations like the incident between Jenkins and Legette moving forward and avoid making a similar mistake.