How the Browns Actually Fared in Joint Practice Against Buffalo Bills

The Cleveland Browns held their own in an impressive showing at Thursday afternoon’s joint practice against the Buffalo Bills.

After practice, Browns head coach Todd Monken perfectly summarized how the team looked.

“It didn’t look like we were out of place,” Monken said. “It looked like we belonged.”

Don’t be fooled, these are two teams heading in very different directions to start the 2026 campaign. The Bills have legitimate Super Bowl aspirations with MVP candidate Josh Allen at quarterback and one of the top defenses in the league. The Browns are a team hoping to exit their rebuild, having won just eight games across the last two seasons. This offseason, Browns general manager Andrew Berry neglected to address Cleveland’s quarterback question mark and traded away Myles Garrett, arguably the greatest defensive player of this generation.

But for one hot, sticky Thursday afternoon, the Browns looked like they belonged against the Bills – for the most part.

How the Browns looked at joint practice

Expected starting quarterback Deshaun Watson threw a red zone interception and Shedeur Sanders was taunted by Buffalo’s defenders for turning the joint practice into “checkdown city.” On the other practice field, Allen was easily carving up Cleveland’s beat up defense, which lost Alex Wright to a lower leg injury that the team feared could be season threatening. During the competitive 11-on-11 session at the end of practice, Allen capitalized on a coverage bust and connected with tight end Dalton Kincaid for a long, easy touchdown.

But Cleveland’s defense fell on a fumble and returned it the other way. The offense featured both rookie receivers KC Concepcion and Denzel Boston, who caught long passes that moved the sticks. Dylan Sampson and Raheim Rocket Sanders had a tremendous showing running the football with a few huge runs, as Quinshon Judkins was held out of this practice dealing with a minor injury. Left tackle Spencer Fano looked the part and won almost every rep throughout practice, consistently improving during his rookie training camp.

It wasn’t a flashy practice. Outside of a Taylen Green goal line fade touchdown pass to Tylan Wallace, neither team had any super viral highlights. Afterwards, Monken expressed gratitude for both teams handling themselves so professionally, as it was a productive day of work for both teams.

“That’s how a joint practice is supposed to look,” Monken said.

The Browns will face the Bills on Saturday afternoon at Huntington Bank Field for their second preseason game. Sanders is getting the start at quarterback, but not many other starters, outside of some of the rookies, are expected to get any run.

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