Week 2 of the 2023 NFL preseason is here. Set your DFS lineups, glean your fantasy football insights and prepare for the regular season.
This will be the third time the Cleveland Browns have taken the field this preseason, and the second for the Eagles, so we have a little more information about both teams now. With just one week of preseason left after this, how will the players battling for roster spots position themselves coming out of this game?
Cleveland Browns @ Philadelphia Eagles (7:30 p.m. ET)
Browns Offensive Focus: Quarterback play
We saw Deshaun Watson drop back to pass five times last week, but his three attempts combined for zero air yards. The Browns need him to perform better than he did a year ago if they are to be a playoff team, so this would be a good game to see him push the ball further downfield.
Dorian Thompson-Robinson has been the team's best quarterback through the first two preseason games, earning an 85.6 PFF passing grade, but Kellen Mond also showed some promise last week. He went 7-of-13, with two incompletions being a result of drops by his receivers.
Browns Defensive Focus: Backup edge defenders
We know the Browns have talent off the edge in Myles Garrett and Za’Darius Smith, but the players battling it out for roles further down the depth chart haven’t made a huge impact so far this preseason. After Smith, Isaiah Thomas has the highest pass-rushing grade at the position this preseason. Outside of Smith, Thomas and Ogbo Okoronkwo are the only two Browns with a PFF pass-rushing grade above 60.0. Sample size plays a part here, but some pass-rushing flashes from the likes of Isaiah McGuire and Alex Wright would be a boost for the Browns in this game.
Eagles Offensive Focus: More clarity on the backfield
Nathan Jahnke’s immediate preseason recaps are my go-to read the morning after games, and he didn’t glean much information about the Eagles' plan at running back coming out of their loss to the Baltimore Ravens in preseason Week 1. Both D’Andre Swift and Rashaad Penny played, while Kenneth Gainwell and Boston Scott got the night off. Will tonight’s game against the Browns give us more insight into their plans at the position for the regular season?
Eagles Defensive Focus: More Jalen Carter?
The Eagles' top pick from the 2023 NFL Draft played just two snaps against the Ravens last week but made a huge impact right away, making light work of right guard Ben Cleveland to register a quarterback hit. Carter didn’t play more than 400 snaps in a single season at Georgia, so it will be interesting to see how much action he gets as a rookie. A bigger sample size would give us a better idea of just how good he could be in Year 1 in the league.
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