Training camp is in full force and this is the first season in a long time that the expectations are sky-high for the Cleveland Browns. Not only are players fighting for their jobs at the bottom of the roster, but with everyone’s eyes on Cleveland is it important for the stars to find their groove. Not all the players on this list are fighting for their job. Most of them will be starters come Week 1, but they all have something to prove.
Morgan Burnett, Safety
Burnett was a pretty large free agent signing and has been pegged as the replacement for recently traded Jabrill Peppers, but this will be his tenth year in the league and he is coming off of a disappointing season in Pittsburgh. Cleveland is hoping his struggles as a Steeler were caused by being played out of position as he spent a large portion of his time as a situational dime linebacker, but the flip side of that is Burnett is thirty years old and Father Time is undefeated.
Burnett has had a relatively quiet camp, which isn’t a bad thing, but Jermaine Whitehead is having himself a very solid camp, which may result in him eating into Burnett’s snaps. Even if Burnett has lost a step, he still provides a ton of veteran leadership and is the kind of player John Dorsey prefers. Dorsey was actually on the 2010 Green Bay Packer staff when Burnett was selected in the third round. Although Burnett is unlikely to be a roster cut casualty, he still needs to show that he can play at an NFL starting caliber level.
Garrett Gilbert, QB
The greatest quarterback in Alliance of American Football history is hoping to get back into the NFL. Gilbert is the definition of an NFL journeyman as he was on five different teams during his first five years in the league, but his experience in the AAF might have actually transformed his game as all reports out of Cleveland indicate he has been slinging the rock like a man possessed.
Unlike Burnett, Gilbert is fighting for his job and if he can’t beat out Drew Stanton for the number two gig, he will likely be cut. Gilbert has a unique story not only due to his AAF background, but he also comes from the same high school as Baker Mayfield. Most fans remember Gilbert as the prized five-star recruit at Texas before transferring to SMU and struggling to make a name in the NFL.
Chris Hubbard, OT
It has been noted that Hubbard has not had the most impressive camp, which has opened the door for small-school rookie, Drew Forbes and newly acquired free agent pick-up Kendall Lamm to compete for the starting gig. I was openly against signing the former Pittsburgh reserve last year, but he consistently outperforms expectations and is arguably a top ten right tackle in the NFL.
The tackle position is one of the weakest on the Cleveland roster and all signs point to the Browns trying to upgrade the bookends next season, which makes 2019 another prove-it season for Hubbard. He is not in the same echelon as Lane Johnson, Ryan Ramczyk or Mitchell Schwartz, but Hubbard doesn’t get enough credit for consistently blocking his man.
Freddie Kitchens, Head Coach
Being a first-year NFL head coach is never easy and Kitchens steps into one of the worst franchises of the past ten years with arguably the most talented roster in the NFL and one of the most rabid fan bases the league has to offer. The Cleveland Browns have a legitimate Super Bowl contending roster and dealing with all that pressure in the first year is going to be tough to handle.
The Browns currently have the fifth-best Super Bowl odds and will have four primetime games, which includes two Monday Night Football appearances. To put that in perspective, Cleveland has not had multiple Monday night games since 2008. All of this attention is pretty insane considering this team won zero games just two seasons ago.
Baker Mayfield, QB
Mayfield needs to prove he can avoid the sophomore slump so many people are expecting. He is a top ten quarterback in the league and has everything needed to take this franchise to the promised land, but going from leading a fringe team to seven wins is a completely different beast than leading a team with Super Bowl aspirations. It feels insulting saying that Mayfield needs to prove himself after throwing for 19 touchdowns passes in the final eight games last season, but unfortunately its true.
More reasonable fans are going to understand that there are still going to be mistakes and growing pains with the second year quarterback’s game, but we already know the media, more specifically that hack Colin Cowherd are going to be extremely vocal every time Mayfield slips up.
