Cleveland Browns: 5 Early standouts at training camp
The Cleveland Browns are well underway at training camp but which players are stepping up and standing out prior to the start of the preseason?
The Cleveland Browns have unquestionably been the talk of the 2019 NFL offseason. Trading for Odell Beckham Jr. and Olivier Vernon will do that for a team. However, it’s exacerbated by the fact that optimism is running extremely high in Cleveland — and, as training camp is underway now for the Browns, in Berea.
To say expectations are high for the Browns in the 2019 season would be a vast understatement. First-year head coach Freddie Kitchens leads a team that went 7-8-1 last season into a new era where they aren’t just expected to be competitive but where they are favorites in the AFC North. It’s been a rapid ascension for a team that won a combined one game in the 2016 and 2017 seasons.
Then again, it’s not hard to see why that’s been the case. Adding Beckham and Vernon aren’t the building blocks for Cleveland but, rather, moves that could be the final pieces to the puzzle. This is a team that has brought in an immense amount of talented players in recent years, from Myles Garrett to Baker Mayfield to Denzel Ward to Jarvis Landry to Nick Chubb to many, many others.
By far, this is the most complete Browns roster that fans have seen arguably since their return to the league back in 1999. Perhaps more importantly, it also appears to be the most stable team that the organization has constructed. While they aren’t without some flaws, the weaknesses for this team are far less apparent than they have been in years past.
Thus, all eyes are on Berea for training camp to see what this team is looking like to start the Kitchens era. And while players like Mayfield and Beckham are always going to be in focus as the polarizing players they are, there are others that are making names for themselves.
Having that in mind, let’s dive into five players that are standing out early in Cleveland Browns training camp as they gear up for the 2019 season.