NFL Preseason Week 1: Ranking 5 best games to watch
4. Redskins at Browns – Thursday, Aug. 8, 7:30 p.m. ET
There’s a lot to like about this matchup between the Washington Redskins and Cleveland Browns in the first week of the 2019 NFL preseason. After all, you have one team that has a ton of questions to answer but also has interesting pieces to try and provide those answers on one side. Then you have the Browns, the hands-down most polarizing team in the league heading into the 2019 season.
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The reason that this game doesn’t rank higher among the must-watch contests, though, is because it’s hard to say how much of the new-look Browns we’re going to see. Given that it’s the first week of the preseason, it’s hard to expect that we’ll see a great deal of Baker Mayfield, Odell Beckham Jr. and so on taking the field much at all for Cleveland in this matchup.
Yes, that takes some shine off the Browns for this matchup but the Redskins make up for that a bit. Fans should get to see rookie quarterback Dwayne Haskins on the field for the first time in this matchup. There is a heated quarterback battle taking place in Washington with Haskins, Case Keenum and Colt McCoy. Haskins has the most upside but this game will offer a glimpse as to how ready he is to take the job.
And even with the Browns stars likely not being the picture for this Thursday night clash, fans will be able to see new head coach Freddie Kitchens and the new culture around Cleveland in action. Throwing that into what Washington brings, this will be a fun one to get your eyes on.