When the Cleveland Browns take the field Saturday night against the Seattle Seahawks in Lumen Field, quarterback Deshaun Watson will have not played in a game for almost 10 months.
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For many of the rest of the Browns starters, game snaps have been extremely limited since the team’s Wild Card playoff loss to the Houston Texans this past January.
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That might change for some of those players in Seattle, as head coach Kevin Stefanski expects anyone who considers themselves a starter to be prepared to see action against the Seahawks.
While he was asked directly about Watson, Stefanski did not specifically say who will play, just that everyone should be ready if called upon (quote via a team-provided transcript):
“So all of our starters should expect to play and then we’ll determine who does or doesn’t, how many plays they do. Like I told you guys, in particular with Deshaun, I want to take in all the information this week and really make a final determination later in the week.”
Typically teams like to have their frontline players see at least some game action in the preseason, but in the case of Watson that presents more risk than usual. Not only is he still recovering from the shoulder injury that limited his 2023 season to just six games, but the offensive tackle situation is currently less than ideal.
an update on who should expect to play in this Saturday's game pic.twitter.com/Fo1T5zgLOS
— Cleveland Browns (@Browns) August 20, 2024
Starters Jedrick Wills Jr. and Jack Conklin have yet to play, let alone practice, during training camp and the preseason. Backup James Hudson III has been ruled out for the Seattle game with an ankle injury, and his backup, Hakeem Adeniji, landed on the injured reserve list this week with a knee injury.
That leaves the Browns down to Germain Ifedi as the man tasked with protecting the blind side of Cleveland’s $230 million quarterback this weekend.
Ifedi has experience as he has started 83 games in his seven-year career, so he has that going for him. But all of those starts have come at either right guard or right tackle, which is very much not the same as playing on the left side.
Still, as he is wont to do, Stefanski put a positive spin on Ifedi when asked about him on Tuesday (quote via a team-provided transcript):
“He’s really done a nice job since the moment he stepped foot on campus here, getting to understand our scheme, obviously, familiarity with what we’re doing, playing both right and left. Tough guy plays hard. Like a lot of things about him.”
As much as Stefanski would like to have Watson get in some game action before the Dallas Cowboys come to town for the season opener on September 8, it would not come as a surprise if the game-time decision on Saturday is to have Watson sit this one out to preserve his health.
If nothing else, seeing who is on the field for the opening drives on offense and defense for the Browns will be reason enough for fans to stay up for the 10 p.m. kickoff on Saturday.
