Football is back. The Cleveland Browns made their preseason debut on Saturday, hosting the Green Bay Packers.
Overall, it was not an ideal performance as they lost in a one-sided game and they also had to deal with a number of injuries, including a concerning injury to backup center Luke Wypler.
The final result is not the most important thing in these games, however. Rather, it is about players battling for places in the squad. With that in mind, we take a look at some of the winners and losers from their first game of the preseason.
Myles Harden, a seventh-round pick out of South Dakota State, was considered a potential grab by the Browns immediately after the selection. Despite a deep cornerback team, he was expected to compete for a spot on the 53-man roster. After one game, he may have already earned that spot.
Harden first showed his physical strength when he stopped Samori Toure on a receiver reverse for a one-yard gain. That same drive ended when Harden made another strong tackle on third-and-11 and stopped Joel Wilson for a four-yard gain. He finished the drive with five tackles and is now even more hyped than before.
Siaki Ika, a third-round pick in 2023, wasn’t a big deal as a rookie. That shouldn’t be a surprise after his performance dropped off sharply in his final season, followed by a poor showing at the NFL Combine. Still, the Browns went further than Stretch Armstrong ever could, drafting Ika, who made zero tackles in four games – he didn’t play in the other 13 games.
In the second year he didn’t have a much better start.
Ika entered the game late in the second quarter and was on the field for a second-and-7. On his first snap, he jumped and was given an offside penalty. The penalty was called because the Packers gained 14 yards on a pass to Grant DuBose. Ika was quickly taken out of the game afterward, which is a bad sign for a player who is far from certain to make the team.
