The Los Angeles Rams wrap up preseason play against the Cleveland Browns on Saturday. L.A. is looking to finish undefeated in the preseason following wins over the Cowboys and Chargers.
Ahead of the Browns showdown, I spoke with Chris Pokorny from Dawgs by Nature to get the intel on new wideout Isaiah Bond, how Cleveland could rebound this season and more.
Q – The Browns are coming off an incredibly trying season after finishing last in the AFC North. Things aren’t looking much better this year, but what must Cleveland do to surprise in 2025?
A – “Things aren’t looking much better this year …”—I don’t know if I’d necessarily agree to that. Two years ago, the Browns made the playoffs and had one of the best defenses for stretches in recent league history. Last year was a year that everything that could go wrong did go wrong, with much of the negative stigma still surrounding the fact that Deshaun Watson had drained this franchise. Watson is out of the picture again (for now), and the offense is returning to head coach Kevin Stefanski’s offense that has historically been successful, instead of the horrible one implemented last year in an attempt to cater to Watson. To surprise in 2025, though, the defense really needs to return to the 2023 version of themselves and shake off the oddities of the 2024 season. To a degree, teams caught on to the Browns’ aggressiveness and used it against them. I think we’ll see a few adjustments in that area, but the team’s top two draft picks at No. 5 overall and No. 33 overall were at defensive tackle and linebacker to really help strengthen some of those holes that developed with bad habits a year ago.
Q – Joe Flacco was unsurprisingly named the Week 1 starter on Monday, yet rookie Shedeur Sanders has gotten the most attention out of the billion quarterbacks rostered by Cleveland. What are some of his strengths/weaknesses, and what are his chances of seeing the field in the regular season?
Q – The spotlight was on Shedeur Sanders in that first preseason game, and he delivered. It’s not always about the stats in these games, and but the most impressive thing to me was the degree of calmness he showed in the pocket, and his natural knack for escapability. He had one blunder in which he ran around backwards trying to evade too many defenders, but he gets a bit of a pass on that. Early in training camp, we had heard that a lot of his drives were stalling or coming up empty, but it’s no wonder — when we would see clips, he was always with the third- and fourth-string units, and half the time the center was rolling the ball in the dirt, killing any chance of him getting a rhythm. His reps in that first preseason game was really the first time he’d worked with a better unit, and he impressed. I do think he maybe had too much time to throw (a credit to the offensive line), so that part made me wonder how he would have performed with that one less second per snap. I think there’s a decent chance he sees the field this season—as much as we love Joe Flacco, he’ll probably have some great stretches, followed by some big turnovers in games, so there will be a point when it’s time to get a guy in there who players will also be motivated to play behind. Sanders already has that.
Q – Cleveland signed undrafted rookie wideout Isaiah Bond this week to a fully guaranteed deal. Could you tell me what Bond would bring to the Browns’ offense?
A – Isaiah Bond brings a great deal of speed obviously, but it really is a tough situation to predict how quickly he’ll be utilized. Cleveland has faced questions all offseason about who their receivers will be after Jerry Jeudy and Cedric Tillman. We’ve had a couple of guys make some impressions after having been with the team all offseason. Bond will probably make the roster, but is he actually going to be counted on that quickly to see significant action? I think what we could see from Bond is what I’ll call the Marquise Goodwin role. Cleveland added Goodwin in 2023, and the veteran would usually play a couple snaps per game, with the quarterback(s) trying to hit him on a bomb, or he’d be a decoy. Knowing how Flacco likes to sling it, I could see our head coach envisioning Bond in that role to start off.
Q – Who has been a key standout on offense during training camp? How about defensively?
A – On offense, we’ll go with wide receiver Greg Larvadain. The undrafted free agent has had a solid camp and also made some nice catches, runs on end arounds, and moves on punt returns. I’m not sure he’ll make the 53-man roster, but he’s on the bubble and would seem to be a lock for the practice squad. Defensively, I’ll go with defensive end Julian Okwara. In each of the first two preseason games, he’s combined for about four high-impact plays (i.e. either sacks, or hits that lead to a turnover).
Q – What are three things that you’d like to see from the team against the Rams?
A – Three things I’d like to see:
-It sounds like Joe Flacco might play for the first time, so obviously it’d be nice to see him get a couple of completions in.
-Our kicker situation is still up-in-the-air, because we don’t know if veteran Dustin Hopkins is still in his own head after missing a lot of easy kicks last year. He already missed one extra point this preseason and nearly missed another.
-It’d be nice to see Isaiah Bond get a little bit of work in.
