Deshaun Watson, Sam Darnold and other players to watch at Browns-Vikings joint practices (2024)

With the Cleveland Browns set to host the Minnesota Vikings for competitive but controlled joint practices on Wednesday and Thursday, our Browns writer Zac Jackson and Vikings writer Alec Lewis traded emails about key storylines, players to watch and developing roster battles.

As will be the case on the Berea practice fields, there was no full tackling. But they were able to mix details with some opinions to provide insight into what should end up being two of the most important days of training camp for both teams.

Zac Jackson: The Browns are an established team, but they’re introducing an offense that’s in many ways new and have a bunch of veteran starters missing due to injury. So they have some players competing for bigger roles and they’re experimenting offensively, but they have most of their personnel set. This is a big week for Deshaun Watson, who needs to be more decisive and more accurate on downfield throws. How about on the other side? I know there’s been significant injury news with first-round quarterback J.J. McCarthy, but I’m curious if the Vikings had been holding a real competition or if they’d already decided to let Sam Darnold take the first spin.

Alec Lewis: Zac, good to be with you on this fine August week. Kevin Stefanski against his former team, Jordan Hicks with some old friends, Za’Darius Smith in the fold — if healthy — and so much more to look forward to. As for the Vikings’ quarterback situation, it took an interesting turn Monday evening. Coach Kevin O’Connell told reporters then that McCarthy had some knee soreness earlier in the day. Tuesday morning, O’Connell confirmed that McCarthy would need surgery to repair a torn meniscus.

Before the injury, I wouldn’t have quite called it a competition in the traditional sense. Yes, O’Connell has wanted competition from that room, featuring Darnold, McCarthy, Nick Mullens and Jaren Hall. But no, it was not this knock-down, drag-out, mano-a-mano situation. From the get-go, the Vikings have said they want to take the long-term view to McCarthy’s development. That’s partly why they signed Darnold in the first place. And while McCarthy performed impressively Saturday against the Las Vegas Raiders, Darnold’s showing was just as promising — if not more so. This was a huge week for Darnold regardless, and it still is.

And for as much as I’ll be watching the quarterbacks, I think a bunch of my focus will be on the offensive and defensive lines. Can the Vikings’ fronts match up with Cleveland’s? How do you view those two Browns units? Is the defensive line as dominant as it has been? And, as part of a pre-joint practice scouting report for Darnold, what is the state of the Browns’ defense as a whole?

Jackson: One reason the Browns think they could be in for a big season is the talent (and depth) they’ve assembled on both lines. But for now, a bunch of mostly minor injuries have affected the depth and will affect the availability and performance of both groups. We probably won’t see Smith, and we definitely won’t see Hicks or Dalvin Tomlinson against their old friends in purple. The interior offensive line depth has been hit so hard by injuries that the Browns had to make an off-day trade to bring back backup center Nick Harris, who spent four seasons in Cleveland before signing with Seattle in March.

You’re in for a treat getting to see Myles Garrett up close, though the reigning Defensive Player of the Year will almost certainly be a limited participant. The Browns know Garrett is a game-wrecker and need to see more from their backups. Their defensive tackle depth is much better than their edge rush depth, and their offensive tackle situation is murky. James Hudson III is the left tackle for now, but he’s not really a left tackle. Though that’s not the primary reason Watson is off to an unimpressive start to camp, there have been times when Garrett has just left Cleveland’s offense with no hope.

When whole, the Browns think they might have the best defense in the league. I’ll certainly have my popcorn ready for Denzel Ward and Martin Emerson Jr. against Justin Jefferson this week.

Lewis: Ward and Emerson will have their hands full with Jordan Addison in the fold, too. Those man-to-man, one-on-one matchups will be phenomenal. Then there’s Garrett versus left tackle Christian Darrisaw. Woooooo, buddy. If I could fast forward to being on the field in Berea for that right now, I would.

That’s interesting, as far as the health is concerned on both lines. That’s worth noting as we’re evaluating what we see from Minnesota. It’s a shame Tomlinson, Hicks and Smith won’t be active. I would have liked to see the Vikings’ interior try to sort through those guys. On offense, I’m not sure anyone has more to prove than the guards, Blake Brandel on the left and Ed Ingram on the right.

You’ve mentioned Watson a couple of times, so it’s probably worth digging a bit deeper here. How has he looked? What is the expectation? Is Stefanski’s offensive structure changed to enhance his abilities?

He’ll be tested from a mental standpoint this week, that’s for certain. Defensive coordinator Brian Flores can be a problem. The Vikings are also toying with more stunts up front than they have in the past. There might be times when nine men are up at the line of scrimmage. Who’s coming? Who’s dropping? Watson will have to identify these aspects. The talent, especially at cornerback, is not close to what the Browns have, and the defensive approach is wholeheartedly different. But it’s challenging nonetheless.

First of many to come for @UnoErra

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— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) August 10, 2024

Jackson: Parts of the offense are certainly new, mainly a bunch of college-like formations and an emphasis on misdirection both pre- and post-snap. These two viewing days will be big as far as seeing and potentially understanding more of the offense, because the Browns run a light camp even when they don’t have key players dealing with injuries.

Watson has had a couple of good days, a couple of really bad ones and a couple in the middle. He’s been almost a full participant despite being on somewhat of a pitch count related to his rehab from shoulder surgery. Stefanski has said Watson is fully cleared for contact and will probably play in the preseason finale, though he obviously won’t get hit in practice this week. And even though I have major concerns about his ability to process defenses and throw accurately downfield, his ability to extend plays is a big part of his game. We don’t fully see that until the real games start, and therefore it becomes even tougher to gauge what the Browns want to do on offense — and what they think Watson will do well.

An important note as a part of that: Stefanski is big on these practices but bigger on doing them with people he trusts. He knows people with the Vikings. General managers Andrew Berry and Kwesi Adofo-Mensah are friends and former co-workers. Stefanski wants to keep his players safe, prevent any brawls and keep the ability to call practice-structure audibles if necessary. All of that is a pretty long-winded way of saying the competitive evaluation has to matter, and I don’t think we’ll see either the full Browns offense or the full Flores mixing and matching to confuse the quarterbacks in orange.

We’ll surely be making judgments from the bleachers, but I believe both coaches are fine with a mix of failure and success as long as there’s some level of adaptation.

Lewis: Part of me thinks you’re right with Flores and choosing to keep it fairly vanilla. But then part of me watches Flores daily at the TCO Performance Center in Eagan and thinks Watson might get the absolute gantlet. We’ll find out.

One of the interesting layers to this, too, is that last year the Vikings held joint practices with Mike Vrabel’s Tennessee Titans. So, there is even familiarity in that regard as it relates to the structure of these practices. I’m glad you mentioned the connection between Berry and Adofo-Mensah, too. There’s so much crossover between these two staffs. Executives Ryan Grigson and Chisom Opara spent time in Cleveland. So did Ryan Cordell, who’s on the coaching staff. I expect a lot of schmoozing, meeting and greeting, pleasantries, you know the drill.

I did want to ask this: Over here, I’ll be watching Gabriel Murphy, Dwight McGlothern, Levi Drake Rodriguez, Bo Richter, Owen Porter, Michael Jurgens and other late-round picks and undrafted players seeking to earn some of the final 53-man spots. Who exists in this category over there? Who needs to show up to vie for the final spots?

Jackson: The injury situation makes things a little murky and uncertain, but the Browns started camp with only a few real position battles and jobs up for grabs. There’s a good one at No. 3 quarterback with Dorian Thompson-Robinson versus Tyler Huntley. There’s kind of a mess of mediocrity at wide receiver. Watson’s best throwing day of camp was the only day Jerry Jeudy was a full participant. Jeudy only did individual drills on Monday, so I’m anxious to see him in competitive situations soon. Will it be this week?

Now that the Vikings are down a quarterback for a while, you can probably add them to the list of teams at least semi-curious about the Browns’ pending decision to keep either Huntley or Thompson-Robinson. An up-close evaluation is especially important at quarterback.

Also, the Browns have a bunch of defensive tackles and at least seven cornerbacks who could legitimately make the roster, so the Vikings’ evaluators will be watching closely, too. I’d say it’s a really big week for defensive tackle Jowon Briggs, edge rusher Isaiah McGuire, cornerback Kahlef Hailassie and wide receivers James Proche II, Michael Woods II and Jaelon Darden. With David Bell out with a quad injury, Woods should feel like he can win a job over the next week or so.

I love the energy these practices bring. A lot of folks thought we’d see Darnold on these practice fields many years ago, and given both the way his journey and the Browns’ quarterback carousel have gone, you truly just never know. Maybe these cliche-spewing coaches are right and every rep does count.

Lewis: An excess of defensive tackles and cornerbacks, you say?

Attention will be paid, certainly.

Watson, Darnold, Stefanski, potentially McCarthy, O’Connell, Garrett, Ward and Darrisaw all giving it a good run? Here’s to a fun week in the “Land.”

(Photos: Jessica Rapfogel, Jeffrey Becker / USA Today)