Josh McCown, Andy Lee among highest graded Browns vs. Washington

The Browns lost the preseason opener against Washington, and that’s fine — the preseason is less about winning and more about getting up to speed and figuring out who can really play. (And to a lesser extent, it’s about seeing how those new uniforms look.) To that end, Pro Football Focus released its top five graded players from both the Browns and the Skins.

PFF’s grading process, in a nutshell, goes like this: It is somewhat qualitative, but it is by far the most comprehensive analysis available for public consumption. PFF has three analysts independently grade each play from each player before verifying assumptions through their Pro Coach Network. At that stage, the numbers are normalized and converted to a 1-100 scale range grade.¹

Josh McCown was the No. 5 graded Brown with a +1.8 rating. He only played in the first quarter, and only ran the offense for one drive. It was a good drive, however, as he completed all five of his passes, including a two-yard touchdown to Travis Benjamin. He also looked for Benjamin on a deep ball that resulted in a 35-yard pass interference penalty against Washington cornerback Chris Culliver.

Punter Andy Lee was the Browns’ second highest rated player with a +2.7 mark. The longtime San Francisco 49er booted five balls, four of which landed inside the Washington 20-yard line, for an average of 40.8 yards per punt. The one punt that didn’t make it inside the 20 was promptly fumbled by Washington’s Andre Roberts and recovered by Browns gunner Johnson Bademosi. The ensuing drive resulted in a Johnny Manziel touchdown run.

The No. 1, 3, and 4 rated players for the Browns were all reserve defenders: defensive linemen Jamie Meder (+4.2) and Dylan Wynn (+2.3), and linebacker Mike Reilly (+2.2).

Meder, a Parma Heights native and Ashland University grad, only made one tackle, but PFF singled him out as making a splash and said that he “consistently frustrated the Redskins reserve line in the run game.” He spent some time on the Baltimore Ravens practice squad last year.

Wynn, a 6-foot-2, 283-pound rookie from Oregon State, registered one tackle and a quarterback hit. Reilly had three tackles, all solo. He is a 23-year-old rookie from Old Tappan, NJ by way of the College of William & Mary.

Other notes from PFF:

In the absence of Joe Thomas, Cameron Erving got an extended run at LT. He had some struggles, including conceding two hurries, but led the Browns offense with 49 snaps.

Several Browns rookies made their debuts but none saw more time than safety Ibraheim Campbell. Campbell acquitted himself in his 49 snaps earning a +1.2 overall grade.

1. WFNY’s Michael Bode explained more in a post highlighting the Browns’ offensive line play. [↩]