The Cleveland Browns suffered a bad loss to the Dallas Cowboys in Week 1, and the snap counts have been released. It is always interesting to see who played the most snaps and what kind of usage each player had on gameday. Here is your Week 1 snap count analysis:
100% Club
- QB Deshaun Watson
- LT James Hudson
- RG Joel Bitonio
- LG Wyatt Teller
- C Ethan Pocic
- LB Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah
Thankfully, the offensive line stayed healthy through the game except for the two snaps missed by rookie offensive tackle Dawand Jones. After trending up for the last couple of weeks in the end both tackles would miss the game, resulting in the starts of Jones and Hudson. Otherwise, these are the usual suspects for a healthy full game, except for Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah.
Owusu-Koramoah continues to be one of the best draft steals in recent history and proves it with another strong performance in a lost game and not coming off the field. We’ll see if he can keep up the pace
Majority Plays
WR Amari Cooper – 95%
WR Elijah Moore – 93%
WR Jerry Jeudy – 82%
RB Jerome Ford 75%
DB Grant Delpit – 95%
DB Juan Thornhill – 95%
CB Martin Emerson – 90%
CB Denzel Ward – 83%
DE Myles Garrett – 76%
LB Jordan Hicks – 71%
DE Za’Darius Smith – 70%
CB Greg Newsome – 68%
DL Shelby Harris – 59%
DL Quinton Jefferson – 57%
The receivers are quite interesting to see, not so much that Cooper and Jeudy played a majority of the game but that Elijah Moore still seems to be a big part of this offense. Had a bulk of his snaps come after Jeudy’s injury this would make more sense but he was on the field for a majority of the game, signifying a clear commitment to staying in 11-personnel. Despite a bevy of snaps, Moore returns more of the same results, receiving six targets for three catches, and nine yards.
There was some question about the Browns usage at running back but it seems like Jerome Ford will be the workhorse until Chubb’s return. He was on the field 75 percent of the game, received 12/19 of the team’s rushing attempts (63 percent), and was the only back used in the receiving game with seven targets. Pierre Strong Jr was the clear backup with 24 percent of snaps, while D’Onta Foreman played exactly one snap.
Defensively, the defensive backs were iron men with only Newsome playing less than 50 total snaps and the safeties each playing all but six total snaps. Rodney McLeod was the primary backup with 22 percent of snaps, while Cameron Mitchell (16 percent) and Ronnie Hickman (17 percent) rotated in, especially late in the game.
The front rotated quite a bit with eight total plays logging in more than 25 percent of the snaps but it was the edge rushers Garrett and Smith who anchored the group with more than 70 percent of snaps. The interior rotation came in waves like a hockey line-up, with Harris and Jefferson playing 37 and 36 snaps, then the duo of Mo Hurst and Dalvin Tomlinson playing 25 and 24 snaps, and Alex Wright and Ogbo Okoronkwo being the edge backups playing 19 and 18 snaps respectively.
