Report Card Grades for Browns' NFL Week 1 Game vs. Jaguars

Welp. Any optimism for the Cleveland Browns took a major hit in Week 1 with the Browns falling to the Jacksonville Jaguars 34-10 in the season opener.

The beginning of the Todd Monken era could best be described as disastrous. It started with a Deshaun Watson interception on the opening drive and was compounded by a defense that couldn't seem to cover the Jaguars passing attack all afternoon.

It was a performance that the Browns would like to flush and move on from heading into another road game against Baker Mayfield and the Buccaneers next week.

Quarterback

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Deshaun Watson

Deshaun Watson: F

Woof. Deshaun Watson's debut could not have gone worse. The box score doesn't quite capture how bad he was. A 46-yard heave to rookie Denzel Boston and some other garbage time completions made the final stat line look better than he actually played.

Watson missed open receivers on multiple occasions, set the tone with a terrible interception on the first drive and took five sacks.

Watson didn't handle pressure well and he shared part of the blame for all the pressure he faced. The pick on the first drive was a terrible decision, it was followed by a three-and-out then a strip sack resulted in a punt on the third drive.

With the Jaguars scoring on the first three possessions, Watson's rocky start was a major reason this game was over as soon as it got started.

Running Backs

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Quinshon Judkins

Quinshon Judkins: D+

Judkins was largely shut down on the day. Some of that was the offensive line. He had 33 rushing yards but never got more than five yards on a carry.

The second-year back's biggest gain of the afternoon came on a 16-yard swing pass when the game was well out of hand in the fourth quarter.

Raheim Sanders: C

Raheim Sanders got some run after Dylan Sampson was injured early in the game. He only had one carry, but he chipped in three receptions for 25 yards. He also showed some juice in the return game which was nice to see.

Wide Receivers

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Jerry Jeudy: D+

The veteran leader of this group wasn't really a leader at all. He was open on a comeback route that would have helped his statline if Watson hadn't airmailed it to the sideline, but bringing in two of four targets for 26 yards doesn't cut it.

KC Concepcion: C-

The first-round rookie was a key contributor to the Browns ugly start. His second reception killed the second drive when he lost a fumble. Still, he caught four of his five targets and had a nice 25-yard catch over Jourdan Lewis. He also had the team's longest run at 10 yards.

Denzel Boston: B-

Boston's grade here comes with an asterisk because he was mostly a non-factor early on. However, it's worth acknowledging that his first catch was a 13-yarder that moved the sticks on second-and-13 and the 46 yard touchdown is one of the few highlights the Browns can feel good about coming out of Sunday.

Tight Ends

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Harold Fannin Jr.: C

Fantasy managers won't be happy about Fannin's output. He had just two catches for 12 yards, but those yards all came on a dump off when Watson was under pressure. Fannin did a good job to lower his shoulder and get a few extra yards, but there wasn't much to write home about here.

Blake Whiteheart: C

Whiteheart registered the first catch of the season for the Browns when Watson connected with him on the first drive. The Browns didn't do enough in the run game to believe Whiteheart was a difference maker there, either.

Offensive Line

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Zion Johnson

Spencer Fano: C

The Browns first pick of the 2026 draft drew a tough assignment in his first game. Cleveland chipped Josh Hines-Allen and Fano still lost the rep to him on Hines-Allen's half-sack. Although, it should be noted that Watson's dropback on the play didn't help him.

Zion Johnson: D-

Johnson's first game with the Browns was rough. He had two holding penalties that set the offense back and was part of the reason the running game created little daylight for Judkins.

Elgton Jenkins: C

There wasn't much to say about Jenkins performance. The center was not at fault for much of the pressure Watson faced, but he also didn't do anything to get a higher grade.

Austin Barber: B-

Austin Barber is the solution for anyone looking for positives from the offense on Sunday. Starting for an injured Teven Jenkins, the third-round pick held his own against the Jags defensive front and was the Browns' highest-graded player by PFF.

Tytus Howard: D

Howard is supposed to be the veteran leader of this group, but his false start came after one of Johnson's holdings and contributed to a first-and-30 situation. Travon Walker had 1.5 sacks, a tackle for a loss and quarterback hit.

Edge

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Jared Verse

Jared Verse: C-

Jared Verse got a tough lesson in what it looks like to be a team's premier pass-rusher. He was chipped and double-teamed much more than he was in Los Angeles and became a non-factor as a pass-rusher.

Isaiah McGuire: D+

Verse was at least drawing additional attention from the Jaguars scheme. McGuire should have been the beneficiary, but registered just one pressure on 16 reps.

Sam Williams: D+

McGuire might not have been great, but Williams didn't do anything to command more of his reps. He worked as the team's rotational edge-rusher and didn't stand out on a bad defensive day.

Defensive Line

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Mason Graham: B+

Mason Graham was one of the few bright spots on Sunday. He was lined up across from rookie Emmanuel Pregnon and took full advantage. He accounted for two of the Browns' four tackles for a loss and beat Robert Hainsey for the only sack of the day.

Adin Huntington: D+

Huntington is never going to be a player that shows up in the box score. He registered just two tackles, but he also struggled to hold up at the point of attack and win his gap. The Jaguars were able to run the ball whenever they wanted to and Huntington was part of the problem.

Michael Hall Jr.: D

Hall registered the same amount of snaps as Huntington (29), but was also not impactful. The Jaguars won the matchups on the interior that did not involve Graham.

Maliek Collins: C

Collins' was a rotational piece, but the veteran made a case to play a bit more moving forward. He had some juice coming off the ball and was right behind Graham on his sack.

Linebackers

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Carson Schwesinger: C-

The box score will tell you that Carson Schwesinger led the Browns with 10 tackles, but he also had a coverage blunder that led to a Brenton Strange touchdown. Only three of his tackles were solo and one was for a loss.

Quincy Williams: D+

Schwesinger was still the best inside linebacker. Williams was not all that active with just four tackles despite playing every snap of the game.

Secondary

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Myles Harden and Tyson Campbell

Denzel Ward: C

Nobody from the secondary deserves a mark higher than a B. There were lapses in communication and coverage that cost the Browns all afternoon. However, Ward was simply beat by Josh Cameron on a slant for the second touchdown of the day.

Tyson Campbell: D+

Campbell was beaten multiple times as Trevor Lawrence racked up a passer rating of 150.6. He was notably late to break on a comeback route from Parker Washington and looked lost in zone coverage on more than one occasion.

Myles Harden: D

It was clear that picking on Myles Harden was part of the Jaguars gameplan. He gave up the first touchdown to Washington and Lawrence did not stop finding who he was supposed to be covering the whole day.

Grant Delpit: C

Again, it's hard to give anyone in the defensive backfield glowing reviews. The coverage was bad overall, but Delpit had some good moments. He broke up a Parker Washington target at one point and played relatively good coverage when targeted.

Ronnie Hickman: C-

The best thing you can say for Hickman is that he made some tackles when Jacksonville's run game got to the third level. His coverage wasn't stellar, though.

Special Teams

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K Andre Szmyt: A

Hey, at least the kicker made the 26-yard field goal and his lone extra point attempt.

P Corey Bojorquez: B

Bojorquez only punted three times thanks to the Browns turnover issues. One was downed inside the 20 and he averaged 43.3 yards.

RET Raheim Sanders: A

Sanders looked like he should be more involved in the offensive gameplan ripping off a 74-yard kick return.