Halfway through the 2020 NFL season, the Cleveland Browns are figuring out the player rotations under new head coach Kevin Stefanski and his coordinators. Injuries and changing situations have made for some interesting breakdowns to the snap counts for the first eight games.
Here are some of the takeaways from poring over the Browns’ snap counts for the first eight weeks.
Offense
Only two players, LG Joel Bitonio and C JC Tretter, have played all 500 snaps. The 500 total makes for a nice round number to determine playing time percentages, too.
Baker Mayfield has taken 485 of the snaps at quarterback, the same number rookie left tackle Jedrick Wills has logged. Right tackle Jack Conklin (439) is the only other offensive player over 75 percent.
There was a lot of talk about the No. 2 tight end vs. No. 3 wide receiver split. In the first half of the year, rookie TE Harrison Byrant played 283 reps while WR Rashard Higgins played just 174. Keep in mind over 150 of those Higgins snaps came after Odell Beckham (316) got hurt, too. KhaDarel Hodge has logged over 50 percent of the snaps in the four games he has played, however.
Wyatt Teller (284) and Chris Hubbard (280) have had an almost even split at right guard. Kareem Hunt (281) has played more than expected due to Nick Chubb (119) being injured since Week 4. Chubb has 60 total touches on those 199 snaps, meaning he sees the ball almost exactly half the time he’s played.
Defense
Terrance Mitchell just missed out on being the iron man. The cornerback has played in 560 of the 562 available snaps. He’s followed by safety Andrew Sendejo (553), fellow CB Denzel Ward (527) and LB B.J. Goodson (514) as Browns defenders playing over 90 percent of available snaps.
Myles Garrett is next at 446, a 78.9 percent playing time that is a heavy load for a lineman. Sheldon Richarson (413) was also close to 75 percent at DT.
Safety Karl Joseph played 282 of his 300 total snaps in the first four games before he missed two weeks.
Defensive end Porter Gustin is at just over 41 percent of reps (236) but his playing time has fluctuated wildly. One note: the three games Gustin has played at least 50 percent of the snaps have been the Browns’ three best defensive scoring efforts.
Two players, undrafted rookies A.J. Green and Jovante Moffatt, have played exactly one snap on defense.
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