Five Browns thoughts: Jameis Winston back in New Orleans, a new LT situation and more

With the Cleveland Browns back to work following their Week 10 bye, here are some thoughts on the quarterback position, the significance of the games ahead and some storylines to track.

Jameis Winston returns to New Orleans Winston spent four seasons with the Saints .

He stressed that he was grateful for that time, but he wasnt particularly sentimental in his weekly meeting with local reporters ahead of the Browns trip to New Orleans.

Advertisement As a pending free agent and the Browns starter for now , Winston knows his focus must be on the present.

And though the teams future at quarterback remains open, Winston also knows the only way he can put himself in that discussion is to perform well this week and in the games that follow.

Im grateful for this moment, Winston said.

Opportunities only come so often.

So definitely its a privilege to lead the Cleveland Browns organization and be a starting NFL quarterback, and I take pride in that.

Im going to continue to do my very best.

When the Tampa Bay Buccaneers moved on from Winston following the 2019 season, he landed in New Orleans as a backup to Drew Brees.

He said his mission then was to take all the superpowers that Brees and then-Saints coach Sean Payton had and apply them to his own game.

At the time, the move to New Orleans set up as a brief detour for Winston on his way back to a starting job.

Though Winston eventually replaced Brees and had arguably the best stretch of his career in 2021, a torn ACL ended his season at Halloween and hes started just five games since the last two this year in Cleveland following Deshaun Watson s season-ending injury.

Now Winston is 30 and getting a chance to start again before potentially hitting free agency.

But with the Browns at 2-7, hell likely have to impress quickly or the team could move on to second-year quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson .

The Browns have two games before they play Paytons Denver Broncos on Dec.

2, and those two could either propel the Browns to a successful back half of the season or chart the path toward lots of young players getting opportunities to play in December, not just at quarterback.

GO DEEPER As Browns navigate tough times, can their second-year players continue to ascend? One play at a time, Winston said.

We cannot fall victim to whats behind us.

We cannot press too far into whats ahead of us.

We have to focus on one day, one play, executing it perfectly, one play at a time.

We know Winston is going to bring perspective and energy.

Can he also bring the kind of sound, winning football that Browns coach Kevin Stefanski wants to see from his quarterback? Sunday will bring us closer to answering that question.

Advertisement Can Nick Chubb get it going vs.

Saints? The Saints started 2-0, then had a bunch of injuries and bottomed out with backup quarterbacks playing and the defense depleted.

The Saints fired head coach Dennis Allen at the start of last week and then beat the Atlanta Falcons under interim coach Darren Rizzi to move to 3-7.

Maybe the best way the Browns can help Winston is to get the run game going.

Chubb is averaging just 2.7 yards per carry in his return from knee surgery, which is not even half of his average per carry over his first six seasons.

The Saints rank last in the league in defensive expected points added (EPA) per rush (-0.7), per TruMedia, and Chubb ranks last in EPA per rush (-0.31).

With the Browns having a week to self-scout and Chubb having three games back, it makes sense that Cleveland tries to establish a run game and then look to throw off play-action.

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The Saints lead the NFL in passes defensed with 53 and rank fourth in interceptions with 12.

Winston is coming off a three-interception game versus the Los Angeles Chargers and had three near-interceptions dropped in the Browns wild win over the Baltimore Ravens in Week 8.

Thats always been the knock on Winston, and maybe the reason he hasnt played at a consistently high level.

He can throw it as well as anyone.

He just too often throws it to the other team.

Pro Football Focus grades Winston as having made turnover-worthy plays on 5.1 percent of his dropbacks this season.

Thats not far off his career average of 4.8 percent, per PFF.

His career worst in a season he played regularly was 5.4 percent, and 2021 was his best with just 3 percent of his dropbacks being deemed turnover-worthy.

Defensive interceptions lacking Interceptions change games, and sometimes seasons and careers.

Of all the stats that help tell the story of how the Browns have slipped to 2-7, one thats not atop the list but stands out as interesting is that the team only has one interception on the season.

That was by Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah in Washington in Week 5.

The Browns defense is built on putting constant pressure on quarterbacks and forcing game-changing mistakes, and the latter just hasnt happened often enough.

Advertisement Rarely playing with the lead has limited the defenses opportunities to make the huge play, but the Browns have also dropped a bunch of passes that should have been interceptions.

Cornerback Denzel Ward leads the NFL with 14 passes defensed.

At least five of those could have been interceptions, and at least two were in his hands long enough to make Ward believe hed made the interception before the ball fell to the turf.

Im more than capable of making those plays, Ward said.

Its going to change soon.

Just a matter of time.

just a few of the best plays from the league leader in passes defensed @denzelward | #DawgPound pic.twitter.com/GIx1XtEVUh Cleveland Browns (@Browns) November 13, 2024 Assessing the LT situation The Browns are sticking with Dawand Jones at left tackle.

Jones was benched in October after starting the season at right tackle, and now hes playing ahead of longtime starter Jedrick Wills Jr.

on the left side.

On Monday, Wills made a few headlines when he told reporters that he made a business decision not to play against Baltimore in Week 8 because he didnt feel healthy enough to perform.

Thats when Jones made his first start on the left side since his second year in college, and the following week Stefanski announced that Jones would keep the starting job.

On Wednesday, Stefanski said Wills used a poor choice of words when he said he made a business decision to sit out against the Ravens.

Thats not how he meant it, Stefanski said.

I talked to Jed.

He did not feel like he was 100 percent and could help us.

But he (just made) a poor choice of words and he understands that.

Wills was hurt in early November 2023.

At the time, the team announced he had a torn MCL, and there was hope hed be able to return in mid-December.

Instead, he opted for surgery and missed the entire offseason.

Hes only played sparingly this season and is now on the sideline, though Stefanski said the team will keep Wills active for games in case hes needed.

Advertisement To me, what Wills said was not the biggest problem.

It was, as Stefanski said, something that could have been worded differently.

More than a year later, Wills still isnt healthy and doesnt have a contract for next season, but the Browns have $11.8 million in dead money committed to the salary cap for Wills in 2025 based on contract restructures they did in both 2023 and 2024.

Why isnt Wills healthy? I wouldnt categorize it as a setback, Stefanski said.

It hasnt recovered how quickly he would want it to, and theres obviously times that you maybe tweak an injury, or you feel it again and those type of things.

But yeah, its been a tough rehab for him.

The handling of the tackle position has been poor from the spring until recently, and now its another spot thats completely unsettled.

Since 2020, Wills and Jack Conklin have been the teams starting tackles when healthy.

Conklins salary-cap number for 2025 is $19.4 million, which means hell be released unless he and the Browns agree to a restructured deal.

How will the team close the season? The Browns had the full active roster available for Wednesdays practice.

With two games in the next seven days and the roster thin at some spots due to previous injuries, trades and questionable personnel decisions, availability will be key if Cleveland hopes to put some wins together and improve its overall quality of play in the back half of the season.

The Browns host Pittsburgh (7-2) next Thursday night.

Theyll then get a 10-day break before a Week 13 Monday night game at Denver, which comes six days before another game against the Steelers in Pittsburgh.

What the Browns are playing for and can accomplish over the next eight games is a matter of interpretation and probably varies from position group to position group.

But its not a stretch to think the Browns performance versus the Steelers could weigh heavily into the thinking of ownership when it comes to big decisions that will be made at the end of the season.

GO DEEPER Browns were supposed to be in win-now mode, but GM Andrew Berry has a lot to fix This is a team that obviously misses the three first-round picks it gave up in the big swing (and bigger miss ) on Watson.

But if playing spoiler versus division opponents and performing better in multiple areas down the stretch ends up costing the Browns draft position in April, maybe it will change the temperature and big-picture evaluation of things.

We all think this defense is still capable of producing big performances.

Given the right opportunities, maybe it will.

Advertisement Right now, I dont think theres any plan for the Browns to move on from Stefanski after the season.

What happens in the front office or across the coaching staff remains to be seen, but I strongly believe the plan is for Stefanski to be back as head coach for 2025.

With eight games left, thats subject to change like everything else.

Certainly, no ones job should be totally safe.

But just past the halfway point, there are chances for many involved to change how things might be viewed based on the disappointments of the seasons first two-plus months.

(Top photo: Scott Galvin / Imagn Images).

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