Austin Barber didn’t just survive his first NFL regular-season action - he turned it into a job-winning performance.
The Cleveland Browns lost their Week 1 game to the Jacksonville Jaguars, but Barber still came away with the kind of debut that gets noticed inside a building. According to Pro Football Focus, he finished as the highest-graded rookie offensive lineman in the league, landing an 82.6 mark that was nearly 10 points better than the next-best player.
That showing mattered even more because Barber was thrown into the fire late. He was pressed into duty after Teven Jenkins was ruled out with an injury days before the season opener, and the rookie handled the curveball with no wasted motion.
"You got to be prepared to go play," he said after being named the starter mid-week. "I was prepared for anything to happen. I just have to go out there and perform."
Browns head coach Todd Monken said Tuesday, Sept. 15, that Barber’s work drew his attention, particularly because of the short notice. Then on Wednesday, when asked about Barber’s place moving forward, Monken made it clear the third-round pick from the University of Florida had done enough to keep the right guard spot.
That gives Barber something every young lineman wants: certainty. Instead of wondering what comes next, he now goes into each week as the starter at right guard, a status that should ease some of the pressure he was carrying while trying to carve out his place in the organization.
Monken also had strong praise for rookie Spencer Fano, putting the two young blockers in the same conversation.
"I'm jacked," Monken was quoted as saying when reflecting on both Barber and rookie Spencer Fano. "Those two guys are going to be really good players.
Austin, for jumping in there and learning early in the week [that] he was going to be starting. And Spencer is going to continue to grow..
I really think we got some young, really good players."
With Barber and Fano emerging up front, the Browns suddenly have a pair of rookie building blocks to watch. Both still have to prove it every week, but getting first-team reps and knowing they’re atop the depth chart gives them a different kind of momentum.
Fano is 21 years old, and Barber is 23, which only adds to the sense that Cleveland may have found two young pieces it can lean on for a long time.
The Browns are back in action on Sunday, Sept. 20, when they hit the road to face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Kickoff is set for 1:00 p.m. EST at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla.
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