Todd Monken’s first training camp in Cleveland has already delivered a few twists, and the Browns are wasting no time sorting through the competition. The quarterback situation drew the headlines, but the more revealing developments have come along the offensive line and at linebacker, where a few unexpected names have started getting first-team work.
Dawand Jones opened Day 1 at left tackle with the starters, a notable move considering the Browns had been expected to lean toward first-round rookie Spencer Fano. Jones has the kind of size and athletic profile Andrew Berry usually wants at tackle, including a massive 87-plus-inch wingspan, and Cleveland clearly isn’t ready to hand the job away.
Jones began the 2025 season as the Browns’ starting left tackle, but injuries have cut short each of his first three NFL seasons. Even so, Monken’s decision to start camp with Jones up front suggests Fano’s path to Week 1 may not be as simple as it looked.
The right guard battle is also more open than many expected, and KT Leveston has quietly pushed his way into the conversation. Teven Jenkins had been the favorite to win the job, but Monken has left the door open, and Leveston has taken advantage.
He worked with the first unit during spring minicamp and was back with the starters on Day 2 of camp. There was some spring chatter that rookie tackle Austin Barber might try a move to guard, but Leveston is the one who has actually surfaced in that spot.
He looks like a strong bet to make the 53-man roster, and while he’s still the underdog in the competition, he’s firmly in the mix.
At linebacker, Easton Mascarenas-Arnold is another name worth watching. Monken said the Browns are still trying to identify a No. 3 boundary cornerback, and the team is also sorting out what it has at inside linebacker.
The two clear starters are Carson Schwesinger and Quincy Williams, but the third linebacker spot remains unsettled in a defense that has traditionally been a 4-3 look in Cleveland. Winston Reid may have the best upside on the roster, but he missed all of 2025 with an injury.
Emmanuel McNeil-Warren is also in the mix, though it may be too early to expect the rookie safety to settle into a full-time hybrid linebacker role. Mascarenas-Arnold, meanwhile, is coming off a 2025 season in which he was a core special teams player, logging 262 snaps, per Pro Football Focus.
He has only 12 defensive snaps to his name in the NFL, but his work with the first unit this week makes him one of the more interesting sleepers in camp.
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Todd Monken spent part of his post-practice availability putting those plays in perspective, stressing that the defense made the throws difficult and that the sequence was more about competitive reps than a collapse in judgment. The Browns are still early in camp, but every snap at quarterback is going to be watched closely, and Watsons next chance to settle things down will matter just as much as the first one did. [Read more 🡒]
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For the Browns, the appeal is obvious, but so is the complication. A move like this would add proven help to the front, yet it could also crowd the path for younger linemen such as Alex Wright and Isaiah McGuire, who have been working to carve out bigger roles. Even without a deal in place, the visit alone raises the kind of summer questions that can shape how a defensive line develops once camp starts to get real. [Read more 🡒]