5 Big Questions Facing Green Bay Packers Ahead of Matchup with Browns
By Paul Bretl
Can the Green Bay Packers slow the Browns’ TEs?
This Green Bay Packers defense is coming off a game in which Baltimore’s Mark Andrews pretty much did whatever he wanted–hauling in 10 receptions for over 130 yards and two touchdowns.
Although this week, Green Bay will not be up against an individual tight end who is as productive as Andrews, collectively, the Browns trio of tight ends have been featured heavily, and they’ve been a big part of the production from this Cleveland offense.
Related Story. Packers will have to Find Answer for Browns Trio of Tight Ends. light
Austin Hooper, David Njoku, and Harrison Bryant have 116 targets between the three of them with 949 yards and seven touchdowns. All three rank in the top-6 on this Browns team in receiving yards, with Njoku ranking third and Hooper ranking fourth. In terms of targets, Hooper has the second-most while Njoku ranks third per PFF.
According to Sharp Football, head coach Kevin Stefanski utilizes at least two tight ends on nearly 44 percent of Cleveland’s offensive play calls and three tight end sets 19 percent of the time–for some context, nine percent is the second-highest usage rate for three tight ends.
With as active as the tight ends are in this offense, the linebackers and safeties are going to play an important role in covering them. Also, it’s obvious that these tight ends are going to be featured, so hopefully, the defensive game plan accounts for that as well.