The Cleveland Browns will play the Kansas City Chiefs on Saturday from GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. It’s the preseason finale for both teams. Cleveland is (1-1-1) during this exhibition season after playing to an 18-18 tie with the Philadelphia Eagles last week.
According to reports from Browns coach Kevin Stefanski, the starters will play 20-25 snaps, which comes to about 2-3 series likely to last the whole first quarter and possibly a little into the second. Kansas City has played its starters in the first two preseason games and head coach Andy Reid suggested they could get some snaps Saturday, but he was not committal about how long.
The Browns starters appear settled at this point. There’s no doubt that Deshaun Watson will be their guy at quarterback moving forward as the former Pro Bowler hopes to work himself back into that form. Rookie quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson appears to have the backup job locked down. He leads the Browns with 348 passing yards this preseason.
Cleveland made a couple of moves earlier this week to further clarify the pecking order at quarterback. They waived Kellen Mond and then traded Josh Dobbs and a 7th-round pick to the Arizona Cardinals for a 5th-round selection. Once that move was complete Cleveland brought Mond back in and he’ll likely be the third-string guy.
It appears likely Mond will play the majority of the second half along with the other players still fighting for a spot on the 53-man roster.
Let’s take a closer look at the odds and trends (from FanDuel Sportsbook)
Cleveland Browns at Kansas City Chiefs
Time/TV: 1 p.m. ET, NFL Network
Point Spread: Cleveland -3.5
Moneyline: Cleveland -180; Kansas City +155
Over/Under: 41.5
Analysis: It’s a tale of two games here. The starters and the solidified members of the second team will try to get their work in and get out without any major injuries. This should give way for the second half of the game where more games will be in there fighting for a roster spot. Both teams are going to play the starters enough that it looks like they are trying to win the game. With that being said, Kansas City as a 3.5-point underdog at home is worth taking here.
Prediction: Chiefs, 24, Browns 21
