Waived by the Browns after two misses in the first game of his second season, might Austin Seibert kick for the Bengals in FirstEnergy Stadium on Thursday night? (associated press)
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Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland.
Takeaways the day after the Browns lost to the Ravens, 38-6, to start another season 0-1 …
Through their first 14 seasons as an expansion franchise, the Browns fielded one reliable full-time kicker. Phil Dawson was money in the bank. He was a legend by the end, surpassing Hall of Famer Lou Groza for the Browns field goal record and finishing second to him in total points.
After Dawson was allowed to leave in free agency in 2013, the Browns have not had a kicker hold the job for more than two seasons.
Austin Seibert lasted 17 games.
The John Dorsey fifth-round draft pick in 2019 was abruptly fired on Monday, the day after he missed a PAT and a 41-yard field goal try in the 38-6 loss in Baltimore.
Seibert was replaced by Cody Parkey, who had been added to the team’s practice squad last week, supposedly as insurance if Seibert were lost to a positive Covid-19 test during the season.
It’s a second tour of duty for Parkey. He kicked for the Browns in the 2016 season after a knee injury felled training camp-winner Patrick Murray in the practice week prior to the second game.
Counting Murray, Parkey is the Browns’ seventh kicker in eight years. The only one to last two years was Billy Cundiff in 2013-14.
Parkey had a difficult debut in the 2016 season. He was living in Florida and was flown in for an emergency tryout on a Friday. The next day, he joined the team on a flight to Miami. In his first game against the Dolphins, the jet-lagged Parkey missed 3 of 6 field goals, including a game-winning attempt from 46 yards with four seconds left.
Parkey made 17 of 19 field goals the rest of the year, but was replaced the next season when the Browns drafted Zane Gonzalez in the seventh round.
Parkey joined the Bears in 2018 and gained a degree of infamy when he missed a 43-yard field goal in the playoffs on a “double doink” off the left upright and then the crossbar.
Parkey made 2 of 2 field goals in three games with the Titans last year.
In his brief time with the Browns, Seibert acquired the yips on PATs and couldn’t shake them. He missed his first PAT in the 2019 opener and then four more in his rookie season – all toward the Dawg Pound end zone.
Although uncontested in his second training camp, Seibert was put through extensive work in two team workouts in FirstEnergy Stadium. He hit the uprights several times. His PAT miss in Baltimore banged off the left upright; his field-goal miss was way wide to the right.
But by waiving Seibert so early in the work week of a Thursday night game against the Bengals, the Browns are tempting fate.
The Bengals lost their opener to the Chargers, 16-13, when kicker Randy Bullock missed a 31-yard game-tying field goal at the end. Bullock clutched both calves after the miss. Bullock was listed as a limited participant in the Bengals practice on Monday.
If the Bengals elected to replace Bullock, if only for the game against the Browns, they might take a flier on Seibert.
What theater that would be if Seibert ended up kicking for the Bengals on Thursday night.
Injury good news, bad news
Left tackle Jedrick Wills was a limited participant in practice after X-rays on an injured shin were negative. Also, center JC Tretter (knee) came out of the Baltimore game “OK,” said coach Kevin Stefanski. And backup tackle Chris Hubbard (ankle) returned to practice on a limited basis. But right tackle Jack Conklin (ankle, finger) did not practice.
Linebacker Jacob Phillips (knee) did not practice. Also not practicing were cornerback Greedy Williams (shoulder) and cornerback Kevin Johnson (liver). None is expected to be available for the Bengals game.
SOS, OBJ
It took one game for Stefanski to field questions about whether quarterback Baker Mayfield fixated on forcing the ball to Odell Beckham Jr. in the second half of the loss in Baltimore.
Beckham had three receptions for 22 yards on 10 targets. He was targeted six times on the Browns’ first possession in the second half and failed to record a catch, although he drew three Ravens penalties. Beckham also had a costly face-mask penalty and drop in the first half.
“I do not think [Mayfield] was forcing the ball,” Stefanski said. “We did not connect, obviously, as much as we would like to. I think it is a combination of things. You have to really start with [the Ravens] and give them credit. They made some plays.
“A couple balls, I am sure Baker wants back. A couple of routes, I am sure Odell wants back. That is the nature of this thing. We just have to make sure we work really hard this week and then get out there Thursday night and put our best foot forward.”
The chemistry between Mayfield and Beckham was wrong last year and it was supposed to be much improved in their second season together. But their debut outing indicated they still are on different pages.
“I just look at it in that way, he is a good football player so we want him to touch the ball,” Stefanski said. “I think that is good for us. We are mindful of all of our players in terms of how they are touching it. There were opportunities early where the coverage took it away. Somebody else was open or those types of things. He is a good football player so I do not think it is newsworthy that he is a focal point of our offense.”