Second thoughts: Slim pickings among available kickers may ensure Andre Szmyt another chance

Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns and NFL analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland. He has covered the Browns since 1984.

Second thoughts on Bengals 17, Browns 16 …

1. Kevin Stefanski offered more mild support for kicker Andre Szymt, whose missed PAT and missed 36-yard field goal were the difference in the first loss of the season. Szymt made a PAT and a 45-yard field goal in the first half, and then the wheels came off. “Obviously, Andre knows we trust him, knows that he’s got to come through for us in those moments,” the coach said. “I thought he had a really good warm-up. Banged a couple early in the game and, you know, missed those two at the end and those are kicks that we expect him to make. But I’m really just focused on that game and we expect him to come through for us.” The best thing Szymt has going for him is the law of supply and demand. There’s a demand for kickers (the 49ers and Falcons may have kicking problems, too), but the supply is not there. The fact is the best available kicker may be the one that Szmyt replaced – Dustin Hopkins. The list of other available veterans includes four others who have crawled out of the Cleveland graveyard of kickers – Greg Joseph, Austin Seibert, Zane Gonzalez and Cade York.

2. Five teams currently have kickers on their practice squad. The risk in signing one of them is you do so without the benefit of a tryout and he must stay on your active roster for three weeks. The kickers on practice squads are Riley Patterson of Miami, Lenny Krieg of Atlanta, Mark McNamee of Green Bay, Charlie Smyth of New Orleans and Jude McAtamney of the Giants. Patterson has been on the roster of 11 teams since 2021, including the Browns twice (2023-24). He was elevated by the Dolphins on Sunday because regular kicker Jason Sanders is on short-term injured reserve. Krieg is a native of Germany who earned a contract from the Falcons after making 14 consecutive field goals at the NFL Combine in February. Atlanta waived him at the 53 cut and signed him to the practice squad. McNamee is a native of Dublin, Ireland, who spent one year in the Canadian Football League. Smyth is a native of Ireland who impressed the Saints at the 2024 NFL Combine. McAtamney came to the Giants via Ireland and Rutgers. Mevis kicked at Missouri and spent time with the Panthers before the Jets signed him to their practice squad.

3. Newly signed running back Quinshon Judkins will practice with the team this week and could be pressed into action in Baltimore even though the Browns have a two-week roster exemption to put him on the active 53. “Yeah, we’ll see,” Stefanski said. “Got to get through this week of practice, but don’t know.” The Browns still aren’t certain if Judkins will receive an NFL suspension. He is needed. Although rookie Dylan Sampson received good reviews in the passing game (8 of 8 targets for 64 yards), he couldn’t make anything happen in the running game (29 yards on 12 attempts with a long of 5 yards). ). After the game, quarterback Joe Flacco said, “I think the key for him, is just making that first guy miss. And I think he did that a lot.” Sampson had 20 touches on only 33 snaps in his NFL debut.

4. At the NFL annual meeting in late March, Stefanski hinted that new offensive line coach Mike Bloomgren had an affinity for creativity in short-yardage and goal-line packages. Well, in their first game the Browns unveiled some of Bloomgren’s imagination. On the first possession, which consumed almost 10 minutes, they used 290-pound defensive tackle Adin Huntington as a lead blocker on three plays and used an extra lineman with Huntington on two plays. Designated short-yardage back Rocket Sanders converted a fourth-and-1 and then scored the season’s first touchdown on fourth-and-1 after two efforts by Jerome Ford and one by Sanders were stopped short. After the game, Stefanski said there is “still plenty left” in the playbook for those situations. “If you  polled every line coach in the NFL, they would be very excited and light up when you talk about short yardage and goal line,” Stefanski said on Monday. “Our offensive line coaches as a group do a great job in those areas, both by design in how you design those schemes, but also how you coach those schemes, because a lot of times it’s not real complicated, but it is something where it does become a mentality type of football.”

5. Tight end Harold Fannin led all the rookies on offense and defense with 55 snaps. Linebacker Carson Schwesinger played 100% of the snaps on defense (52) and defensive tackle Mason Graham played on 42 snaps. Fannin led the Browns with nine passing targets and caught seven for 63 yards. He also ran the ball one time for 3 yards after shifting into a Wildcat QB position. “Harold, I thought, really competed hard,” Stefanski said. “That’s one of the things you love about him out there. Whether the ball’s in his hand or not, he’s giving you everything he’s got.”

6. In total, 10 rookies saw action in the first game, for a total snap count of 295 on offense, defense and special teams. Huntington had 3 snaps on offense, 7 on defense and 14 on special teams. “In volume, it’s a lot of rookies, but they don’t act like rookies, and I don’t consider them rookies at this point,” Stefanski said. “They’re guys that we’re counting on. They’re guys that really work at their craft and that’s been the case since they got on campus here. And you really can go down the line with all of them. They all are very serious about their job. They all work very hard, and they all will continue to get better.”

7. In his season debut at left tackle, Dawand Jones had “some good moments and some bad moments,” according to Stefanski. Jones allowed one sack to Trey Hendrickson, who hit Joe Flacco on two other occasions, and was flagged for two holding calls, an illegal man downfield and a false start. Two of the penalties were declined. “He needs to just be consistent for us and play like I know he’s capable of playing,” Stefanski said. “And again, there’s good moments out there versus a very good rusher, but I do feel like he can play better.”

8. Among the standouts on defense, probably the biggest revelation was edge rusher Isaiah McGuire. He started ahead of Alex Wright at left end and turned in 6 tackles, 1 sack (almost a safety), 2 tackles-for-loss and 2 quarterback hits. To me, McGuire’s most impressive play was getting up twice from being tackled by Bengals right tackle Amarius Mims (no flag thrown) and running down Joe Burrow just short of registering a sack on the final play of the first half. “He’s been a very steady player for us, a very physical football player, and he did a nice job,” said Stefanski.

9. The only injury from the game was the poke-in-the-eye suffered by right tackle Jack Conklin. He left the game after only 20 offensive snaps and replaced by Cornelius Lucas, who did fine. Conklin’s eye was almost completely shut after the game. Stefanski said Conklin was doing “much, much better” on Monday.