The NFL preseason rolls on, and Week 2 will provide us with football action from Thursday through Monday. Although the games don’t mean anything to the teams, they mean plenty for players trying to climb up the depth chart or just make the 53-man roster. Let’s dive into the most interesting players to watch in Week 2 of the preseason, including the top players to watch in Browns-Eagles, Saints-Chargers and more, including Dorian Thompson-Robinson. You can also find my top bets for this weekend here.
Looking for more 2023 NFL predictions? OddsShopper’s experts are here to break down the upcoming NFL season — make sure to check out the rest of our NFL articles, including our NFC East and AFC North previews. Come back during the NFL season for our market-based betting model’s picks and best bets — or try it out for Week 1 now!
NFL Preseason Week 2: Players to Watch in Browns-Eagles, Saints-Chargers
NFL Preseason Week 2 Schedule
Thursday
Cleveland Browns at Philadelphia Eagles: 7:30 p.m. ET
Friday
Carolina Panthers at New York Giants: 7 p.m. ET
Cincinnati Bengals at Atlanta Falcons: 7:30 p.m. ET
Saturday
Jacksonville Jaguars at Detroit Lions: 1 p.m. ET
Miami Dolphins at Houston Texans: 4 p.m. ET
Buffalo Bills at Pittsburgh Steelers: 6:30 p.m. ET
Chicago Bears at Indianapolis Colts: 7 p.m. ET
Tampa Bay Buccaneers at New York Jets: 7:30 p.m. ET
New Englan
d Patriots at Green Bay Packers: 8 p.m. ET
Tennessee Titans at Minnesota Vikings: 8 p.m. ET
Kansas City Chiefs at Arizona Cardinals: 8 p.m. ET
Denver Broncos at San Francisco 49ers: 8:30 p.m. ET
Las Vegas Raiders at Los Angeles Rams: 9 p.m. ET
Dallas Cowboys at Seattle Seahawks: 10 p.m. ET
Sunday
New Orleans Saints at Los Angeles Chargers: 7 p.m. ET
Monday
Baltimore Ravens at Washington Commanders: 8 p.m. ET
Browns-Eagles Preseason Player to Watch: Dorian-Thompson Robinson
The Cleveland Browns will take on the Philadelphia Eagles on Thursday night. Although Josh Dobbs entered the preseason as the favorite to win the backup job to Deshaun Watson, rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson, a fifth-round pick, has been making a case to overtake him. The first-year player out of UCLA kicked off the preseason as the fourth-string quarterback for Cleveland, entering the Hall of Fame Game after Kellen Mond. He proceeded to complete 72.7% of his passes for 7.5 net yards per attempt (NY/A). He entered Cleveland’s next game before Mond and completed 90% of his passes for 10.2 NY/A and a touchdown. Did I mention that he also racked up 47 rushing yards in those games?
Robinson enters the NFL after five seasons with the UCLA Bruins. He started seven games in his first campaign and held onto the starting job thereafter. In his senior season, he recorded an impressive passing efficiency grade of 157.1, which also marked a career-best performance in the metric. He completed 69.6% of his passes for 8.3 yards per attempt (Y/A) and 27 touchdowns while adding 646 rushing yards and 12 rushing touchdowns. While some doubted whether DTR would become a serviceable NFL quarterback — and whether he should try to crack a roster at another position — his performance through two preseason games has been impressive.
Bills-Steelers Preseason Player to Watch: Kyle Allen
The Buffalo Bills have a new quarterback in town. While Kyle Allen doesn’t pose a threat to the incumbent starter, star Josh Allen, he is currently ahead of Matt Barkley on the depth chart. The Bills need to replace Case Keenum after he left for the Houston Texans in the offseason. It’s possible that Keenum could wind up back in Buffalo if the Texans choose to keep only C.J. Stroud and Davis Mills, and if Allen keeps struggling and the Bills don’t want to trust 32-year-old Barkley, don’t be surprised if it happens. Allen completed only 53.3% of his passes for 6 NY/A. Meanwhile, Barkley completed 93.3% of his throws for 10.3 NY/A.pro
I’m keeping an eye on Kyle Allen because this might just be his last chance to make an NFL roster. After picking up some spot starts as a rookie in Carolina — and starting for most of 2019 — Allen has settled for backup work. He briefly took over in Houston last season, but he completed only 59% of his passes for 4.5 NY/A there while tossing two touchdowns and four interceptions, leading then-head coach Lovie Smith to replace him. All signs point to Allen flaming out of the league sooner rather than later, and another bad preseason game could spell the end for the journeyman quarterback, making him another one of our players to watch in Week 2 of the preseason.
Chiefs-Cardinals Preseason Player to Watch: Shane Buechele
I promise that I’m going to mix in some non-quarterbacks soon, but backup battles are important to watch so that you can accurately handicap a team if their starter goes down. Knowing a little bit about last year’s backup to Patrick Mahomes, Chad Henne, would’ve come in useful during the playoffs. This season, the Chiefs picked up Blaine Gabbert, who is competing with Shane Buechele for the backup job at Arrowhead. While Gabbert is the clear favorite to win the job, Buechele is putting together a challenge. Gabbert completed only 50% of his throws for 7.4 NY/A and a touchdown in Week 1, but his first two drives stalled out quickly. Buechele completed 61.1% of his throws for 8.2 NY/A, two touchdowns and an interception.
Buechele is a former four-star recruit who started at both Texas and SMU before joining the Chiefs as an undrafted free agent in 2021. He has been a member of the team’s active roster or practice squad ever since. Buechele’s familiarity with the Kansas City coaching staff and receivers should give him a leg up over Gabbert. He has played in every Chiefs preseason game since 2021, completing 63.7% of his passes for 6.4 NY/A. He threw a 50-plus yard touchdown in both 2021 and 2022 as well. While Gabbert will be hard to beat, especially since he has been comfortable serving as a backup for several years now, another big game from Buechele could make this story that much more interesting in Week 3.
Patriots-Packers Preseason Player to Watch: Jayden Reed
The Green Bay Packers drafted Jayden Reed in the second round of this year’s draft. While most attention has been focused on second-year receiver Christian Watson, Reed has a shot to break out and lead this team in several receiving categories. Watson, a 6-foot-4 and speedy boundary receiver, lacks the same short-yardage and mid-field skillset that Reed possesses. Reed, a 5-foot-11 receiver out of Michigan State, ran a 4.45-second 40-yard dash and has been primarily working out of the slot in Green Bay. He caught only two passes, his lone two targets, in the team’s beatdown of the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 1, but he was on the field early and drew a target from starting quarterback Jordan Love.
Behind Watson, the Packers lack an established secondary receiving option. Running back Aaron Jones can catch, but he doesn’t often do damage far downfield. Although Romeo Doubs earned a sizeable role on this team last season, the Packers didn’t invest much in acquiring him, so they wouldn’t lose much by turning elsewhere. The same is true of Samori Toure. The Packers are also transitioning at tight end, with both Robert Tonyan and Marcedes Lewis in new places, leaving rookie Luke Musgrave as the likely starter. If Reed can make a splash in Week 2 or 3 of the preseason, expect to see plenty of him on Sundays in September.
Saints-Chargers Preseason Player to Watch: Ellis Merriweather
Don’t worry if you’ve never heard of running back Ellis Merriweather before. He joined the New Orleans Saints this preseason as an undrafted free agent out of UMass, which, you know, doesn’t often produce household names in the NFL. But because the Saints lost Kendre Miller to an injury and won’t have Alvin Kamara for the first three weeks of the regular season, they need some depth at running back, and Merriweather provides just that. Free agent Darrel Williams should also see some action in Week 2 of the preseason, but Merriweather will get more reps than most players in his position dream of getting.
Merriweather is a big, bruising back. He stands 6-foot-2 and weighs 225 pounds. Although the UMass offense was often overmatched, he still picked up 1,828 yards and eight rushing touchdowns on 4.5 yards per carry over three collegiate seasons. The Minutemen also used him as a receiver, and he added 217 receiving yards and a score on 31 receptions. Merriweather actually logged the second-most carries for the Saints in Week 1 with nine, tying him with Jamaal Williams, which he turned into only 24 yards. However, he was targeted three times and picked up 17 yards and a score on two receptions. A big game might help him earn a roster spot — at least until Kamara returns — making him one of the top players to watch in Week 2 of the preseason.
NFL Preseason Week 2 Concluding Thoughts
Meaningless football is better than no football. While football is obviously more fun when there is something on the line, it can also be fun to get invested with the stories of individual players instead of just hoping your team wins, especially with roster cuts looming on the horizon.
Of course, it’s also fun to get some skin in the game. You can find my top bets for Week 2 of the NFL preseason here — I’ve made sure to target at least one game on every day to make sure that you’ve still got time to get your action down no mater how later in the week you found this story.
