Seahawks Mike Macdonald Announced Decision For Starters Against Browns

The Cleveland Browns and Seattle Seahawks will meet for a preseason showdown at 10 p.m. on Saturday night

Oct 29, 2023; Seattle, Washington, USA; Cleveland Browns running back Pierre Strong Jr. (20) carries the ball against the Seattle Seahawks at Lumen Field. Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-USA TODAY Sports / Steven Bisig-USA TODAY Sports

Cleveland Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski revealed his plans to play his starters for their preseason finale with the Seahawks this week. Now Seattle's head man Mike Macdonald announced followed suit.

The first year head coach of the Seahawks announced that most of his starters will open up the game on Saturday, including quarterback Geno Smith. How long Smith and others play is a case-to-case situation according to Macdonald.

As expected, coach Mike Macdonald says #Seahawks starters on offense and defense, including Geno Smith, will play in preseason finale Saturday vs Browns starters at Lumen Field. pic.twitter.com/O8ZyGVkdub

— Gregg Bell (@gbellseattle) August 22, 2024

"You'll see a lot of starters to star the game," Macdonald said. "How many reps and all that, it's kind of on a per-person type basis but the plan is to see a good amount of the guys. We've got a couple nicks and bruises here, we'll hold some guys out so there's some guys you might not see that you might expect. But for the most part most of the starters will start the game."

Macdonald went on to explain some of the motivations behind playing the starters against Cleveland, including trying to get some valuable reps for his offensive guys in particular. He believes experience that a game day like setting in their home stadium will be valuable for his players before the start of the season.

My notes from what's technically the final day of #Browns training camp. https://t.co/Yl80Z73A5x

— 𝚂𝚙𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚛 𝙶𝚎𝚛𝚖𝚊𝚗 (@Spencito_) August 22, 2024

Stefanski has cited similar motivations, emphasizing his players going through the operation of things on both sides of the ball. That said, Macdonald was ready to reveal that his quarterback will start the game, a decision Stefanski has spent the week weighing amidst an ongoing epidemic of injuries at left tackle and arm soreness from Deshaun Watson.

The Browns head man initially said Watson would play last week but has since walked that back. On Wednesday he took minimal reps at practice due to that soreness. He reportedly was back to a normal workload during the team's closed practice on Thursday.