Green Bay Packers vs Cleveland Browns Prediction NFL Picks 8/10/24

The Green Bay Packers and the Cleveland Browns meet in week 1 NFL Preseason action from Cleveland Browns Stadium on Saturday afternoon. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best bets for this game. Here’s a Green Bay Packers vs. Cleveland Browns prediction.

Green Bay Packers Recap

The Green Bay Packers come into the 2024 season looking to take the next step after finishing 9-8 last year, which was solid considering their 3-6 start to the year, and the 9-8 mark was enough for the Packers to make the playoffs. Green Bay pulled off one of the more surprising results by taking down Dallas 48-32 in the Wild Card round before losing in the divisional round to the 49ers 24-21. Jordan Love is back under center with a shiny new contract extension that makes him one of the highest-paid QBs in the league and he’s expected to be more consistent this year with a lot of his targets returning. Names like Christian Watson, Romeo Doubs, Jayden Reed and Dontayvion Wicks along with Tucker Kraft and Luke Musgrave at tight end. The Pack made a splash in free agency by replacing the departed Aaron Jones with Josh Jacobs, who has shown an ability to be more trustworthy and less injury-prone. On defense, the Packers signed Xavier McKinney to fill a void left in the secondary by Darnell Savage, while also selecting Edgerring Cooper and Ty’Ron Hopper to lineup alongside Quay Walker at linebacker to replace the departed De’Vondre Campbell. The front line is pretty much back, with Rashan Gary and Preston Smith returning after combining for 17 sacks and Lukas Van Ness had a solid rookie campaign and will try to build on it going forward. Kenny Clark also had 7.5 sacks last season and is expected to hold down a spot up front as well in 2024.

Cleveland Browns Recap

The Cleveland Browns come into this one looking to keep pushing forward in 2024 after going 11-6 and posting their first playoff berth since 2020. The stay in the postseason was short-lived though, as the Browns were dismantled by Houston 45-14 in the wild card round. 2023 was a cluster for the Browns to try to get through, starting with Deshaun Watson under center and ending with Joe Flacco of all people. Flacco’s gone, but Jameis Winston comes in to wait in the wings if Watson were to get hurt again. The waiting game is on for the Browns to see if and when Nick Chubb will come back as it looks like it could be a while before Chubb is back to avoid rushing him back too soon. The Browns did pick up Nyheim Hines and D’Onta Foreman to back up Jerome Ford in the meantime and Jerry Jeudy was brought in to try to add depth to Cleveland’s receiving room which already features the likes of Amari Cooper and David Njoku. On defense, Myles Garrett is back to lead one of the best defensive units in the NFL, after logging 14 sacks last season while Za’Darius Smith added five sacks on the other side. Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah anchors the linebacking group again and the Browns retained a lot of their strong secondary, led by Denzel Ward and Greg Newsome.