Carl Nassib and Emmanuel Ogbah picked up where they left off.
The pair of rookies, whom the Browns drafted this past spring to bolster their pass rush, found themselves once again chasing down quarterbacks in a 17-11 preseason loss to Green Bay on Friday night.
And on what was an otherwise up-and-down affair for Cleveland's defense, they caught Hue Jackson's eye.
"Our young players, (Ogbah) and Carl Nassib, both played extremely hard," the Browns coach said. "They got after it the way you like to see young guys perform in the first preseason game."
Indeed, Ogbah and Nassib (who combined for 28 sacks and 36 tackles-for-loss last season) were undaunted in their NFL debut, accounting for a total of nine tackles, two sacks and three tackles-for-loss. They also applied plenty of pressure on backup Packers quarterbacks Joe Callahan and Marquise Williams.
To be sure, both players are still working toward solidifying their spots on the depth chart.
Nassib, the 2015 Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, described his outing against Green Bay as a "learning experience" as he learns the finer points of playing in Ray Horton's 3-4 defense.
"I went into wanting to gain experience and learn stuff and I think I did that today," Nassib said, adding, "I went out and I just tried to do my job every play as hard and fast as I could every time."
Sunday marked Day 12 of Browns Training Camp.
Ogbah, the second-round draft pick whom the Browns recently moved from linebacker to defensive end, is still learning the ins and outs of his new role and what it takes to compete at this level.
"The fun part about watching him is he got tired at one time," Jackson said of Friday's game. "I could tell he was very tired, and the next thing he is chasing the quarterback toward the sideline and getting him down. That's impressive to me. That's the way you have to play."
Jackson added: "That's going to be Cleveland Browns football here in the near future. We all have to play that way. It's going to be rough, tough, tired, hot, whatever all that is. He has got a find a way to go make a play and that's what he did."
That's encouraging for a Browns roster filled with new and young faces. And neither Ogbah nor Nassib appear to be slowing down.
"We were both drafted for a reason," Ogbah said. "We were both drafted to come here and change the program."
