That’s not to say that Kush is a lock to win the job just yet.
Head coach Freddie Kitchens won’t even say Kush is leading the competition with Corbett despite spending the last week at the position.
“I don’t think so. No,” Kitchens said.
With Kyle Kalis down with a concussion, it appears to be a two man race between Kush and Corbett.
“That's the thing about football and the NFL, there's so much competition,” Kush said. “You've got to do one thing better every day or you slide right out of the league. Competition's a great thing to bring the best out of everybody.”
Kush played 21 snaps at right guard against Washington, but Kitchens didn’t sound overly impressed with his performance.
“He was up and down. He had some good plays and had some bad plays,” Kitchens said. “We are trying to eliminate the bad ones and add to the good ones. We will see. It is a never-ending process.”
Corbett played 67 snaps and finished the game at center, an ominous sign.
“I don’t worry about what’s going to happen, what’s going to shake out,” Kush said. “I just do the best I can and focus on myself and improve something in my game every day. I’m going to let the cards fall hall they fall. I’m going to have the best time of my life doing this sort for the short time we get to do it and I’m going to have a blast here in Cleveland.”
Thursday night Hilliard caught three passes for 34 yards and ran nine times for 19 yards against Washington. He also had a fumble inside the two and a holding penalty at the end of the first half pushed the Browns out of field goal range.
Kitchens is high on the back’s potential.
“Dontrell has shown some explosion in the open field. He is hard to get down. He can make you miss,” Kitchens said. “He is shifty, great body control. Body control is a characteristic or a skillset that running backs sometimes often get overlooked. Body control means that they can get knocked off balance and stay on their feet. He has great body control, change of direction and great speed. I like those skillsets. He can catch the ball.”
“We have a box full of coaches, but I only let one of them speak so they kind of get their thoughts together and then one of them speaks,” Kitchens said. “I am not going to tell you who that is because I want to save them from any critiquing later. It will be my fault. You are not going to find out who he is.”
Thursday night Kitchens lost a challenge of an incomplete pass to Antonio Callaway that saw the receiver almost make a touchdown catch off a deflected throw by Drew Stanton on his knees while falling out of the end zone.
“Would you have challenged it? Every time, right? I would have, too,” Kitchens said.
Hunt, who missed the first eight practices of camp before returning to the field last Saturday, did not play in Thursday night’s preseason win over Washington.
Linebacker Joe Schobert made an acrobatic interception of a Baker Mayfield pass to the endzone. Schobert deflected the ball in the air before diving to make the pick.