2019 Browns Training Camp preview: Special teams

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Photo credit Daryl Ruiter-92.3 The Fan
Berea, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – There is little question that special teams were the Browns’ Achilles heel in 2018, and it cost them between one and four games.
Penalties galore, missed field goals and blocked kicks doomed the unit, ranked by Pro Football Focus as the worst unit in the league, last season.
That’s why new head coach Freddie Kitchens has placed significant importance on improving the unit by allocating time in the middle of practice for new coordinator Mike Priefer, who has established himself as one of the better coordinators of the unit in the NFL, to work.

One of the first changes Priefer plans to implement is that more starters will be used on the kick protect and return units this year. There could be other changes as well with kicker, punter and return duties all up for grabs during camp.

Special Teams snapshot
Key losses: None.
Key additions: K Austin Seibert, P Jamie Gillan
Projected starters: K (TBD), P Britton Colquitt, LS Charley Hughlett, PR Antonio Callaway, KR Dontrell Hilliard
2019 Browns Training Camp preview: Offense
2019 Browns Training Camp preview: Defense

General manager John Dorsey has made driving competition one of his primary tenets and nowhere will that be seen more than on special teams.

Placekicking alone specifically cost the Browns the ability to win their first two games last season – against Pittsburgh in overtime resulting in a tie and at New Orleans that saw them miss four field goals in a 21-18 loss.

Greg Joseph, signed prior to Week Three a year ago, is the incumbent, but he is not a lock to keep the job.

Joseph made 17 of 20 field goals and 25 of 29 PATs in 2018 but he will be pushed by rookie Austin Seibert, who was selected in the fifth round of the 2019 NFL Draft.

Depending how the competition between Joseph and Seibert unfolds over the next few weeks, it is also entirely possible that Dorsey could bring in a kicker after final cuts are made across the league at the end of August.

While veteran Britton Colquitt is the odds-on favorite to continue to handle punting duties, he will be challenged by Jamie Gillan – AKA “The Scottish Hammer” – during camp.

Gillan is learning on the job, especially how to hold on PATs and field goals, and he has his work cut out for him to beat out Colquitt, a 2018 Pro Bowl alternate that tied a franchise record with 32 punts inside the 20 while averaging a gross of 45.4 yards and net of 38.2 yards per punt.

Both have big legs but Colquitt’s experience and understanding of the finer points of the game give him a leg up.

The return game is also getting an overhaul for 2019, and it needs it.

Dontrell Hilliard is currently fourth on the depth chart at running back behind Nick Chubb, Kareem Hunt and Duke Johnson but opportunity knocks depending on how Johnson’s situation plays out and with Hunt suspended for the first eight games of the season.

Hilliard has an opportunity to play his way onto the roster by winning the kick return job.

Last year Hilliard started the season on the practice squad for the first five games before being elevated to the active roster. He averaged 24.0 yards on 11 kick returns with a long of 31 yards and will have ample opportunity to showcase his return abilities during camp.

Although Johnson received reps in the spring in the return game, it appears that Hilliard’s primary competition for the job will be D'Ernest Johnson and Damon Sheehy-Guiseppi.

We’ve penciled in Antonio Callaway, who received return opportunities late last season, for returning punts. Callaway averaged 17.9 yards with a long of 35 on eight kickoff returns and 12.2 yards with a long of 37 yards on five punt returns in 2018 but Priefer will take a look at all of his options during camp.

Added emphasis on the unit aside, some of the most significant competition during camp will come from special teams.