It briefly escalated as tight end Orson Charles jumped into the fray before order was restored.
“It is camp,” defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobi said after practice. “Emotions flare. Sometimes as competitors, we get to this level where we want to compete, compete, compete. You are always at that line. You know you do not want to go over the edge, though. Sometimes it happens. As teammates, you just have to pick your brother up and tell them, ‘Come on, and let’s go.’”
Defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson also tried not to make too much of the dustup between Thomas, Browns and eventually Charles.
“It is training camp man,” Richardson said. “Tempers get hot a little bit. Guys are just trying to compete and make the team and have a spot. It happens. I have been in a few of them, even in real games. It happens.”
Linebacker Christian Kirksey pulled Tomas away and calmed the second-year player down.
Although it is the heat of camp and competition, head coach Freddie Kitchens was having none of it and he stopped practice to make the entire team run gassers, to the displeasure of a few, including Myles Garrett.
“We just do not practice penalties,” Kitchens said. “Like I told you guys the other day, there are consequences. If you do something wrong in life, there are consequences. If we do something wrong on the field, there are consequences because we do not practice penalties. That is it.”
While running the gassers a fan got on Thomas for not hustling and Thomas responded by flashing a middle finger.
Kitchens plans to keep any conversations and or discipline as a result of the incident in-house.
“If I have talked to him about it, that is going to stay between us,” Kitchens said. “Of course, Chad Thomas as you guys see, he is very emotional, a passionate guy. I want those guys to play with passion, but he is also a young guy so he has to understand and develop a sense of when to move on. I think he will learn. That is a great learning experience for Chad.”
Thomas, a 2018 third-round draft pick, remains down the depth chart but Kitchens see him as a player on the rise.
“Chad has shown us is he is willing to play with passion, he is willing to play with technique and he is willing to play with a high motor,” Kitchens said. “Those are all things that we like.”
“Pat him on the butt and ‘get the next one’,” Kitchens said.
Greg Joseph made all four of his kicks.
Both kickers missed from long range when put in a game-winning drive kick for the game-winner situation. Joseph was wide left from about 45 and Seibert’s boot from around 51 didn’t appear to come within the same area code as the uprights.
“That was a two-minute drive – to win the game,” Kitchens said.
Joseph is 8-9 and Seibert 4-9 on kicks during team drills this camp.
“Listen, when you are a kicker, you better have a short memory,” Kitchens said. “When you are a quarterback, you better have a short memory. When you are a defensive tackle, you better have a short memory. When you are a tight end, you better have short memory. If you are playing for us, all of them, all of the positions [need to have a short memory] because we are going to play the next play, and that is all that matters.
“I am not concerned about that kick. I am worried about the one tomorrow.”