WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, West Virginia (92.3 The Fan) – Deshaun Watson and Myles Garrett held court Friday afternoon following practice.
Both were their usual quotable selves.
Here’s the top Brownie Bites from Day 2 at The Greenbrier for training camp.
Forward focus – Let’s start with Watson, who is coming off surgery to repair a broken glenoid bone in his right throwing shoulder that limited him to just six games. “He feels that he's ready to go,” Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski said prior to practice. “Again, we'll be smart with all of our guys, especially your quarterback. We will be smart with what we ask him to do and as we bring him along, if you will, but he's very excited and feels good.” Watson has played 12 games in two seasons with the Browns. He last played a full season in 2020, so what is different for him as he prepares for this season? “I think honestly it's really just blocking out all the bull****,” Watson said. “Honestly outside it was tough coming in two years, different environment, different team, different, all that. So you come in and your character's been mentioned this way and then it kind of flip on you and you're trying to, the biggest thing, you're trying to get people to like you, but now it's like at the end of the day it's two years in and if you don't like me or you have your own opinions, then forget it. It is what it is. So I think blocking out all the noise and focusing on me and focusing on what I need to do to be the best Sean Watson I can be for myself, my family and my teammates.” Now healthy, all eyes are on Watson to carry the Browns.
Bloodbath of the AFC – The Browns 2024 schedule is daunting, if not unforgiving. “It's a slaughterhouse over in the AFC, but guys who come out of it are usually the top dog in the NFL,” defensive end Myles Garrett said. “So we look forward to it, especially in our division and we know that it's going to be gritty, grimy, it's going to be tough every AFC North game…We look forward to those every single time. So whether it's the Dolphins or it's the Chiefs, it's the Bills, Ravens – all them. We look forward to those guys and we look forward to making a statement every time we step on the field with great teams like that.” Watson will be matched up with the likes of Dak Prescott, Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow and Tua Tagovailoa to name a few. “That's what the NFL is about is being able to compete with the best and be able to show what you got,” Watson said. “And it's a great opportunity for not just me but this team to go against the best quarterbacks against lead and each and every week we got the opportunity. So it's definitely going to be some fun games and hopefully some shootouts and yeah, the job is to make sure we outs score the other opponent.”
Field work – Friday saw the first 11-on-11 session of camp – offense vs. defense. Watson’s throws looked crisp and had plenty of velocity on them. A couple of times Stefanski stepped in to remind players to calm down and not get too overly competitive against their teammates, We also watched Bubba Ventrone work with Mike Vrabel and the special teams unit on returns. As promised, plenty of skill guys are getting reps as kickoff returners. A total of seven different combinations were employed by Ventrone.
Hit the ground running – Nick Chubb ran multiple rounds of sprints with two members of the team’s staff looking on, and owner Jimmy Haslam. Chubb, who is on active/PUPO to open camp, has been working the last two days on the side early in practice which is a fantastic sign. “He's progressing exactly where he should be,” Stefanski said. “You know Nick. I know Nick. I mean he's pushing it. He's doing everything that they're asking him to do and as much as he can do more than that within reason and within what the medical side wants him to do, but it's good to have him out here, period. We always love when Nick's out there at practice. He's somebody that even when he's not in the given play, he can make a big impact on it, but I wouldn't say him being out there is an indication of when he's back.”
Roll Call – RB Nyheim Hines (NFI-knee), CB Greg Newsome II (NFI-hamstring), S D’Anthony Bell (PUP-shin), RB Nick Chubb (PUP-knee), T Jack Conklin (PUP-knee), DT Dalvin Tomlinson (PUP-knee), T Jedrick Wills Jr. (PUP-knee), RB Jerome Ford (personal-excused), CB Cameron Mitchell (right leg), TE David Njoku (undisclosed), WR Jerry Jeudy (undisclosed) and DE Myles Garrett (hamstring) did not practice. Chubb, Hines, Garrett, Jeudy, Mitchell, Bell and Njoku worked on the side.
