CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – Kevin Stefanski isn’t one for speeches.
Sunday afternoon he made an exception for friend, mentor, and Hall of Fame head coach Tony Dungy.
“He’s a special, special person,” Stefanski said following practice. “He was up front, he made sure the guys knew he’s a Steeler, we get that, but he’s an ambassador for football. I just think he’s an important figure in our game and I really couldn’t be more humbled to have him out here talking to the team.”
Stefanski met Dungy through Leslie Frazier early in his coaching career and they two formed a friendship over the years.
“He has been very supportive of me, and we have stayed in touch,” Stefanski said. “I made sure if he was in town for the [Hall of Fame] festivities down there [in Canton], I wanted him to come over and visit the team. I got to spend some time with him before practice and then he shared some words with the team. It was outstanding.”
Dungy took time to meet a few players individually before practice, including quarterback Baker Mayfield, and he addressed the entire team following their Orange and Brown practice at FirstEnergy Stadium.
“His message to the team after is ‘It’s not about talent, it’s not about bringing extra guys in, it’s about not being outworked and doing your job and doing it at a very, very high level,’” Mayfield said. “It’s just a great message from somebody like that who’s done it before.”
Including playoffs, Dungy went 148-79-0 as head coach. He led the Indianapolis Colts to a 29-17 win over the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XLI and was also a member of the Steelers’ Super Bowl XIII title team in 1979.
“I have a tremendous amount of respect for him,” Mayfield said. “Everything you hear about him, he’s an unbelievable person, obviously a great coach in the Hall of Fame. But just the type of guy he is, you can just feel that energy off him.”
Now to the proceedings on the lakefront.
Big plays of the day – Mayfield’s first pass of the afternoon in 11-on-11 went to camp MVP in the making Donovan Peoples-Jones and the sophomore receiver delivered another big gain over the middle. We’ll limit our yardage estimates because the hitting was rare and no tackling allowed. Another day and No. 11 showed up, again.
Safety John Johnson III blew up what appeared to be a flea flicker in the making after a Mayfield to Kareem Hunt exchange that saw the veteran defender end up in the backfield quickly. Hunt kept the football instead of tossing it back to Mayfield, which was probably a smart choice.
Hunt had a long run off the left side as well that may have gone for a touchdown. He celebrated like he scored, but with live play could’ve also been stopped near the line of scrimmage. We’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and credit for the strong effort.
After the first-team offense struggled to do anything in their final two series, practice ended on a Case Keenum touchdown toss to tight end David Njoku on a fade to cap an end-of-game situation.
Time to celebrate – Offensive players had plenty of opportunities to work on their touchdown celebrations Sunday afternoon in front of the energized crowd.
Njoku and Mayfield assisted with camera help on the ‘Red Carpet’ walk for Rashard Higgins, who made a diving grab of a Keenum toss in the end zone in a 7-on-7 drill, beating cornerback Greedy Williams.
Njoku brought out the ‘Chief slam’ after catching a 30-yard score in front of the goal line from Mayfield.
Receiver KhaDarel Hodge strummed his air guitar after taking a swing pass from Mayfield 24 yards up the near sideline for a TD.
Meanwhile, Nick Chubb just politely dropped the football after scoring.
Kicker watch 2021 – The kicker battle moved to the lakefront Sunday, except they kicked towards the west uprights instead of into the temperamental Dawg Pound.
The incumbent, Cody Parkey, went 3-4 – hitting from 40, 43 and 45 but he missed from 49. Chase McLaughlin was perfect from 40, 43, 46 and 49.
Pre-practice welcome – Prior to practice getting underway, Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski was handed a microphone where he spoke to the estimated crowd of 27,000.
“It is great to have you back in our house,” Stefanski said. “Great to see all the families, all the kids out here today. Thank you for being here. We're going to get to work here in a second.”
Stefanski then joked fans would rather hear from Mayfield so he kept his remarks brief and handed the mic off to his QB.
“It is great to see everybody here. I don't know anybody else in the country that would have this many fans here for a practice, so we appreciate you guys more than you know,” Mayfield said. “We've been working. We've got a new team, we're ready to roll. We're setting a new standard and these guys are ready to rock for you guys. We're in this together, Cleveland.”
Rain delay – Practice was delayed 44 minutes by a thunderstorm that rolled through downtown Sunday morning.
Injury report – S Grant Delpit (hamstring), Tony Fields II (foot), S Ronnie Harrison Jr. (hamstring), WR Alexander Hollins (hamstring), LB Montrel Meander (hamstring), S Sheldrick Redwine (ankle), WR Anthony Schwartz (hamstring) and LB Anthony Walker Jr. (knee) did not practice due to injury. DL Malik McDowell (oblique) left practice early.
Up next – Players are off Monday; training camp resumes Tuesday afternoon at 2:25 in Berea.
