CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – No. 88 has been hard to miss during training camp this year.
Tuesday morning Harrison Bryant was named the Maurice Bassett Award winner for 2020.
Named in 1985 in honor of running back Maurice Bassett, who played for the Browns from 1954-56, the award is given to the Browns’ most outstanding rookie in training camp as voted by local writers.
“Obviously it’s nice to see your work be noticed, but it’s practice and my goal was to come out and show what I can do, do whatever I can to make the team and help the team win,” Bryant said. “I think I’ve done that so far and I’m just looking to continue to improve every day.
“Whenever I get my opportunities whether its through the rest of camp or the season, [my goal] is to go out and produce.”
The fourth-round pick, listed at 6-5 and 240, has produced regardless of who is throwing him the football or who he’s been called upon to block.
“Harrison’s done a nice job,” Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski said. “To his credit, he really, really is a diligent worker, a student of this game. We’ve moved him around the formation, moved him to different positions and he hasn’t missed a beat.
“[I’m] Pleased with where he is and congrats to him on that award.”
Sigh of relief – Mack Wilson said on social media he would not need surgery after suffering a hyperextended left knee during practice on Aug. 18.
“I can confirm that, he’s not going to get surgery,” Stefanski said Tuesday.
“With all of our guys, you hate to see any of them go out.
You hope it’s good news when they do go out… This is a good development for Mack.”
Wilson sought a second opinion and the news was much better. He’ll require four to six weeks to recover.
To do list – The clock is ticking, but the regular season is approaching faster than a freight train rolling downhill for Stefanski and the Browns.
Following Tuesday afternoon’s session, just three practices remain to evaluate the back end of the roster before cuts and they have to turn their focus to the Ravens.
“We wrapped up install last week, so now we’re really streamlining our systems on offense, defense and special teams,” Stefanski said. “I think now that we’re a month into it we have a pretty good handle at what our players are good at, what they can handle, so we’ll – on offense, defense and special teams – start implementing some schemes that we think could be good for us in the first couple weeks of the season.”
The roster must be trimmed to 53 on Saturday.
Uphill climb – Undrafted free agents face an uphill climb as it is to make NFL rosters.
This year, they’re even more long shots than they normally would be with no preseason games to audition for jobs.
“We do miss those games from an evaluation standpoint,” Stefanski said, “but, it’s our job to evaluate them during individual period, in 7-on-7 and tam periods. We feel pretty confident that we’re getting a good evaluation on all o these young guys, but they are at a disadvantage without those games.”
Day-to-day – Stefanski continues to avoid injury news or updates but he maintains that cornerback Greedy Williams is day-to-day with to a shoulder injury.
Williams has been sidelined since leaving the field on Aug. 21.