BEREA, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – With Hall of Fame weekend behind us, it was back to Berea as training camp continues.
Sunday’s practice looked for the most part like we felt after a long weekend – tired.
There weren’t many big plays or highlights, but here are our top Brownie Bites from the second session open to fans.
Play of the day – Elijah Moore made the play of the day by high pointing a ball over cornerback Denzel Ward then sliding in for a touchdown up the far sideline in a 1-on-1 drill. Ward had great coverage, but Moore just made a play. The two have had a spirited camp competing against each other.
Another day for the D – The defense won the overall 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 competition Sunday afternoon as the offense failed to get into any rhythm. Deshaun Watson hit Amari Cooper for a 20-plus yard touchdown but overthrew him on at least three other occasions. Whether it was misfires offensively or tight coverage and pass breakups, the advantage went to the defense. “I think guys are picking up the system very well. I think we're right where we need to be,” veteran safety Rodney McLeod said. “Of course camp is about continuing to get better each and every day and guys are obviously locked in and so things are starting to come together. More plays are starting to be made and that has a lot to do with guys now having a more familiarity with the scheme. They're not necessarily thinking about, OK, where do I necessarily have to line up? They're thinking about, OK, what's the offense doing? How do I put myself in position to make plays? And so it's good to see right now at this point in camp.” So far in camp the offense and defense have won various competitive periods and provided strong competition against each other. The lack of day-to-day dominance by either side of the ball appears to be a positive development.
No. 2 – Jerome Ford is poised to take over the No. 2 running back job behind Nick Chubb this season in place of Kareem Hunt, who was not re-signed this offseason. “I think it's big shoes to fill,” Ford said. “Kareem obviously did great for us and he's still a great running back, one of the great running backs [still] in the free agency right now. But yeah, big shoes to fill for sure.” Ford admitted he is anxious for opportunities this year. “Just still learning behind Chubb and when the time comes and if I’m put into the game, I plan on a show for everybody,” Ford said. The 2022 fifth round pick isn’t picky about what he may be asked to do, he just wants to be on the field. “Pretty much whatever the team needs me to be,” Ford said. “If they need me to catch the ball out of the backfield, I can do that. If they need me to run the ball, I can do that, too.”
More Chubb – The expansion of the passing game with Deshaun Watson this year means less reliance on Chubb to carry the load offensively, but Chubb is going to be used plenty. “He's going to be their first, second and third down guy,” running backs coach Stump Mitchell said. “When he's tired or when coach wants to substitute Jerome in, Jerome would go in as that 1, 2, 3 down back.” When asked about using Chubb on third down, head coach Kevin Stefanski wasn’t as definitive as Mitchell. “Nick certainly can do it all. I think he's shown that over the course of his career, he has been out there on third downs for us. We'll work through that. It could be Nick out there, it could be Jerome, could be a variety of different guys, but it's really dependent on the game plan.” Stefanski also pushed back on the thought that a more prolific passing game and less emphasis on the run game would keep Chubb fresher and able to handle any third down assignments. “I wouldn't say it that way, but I just think honestly with Nick, we've talked about this before, he can help you in a variety of ways,” Stefanski said. “I think we've had a good rotation for him at times throughout the last few years. We'll continue to see if that's where we want to go.”
Room to improve – Sure rookie quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson made a favorable first impression in the Hall of Fame Game Thursday night by orchestrating a pair of touchdown drives in the 21-16 win over the Jets, but there’s always room to improve. “I think there were run game checks that he can be better at. There was some past decisions that he can be better at, and it's all things that he's just going to learn from,” Stefanski said. “We talk so often about it's okay to make mistakes, don't make the same mistake twice. He's the type of kid that he'll make a mistake, you'll get it corrected and you don't see that showing up again.”
Making the rounds – Hall of Fame weekend brings the big national personalities to Berea for a visit. NFL Network broadcast from Browns camp. So did Sirius/XM NFL Radio. Peter King stopped by as did super-agent Drew Rosenhaus, who represents multiple Browns players.
Puppy Pound counter – A total of 16 puppies have been adopted this year. Since the program’s launch in 2015, 710 puppies from the Northeast Ohio Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) have been adopted by Browns fans at training camp practices.
Roll call – 10 players worked on the side Sunday: CB Greg Newsome II, LB Anthony Walker Jr., Jakeem Grant Sr., WR Jaelon Darden, WR Marquise Goodwin, LB Matthew Adams, RB John Kelly Jr., LB Sione Takitaki, S Tanner McCallister, and TE Harrison Bryant. DE Myles Garrett, LG Joel Bitonio and TE David Njoku got the day off.
