BEREA, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – If anyone has the book on defending baker Mayfield it’s Browns defensive coordinator Joe Woods.
Woods got an up-close look at Mayfield the last two seasons daily in practice but he won’t spend too much time this week preparing his players by watching Browns tape with them.
“Definitely feel familiar with what he has done when he was here, but really try to focus on what he is doing in Carolina because it is different scheme they are going to try to use with him,” Woods said Thursday.
“I know that we all know Baker – he was here for a long time – but we really treat him like any other quarterback week to week. We were not talking about him any different way making it more than it is because they have different players. They have good receivers. They have a good running back.
They are talented so we have to worry about trying to stop everything that they do, and he is just a part of it.”
Although Woods doesn’t spend much time evaluating quarterbacks because his focus is on his defensive unit, he hasn’t noticed a different player in Carolina than the on who was in Cleveland for four years.
“He looks like the same guy,” Woods said. “We know he has the arm strength, and he can make all of the throws. We know he has escape-ability in the pocket – you have seen that in the preseason. We know that he can read defenses. Those are the things that we are familiar with him being here, and those are things that have shown up with him in the preseason.”
Captain Baker – The Panthers named their team captains Thursday, a day after the Browns did.
Mayfield is among eight of them.
Joining Mayfield with getting ‘C’ patches in Charlotte, Brian Burns, JJ Jansen, Donte Jackson, Taylor Moton, Shaq Thompson, and Christian McCaffrey.
Alpha dogs – Woods is continuing the Alpha Dog competition into the regular season.
“I always preach to make everything game-like,” Woods said. “What we do is monotonous. You go out there and do it over and over again. Boredom creeps in. Always just trying to press those guys to treat every practice like a game. That is kind of how the Alpha Dawg came about.”
Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah won the training camp competition while Team Johnson, which Owusu-Koramoah was a member, was the top team.
“They were loaded,” Woods said.
Undrafted free agent D’Anthony Bell, who earned one if the final roster spots, was the top bone collector for takeaways during camp and the preseason.
Big returns – Running back/receiver Demetric Felton will handle kickoff and punt returns special teams coordinator Mike Priefer said Thursday.
Running back D'Ernest Johnson will back him up on kickoffs and Donovan Peoples-Jones will be the No. 2 in line on punts.
Priefer admitted losing Jakeem Grant to an Achilles tear early in camp was a big blow.
“Obviously that stung us a little bit,” Priefer said. “We were going to rely on him a lot on kickoff and punt. Injuries are a part of football unfortunately. They are an unfortunate part of football. In his case, I think he would have transcended our return game. I really do. I think we will be OK.”
Up to speed – Jesse James arrived Monday morning in time for practice and he’ll likely be on the field Sunday at Carolina as the No. 3 tight end behind David Njoku and Harrison Bryant.
“The good thing about Jesse is he has played a lot of football in the league, made a lot of plays in the league and caught a lot of touchdowns,” offensive coordinator Alex van Pelt said. “He has been productive. The other thing is he is a smart guy so as soon as he comes in, already you can tell he is going to be able to have a feel for what we are trying to do.
“May not use him a ton, but he will definitely be available. Feel good about him knowing what to do and how to do it.”
Middle man – Assuming right tackle Jack Conklin is good to go Sunday, center Ethan Pocic is the lone addition to the offensive line this year.
“I’m always learning, always competing and just having fun,” Pocic told 92.3 The Fan. “We’ve got a great room and I believe iron sharpens iron so we’ve got a great room and it’s really fun to play here.”
Joel Bitonio, tied with long snapper Charley Hughlett as the longest tenured Browns, expects the line to be the foundation offensively.
“Obviously, Po's new, but the rest of the guys are there and we've had Coach Callahan here and Coach Peters going on three years now and I feel good,” Bitonio said. “I feel like we're refining techniques, I feel like we're really understanding the offense and how we work together.
“I think our offensive line hopefully can be part of our identity of the team, is the offensive line, the running game, play action, when we're rolling it usually looks pretty good.”
Stream away – The NFL’s modified media rights agreements are a big win for local mobile device users.
Users that stream audio on their smartphones within 100 miles of FirstEnergy Stadium can now listen to Browns games on their mobile devices through the Audacy app along with NFL games carried by 92.3 The Fan through Westwood One.
Sports Radio 92.3 The Fan and 98.5 WNCX Cleveland’s Classic Rock are the radio home of the Cleveland Browns and the University Hospitals Cleveland Browns Radio Network.
Injury report – DNP: CB Greedy Williams (hamstring); LIMITED: RT Jack Conklin (knee), S Grant Delpit (hip), WR Michael Woods II (hamstring); FULL: DE Jadeveon Clowney (illness/elbow), DE Chase Winovich (hamstring), CB AJ Green (hip), S Ronnie Harrison Jr. (hamstring), OT Chris Hubbard (elbow), DE Isaiah Thomas (hand)
Up next – Practice Friday.