BEREA, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – John Johnson III was all smiles Thursday morning.
Entering his second season with the Browns, Johnson has a much different feel about his second training camp in Cleveland.
“It’s a lot different, like the vibe is way better,” Johnson said prior to Thursday’s second practice of camp. “I don’t know if it’s just me, but everyone feels that same vibe – like we got a lot of guys back, that continuity is huge, especially on defense, so it’s fun and we’re enjoying it.”
That vibe was missing last year for Johnson and many of his teammates, and at times it showed on the field.
This offseason, head coach Kevin Stefanski made team bonding a priority from putting his basketball hoop out on the patio and field for players to play knockout or H-O-R-S-E to taking them to the Hall of Fame in Canton for minicamp or the Cavs practice facility in Independence for OTAs.
The early returns on Stefanski’s efforts have been nothing short of positive and with the end of COVID-related protocols, Stefanski expects they’ll continue to build upon the camaraderie established during the offseason program.
“I think a lot of it is organic, and it is so much easier when you are standing next to somebody,” Stefanski said. “In our locker room [with COVID-19 protocols], if you remember, we had the plastic up and it was every two lockers were empty. Now, everybody is next to each other. We are walking out to the practice field together. They can ride over together if they want to. They can go break bread together. I think so much of that happens organically.”
It’s hard not to feel optimistic and excited as the Browns return the vast majority of their secondary with Johnson, Grant Delpit and Ronnie Harrison Jr. comprising Woods’ favorite trio of safeties with Denzel Ward, Greg Newsome II and Greedy Williams holding things down on the outside and slot.
With all eyes focused on 2022, Johnson hopes and expect he and his defensive teammates will be able to pick up where they left off last season.
“Towards the end of last year, we were like really rolling,” Johnson said. “It was kind of natural. At the beginning of the year we were kind of thinking a lot, we’re trying to get adjusted but even now it just feels natural. We don’t even have to say anything to each other, we just look and that’s the definition of a good defense, a good secondary from what I’ve learned.”
The ability to effectively communicate is critical for secondaries.
“There is a lot of communication that occurs in the back-end,” Stefanski said. “Often times, it is nonverbal communication. You are signaling to each other. You are watching a guy’s demeanor to understand what he is doing. You are making adjustments based on the formation, based on stacks, based on bunches and those type of things. Anytime you have the same group together, communication does become easier. Not to say that you do not work at it, but I think continuity allows that communication to be more seamless and maybe move a little bit faster.”
In 15 games last season, all starts, Johnson tallied three interceptions, five pass breakups, a forced fumble, tackle for loss, half a sack and a pair of QB hits.
Last season injuries and COVID forced defensive coordinator Joe Woods to employ a variety of combinations in the secondary. While at the time it may have presented challenges, this year Johnson believes they’ll reap the benefits.
“The AFC is stacked, so it’s hard to make it through a whole season [healthy],” Johnson said. “There’s going to be different combinations, but that’s why we work so hard now to train everyone to be ready to play at any given moment.
“We’re calloused. I think we built those little scars, but we healed up from them and now we can put our foot [on] the gas and get things going.”
So what will it take for the Browns defense to play a full 17 games at the level they played the second half of 2021 at?
“I think it’s consistency,” Johnson said. “That’s like the truest measure of success in all walks of life in any type of business, consistency. We can’t start slow, we’ve got to finish strong, we’ve got to go 17 games strong of just pure, good defense, not giving up big plays. I think that’s what’s really going to take us to the next level.”