BEREA, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – Back from West Virginia, the Browns were home for the first open practice with the stands full of fans.
Quarterback Kellen Mond will start Thursday nights Hall of Fame Game and rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson will play the second half according to head coach Kevin Stefanski, who plans to not play most starters and key players against the Jets.
“There’ll be some players that have played a lot for us playing in this game because it’s a great opportunity,” Stefanski said. “We get to play in this game, that’s our mentality. So we're excited to go up against the Jets on Thursday night and coach [Robert] Saleh. I think it’ll be a great night for our organization and honoring Joe [Thomas], but we’re excited about that opportunity.”
Here’s our Top Brownie Bites from Tuesday.
Cedric Tillman made the catch of camp during a two-minute drill late in practice that saw the rookie receiver lay out on the near sideline to haul in a pass from Kellen Mond for a big gain with 5 seconds left to set up a tying 33-yard field goal.
During the first 11-on-11 session, the defense continued to make their presence felt. Defensive tackle Dalvin Tomlinson and defensive end Obo Okoronkwo batted down Deshaun Watson passes at the line during 11 on 11 early in practice. Cornerback Cameron Mitchell stepped in front of receiver Amari Cooper to steal a Watson pass out of the air and return it for a pick-6. “We’re going to try to lead the league in effort,” defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz said. “We’re going to try to lead the league in passion for the game and things like that. And that doesn’t just happen on Sunday, you got to practice it. And I think the guys have responded well to that message.”
Four-time Pro Bowl defensive end Myles Garrett continues to just abuse left tackle Jedrick Wills. Garrett could’ve had at least five sacks during team drills working against Wills.
The creativity in utilizing receiver Elijah Moore continues to reveal itself during practices, especially coming out of the backfield. Offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt wasn’t shy about Moore’s skillset. “His ability to one, carry the ball and then run routes out of that backfield, you know,” Van Pelt said. “If they want to leave a linebacker in the game and try to match up with that, obviously the advantage would go to him. But he does a lot of good things out of the backfield. We had Randall Cobb in Green Bay and he was in the backfield a lot as a ball carrier, as a bubble catcher – all the things you can do free release and motion them out and create empties. So, he has that versatility where you can hand him the ball as well.”
Kicker Cade York went 8-8 during team kicks Tuesday. York made all five, including a long of 53, during a special teams period to begin practice and then he made all three game-tying kicks from 44, 33 and 41 yards to cap three two-minute drill series late in practice. “I think he’ll take big steps. I really do,” special teams coordinator Bubba Ventrone said. “He’s done a good job of keeping everything simple. There hasn’t been a lot of variation in his mechanics. He’s not overthinking. There’s been a lot of consistency with the operation, the snap and the hold. So that's been a big positive. He’s had great results in the spring and then now into training camp, everything’s been positive, really good. I’m excited for him.”
With Jakeem Grant still works his way back, Demetric Felton continues to take the primary return reps. “He looks really good,” Ventrone said of Grant. “At some point we’ll get him going in team drills and into games. We still have to have a discussion on who’s going to go in this game, but he’s worked extremely hard to get back to this point. Obviously he’s done this before, so he’s got a little bit of experience and understands his body and what he needs to do to be effective.” Ventrone, who has made it a habit of running down with his players during special teams drills, will have to take it easy. “I just found out I have a stress reaction in my foot, and I won’t be running for a month, but I’ll be back,” Ventrone said. “But I love running down. It gives me, I’m looking at certain things whenever I’m running behind a kickoff team, and I enjoy doing that. I’m always going to be an active coach like that. I enjoy working out and things like that on the side too. So that’s why I got that stress reaction. It is what it is. Thankfully it’s not broke.”
Polls are open – The Browns once again are using a fan vote to determine what midfield will look like this season. This year’s options are the original Brownie, which was selected last year, the new dog logo, traditional orange helmet or no logo and just the orange-brown-white-brown-orange stripe for the 50.
Roll call – WR Jaelen Darden, WR Marquise Goodwin, TE Jordan Akins, TE Harrison Bryant and DT Trysten Hill worked on the side. CB Greg Newsome II left practice early.
Puppy Pound counter – A total of 10 puppies were adopted Tuesday at the Browns Puppy Pound, presented by Sugardale. Since the program’s launch in 2015, 704 puppies from the Northeast Ohio Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) have been adopted by Browns fans at training camp practices.
