CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – Following Thursday night’s 18-18 tie with the Eagles, all the attention is on kicker Cade York.
While fans and media are up in arms about York, Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski, as expected, maintained his public support of York.
Here’s our top Brownie Bites with York taking up most of the conversation:
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There is no additional kicker coming to the Browns according to Stefanski. “That’s just our decision,” Stefanski said Friday afternoon. “Obviously, Cade’s our kicker. We support him. We have a ton of confidence in him. That’s really as simple as that.” After making his first three kicks – two from 43 and another from 37, York pushed a 47-yard try wide right then a 41-yarder after a penalty on the Eagles gave him a second shot wide left. Stefanski downplayed the misses. “I just think now’s the time to work on our craft,” Stefanski said. “And obviously, kickers want to make every kick. We want Cade to make every kick. You just got to continue to work through it. I mean, it’s really as simple as that. The kid works very hard. He’ll continue to do that.” The public support of York, who has now missed three field goals this preseason – last night only counts as one miss in the box score due to the penalty, continues. “With any young player, certainly you’ve seen it with kickers, you do go through a tough period here or there,” Stefanski said. “I have a ton of confidence in Cade because I’ve seen him do it in practice, I’ve seen him do it in games. So he’ll continue to work. But I really feel it's no different than any other player that they got to work on their craft, and now’s the time to do that. Obviously, Cade wants to make every kick. We want him to make every kick. It’s an occupational hazard that you're going to miss one. It’s just how you deal with it and how you bounce back from it." York has been perfect in practice but has struggled in preseason games raising the question if his mechanics are off in game situations. “I mean, obviously there shouldn’t be,” Stefanski said. “That’s part of taking the practice field to the game field, like we talk about with all of our players. But you got to look at everything. You got to look at the procedure, you have to look at your technique. And we’ll continue to do that.” At halftime, the Browns’ post on York’s three makes were added to York’s official Instagram account story but Stefanski made it clear York did not repost the content himself, but it will still be addressed with York. “They're not allowed to be - none of us players, coaches, we're not allowed to be on our phones once kickoff hits,” Stefanski said.
Now to the fun stuff.
Receiver Austin Watkins Jr., added at the outset of training camp, has been incredible during camp and this preseason. “The tape is your resume,” Stefanski said. “So I think for all of our players, you want to go out and be very productive in practice, be very productive in these games. Austin obviously had a big night last night and continues to do a good job for us. All the rest of it, how that sorts out, that’s why we have camp. That’s why we have another preseason game. But excited about what he's able to do.” Friday night Watkins led the team with seven catches for 139 yards, including a touchdown bolstering his chances to make the team.
Linebacker Mohamoud Diabate is also making his case to make the team. Friday night he tallied a safety, forced a fumble, had seven tackles – one for loss and a special teams tackle too. “I thought Mohamoud acquitted himself very well,” Stefanski said. “Like we talked about, he's a very active player, sideline to sideline. You love ball aware players. You love guys that can knock the ball out, and he certainly did that. He’s really taken practice field to game field. But like you mentioned, this is the part of training camp and the part of our business where we continue to get young players reps and ultimately make really tough decisions later on. But for us right now, really, the focus is on just continuing to get better. We're very much in training camp mode still."
It’s easy to get excited by big performances in the preseason, but how does that weigh into the final roster decision-making process? “You have to take everything into account. It’s really a global evaluation,” Stefanski said. “It’s how they are in our meeting rooms. It’s how they are in the weight room. It’s what they do in the practice field, and certainly in the game field. I mean, the lights are on, and that’s a great opportunity to see the guys in that setting. Having said that, you really do have to take everything into account. Think about a defensive end rushing against a tackle. What’s the talent difference between those two guys as you make your evaluation? So that's really something that we’re constantly looking at.”
Injury report – Right tackle Jack Conklin remains in the concussion protocol. Cornerbacks Lorenzo Burns and Mike Ford are “day-to-day” with injuries. Safety Ronnie Hickman was evaluated for a concussion but was cleared.