Ward: With Greedy, secondary could be among NFL’s best
Second-year pro thinks he and rookie can form ‘throwback’ tandem.
Denzel Ward has met BEREA —
Hanford Dixon and Frank Minnifield, and believes he and Greedy Williams can be throwbacks to the original Top Dawgs of the late 1980s.
“Yeah, I’ve heard of them. I met them as well,” Ward said after OTAs earlier this week. “That’s definitely something that I envision with me and Greedy or whatever corner they put on the other side. But just being a tandem and being two guys that can lock down players on our sides of the field.”
Ward believes the Browns can have the best secondary in the NFL with the addition of Williams, free-agent safety Morgan Burnett and others.
“We’ll see,” the 2018 Pro Bowler said. “That’s the plan. That’s the goal.”
The Browns also claimed safety Jermaine Whitehead via waivers and are getting Ward (concussion) and Terrence Mitchell (broken forearm) back healthy. Damarious Randall is also poised for another big season at free safety. Last season, the Browns were tied for fifth in the NFL with 17 interceptions.
“It’s exciting,” said Ward, the league’s No. 15 corner in 2018 according to profootballfocus. com. “We have a lot of talented players here with the Browns — a lot of guys they brought in like Morgan. We still have Damarious and a lot of players around here competing just trying to win a spot on the field. Just have to win the day.”
Ward has already taken Williams, a second-round pick, under his wing, and the two worked well together on Wednesday as the starting corners in OTA No. 5. The mentorship started before
the draft.
“I was real excited about the pick of Greedy,” said Ward. “Me and Greedy, we were actually talking before he got drafted, going through his draft process . ... I had called him that night, just telling him how it’s funny how life works and he ends up getting drafted by the Browns. We just had some talks about being a tandem and just ready to get to work.”
It was actually Williams who initiated the contact.
“He had reached out to me on social media, probably when he was going through combine training about getting together and training,” he said. “Then he ended up getting drafted and we stayed in communication.”
Ward described Williams (6-2, 185) as “a physical player, he has good footwork. Him, like all of us, got a lot of stuff we still got to work on.”
Defensive coordinator Steve Wilks also had high praise for Ward’s new backfield mate.
“No. 1, he’s long and he’s athletic,” said Wilks. “This game right now, you talk about the different receivers and the types that we have as far as big bodies — I love long corners. He’s definitely that, very athletic, can run and he is very physical. That’s important in the run game with me, that our corners tackle. We don’t have pads on right now, but you can see that athleticism out there on the field and the way he moves around.”
Wilks has already made it a point of emphasis to improve the tackling of both corners and was happy to hear Williams say he’s not afraid to do so. The Browns were the worst tackling team in the NFL last year.
“(Williams) just needs to understand the technique and how to do it,” said Wilks. “That’s encouraging because I always say that the identity of our defense is not really how physical our front seven plays but really our secondary, most importantly, and how our corners tackle.”
Ward, who missed three of the last four games with two separate concussions, has also come to grips with the fact that he has to improve his technique to avoid further brain trauma. Former Browns defensive coordinator Gregg Williams once described Ward’s high tackling as “stupid” to get the message across loud and clear.
“I got my head in there a few times on plays that I shouldn’t,” Ward said. “I think I was just trying to be too physical at times and go up against guys that were 260. So I just got to get lower and just tackle a lot smarter if I could.”
He acknowledged it was the second concussion, suffered in the fourth quarter of the home finale against the Bengals, that opened his eyes.
“The first concussion I got really wasn’t on a tackle,” he said. “I kind of got my head on there on two guys coming across from me. Once you get your first concussion, you’re susceptible to another one. It was kind of a short period of time. I ended up getting another concussion going up against a tight end on the sideline.”
A longtime secondary coach, Wilks is confident Ward’s issues are correctable.
“It’s more teaching the proper technique and that’s where we are right now in this phase of OTAs,” he said. “Really giving him the fundamentals of understanding how to tackle in certain situations where the ball carrier is. I also think it is important to understand where your help is coming from.”
If Ward and Williams take the coaching points, they’ll make Mighty Minnie and Top Dawg Dixon proud.