The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Callaway’s punishment: Playing four quarters
Head coach Hue Jackson had two ways of punishing rookie wide receiver Antonio Callaway for being cited at 3 a.m. Aug. 5 for possession of marijuana, driving with a suspended license and not reporting it to the Browns:
Don’t play Callaway at all against the Giants in the preseason opener Aug. 9, or make him work harder than anybody else on a hot, steamy night in East Rutherford, N.J.
Jackson decided to make Callaway work until he nearly dropped.
“It was (discipline),” Jackson said. “I was trying to make him play the whole game if we could. I didn’t want him to come out.
“That was part of the consequence of what he’d been through, and he knows it. That’s what it was. Either you sit him or make him play. I thought it was better to make him play, make him play as long as he could. There were a couple times he kept waving to come out. We said, ‘No, stay in there.’”
Callaway played 54 snaps — more than any Browns player on offense.
He caught three passes for 87 yards. One reception from Baker Mayfield went for 54 yards and a touchdown.
Left guard Austin Corbett and right guard Spencer Drango each played 53 snaps, but that was for a different reason. Drango played for injured Kevin Zeitler (calf) as well as his own spot in the second team rotation.
Corbett played 77 percent of snaps because he will likely be the starting left guard in the regular season and needs all the work he can get to get ready for the Sept. 9 opener with the Steelers.
“It was good to have him out there,” Jackson said. “I thought he battled. I think he’s tough. He has some things he can improve on, as well, but I was happy. I didn’t see a bunch of pressure on the quarterback from his side so that was good. When I watched the tape, there are some fundamental things that he has to continue to work at. As a young player playing in his first game, I give him a thumbs up for that. But he has to improve over the next several weeks.”
Corbett was back at left guard on Aug. 12 when the Browns returned to practice after two days off.
Callaway practiced as the day began, but ended up sitting out with a rib injury sustained in the preseason game.
“He tried to fight through (practice),” Jackson said. “I’m glad that he’s out there trying, competing, going and catching. He has to learn that sometimes you have to play with those things a little bit. We’ll get through it.”
Callaway “will be fine,” Jackson said.