The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Offense is ‘like a buffet’ this season
Tight end Harris says team has put ‘unbelievable talent together’
Odell Beckham Jr. is easy to spot at Browns practice. He is the one wearing gold shoes and the No. 13 jersey. He’s the one always on the sideline.
No one knows exactly when Beckham will do team drills or if he will appear in either of the final two preseason games. More to the point, no one seems worried.
Beckham has not participated in team practice since Aug. 6, and he sat out the first two preseason games with a hip injury. But during individual drills Aug. 19, in a ballet-like move that looks even more impressive in slow motion, he ran along the goal line, leaped in the air, and, reaching behind with his right hand, caught the ball between his legs as though it was a routine catch.
His hips seem fine. “Odell is Odell,” safety Damarious Randall said after practice. “He’s a one-in-a-generation type of talent. He’ll be ready to go Sept. 8. I don’t have any concerns with that and I don’t think any of us do.”
The Browns open the regular season Sept. 8 in a home game with the Tennessee Titans. Wide receiver Jarvis Landry was rested the first two preseason games, though he was in team drills Aug. 19. Starting tight end David Njoku was bothered by a knee injury that prevented him from playing with the Colts in the preseason game Aug. 17. His knee has healed, but a cut in the back of his head is preventing him from wearing a helmet until the stitches are removed, so he was a spectator most of Aug. 19.
At some point — theoretically — everyone will be healthy, and when that time comes, the offense will be somethings to behold, says tight end Demetrius Harris.
“You have Odell. Everybody knows him,” Harris said after practice. “You have Jarvis. Everybody knows him. You have Kareem (Hunt); everybody knows him. You have Nick (Chubb). Everybody knows him.
“They’ve already shown their work in this league. It’s unbelievable talent together, and we still have other people likes Hig (Rashard Higgins) and (Jaelen) Strong. With this team it’s like a buffet. Everybody eats. We just have to keep getting better every day.”
Chubb is the starting running back, who last year rushed for 996 yards. Hunt figures to be a prominent part of the run offense once he returns from an NFLmandated eight-game suspension to start the season.
Harris is looking for his own niche in the offense. The sixth-year veteran was signed as an undrafted rookie by Kansas City in 2013 when Browns general manager John Dorsey was the Chiefs’ GM.
Harris was primarily a blocker in Kansas City’s explosive offense (12 catches last year in 15 games. He played basketball and not football at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He is using some of those basketball moves to shield off defenders while catching balls in practice.
“I like his size, his range, his toughness and his ability to block the point and still give us something in
the pass game,” head coach Freddie Kitchens said. “He’s a big target, a long target and a pretty dependable target.”
Beckham’s injury and an ankle injury that is keeping Antonio Callaway sidelined means more practice time for Higgins and players trying to land a job. Strong, D.J. Montgomery, Derrick Willies and Damon SheehyGuiseppi fall into that category. So does Damian Ratley.
Ratley, a sixth-round draft pick from 2018, has some catching up to do. He missed the early part of training camp with a hamstring injury. He returned to practice last week.
“I like his speed,” Kitchens said. “He has deceptive top speed. I just need to see consistency. I need to know what I’m getting when he gets on the field.
“I need balls caught that are put on him. I need him to make catches that are
contested catches, just like everybody else. He was doing that leading up to his injury. The contested catches were not on display, but in the spring, he was making those.”
Ratley made 13 catches as a rookie last year, but only three in the second half of the season with Kitchens calling plays.
Quick hitters
Nothing changed in the kicking battle. Greg Joseph was 4-for-6 in individual drills. He missed from 53 and 56 yards. Rookie Austin Seibert missed from 37 and 53 yards. Joseph hit from 44 yards and Seibert was wide left from 40 yards in team format. Kitchens said there is no plan to sign another kicker . ... Damarious Randall dyed his hair blue to pay off a bet when the Raptors beat his beloved Warriors in the NBA Finals in June.