Minicamp good start to tackling key issues
CLEVELAND — The sun hadn’t yet set on Northeast Ohio on Thursday night before many of the Browns’ players had found their way to wherever their offseason was heading.
The final day of minicamp wrapped up early in the afternoon with a roughly two-hour workout inside First Energy Stadium. It capped not just three days of veteran minicamp, but also an offseason program which started back on April 19.
“We have taxed them physically, we have taxed them mentally and really, we got a lot done,” coach Kevin Stefanski said afterwards. “Are we where we need to be? No, but now is the time where we can take a break, go charge the battery and get ready to roll come July.”
One can expect training camp, starting July 27, to carry with it a much different feel than what even this week’s minicamp did. At that point, the season will be just weeks away.
For now, though, those players and coaches have more than a month to take a break from football and relax. Those outside of the organization, meanwhile, can ponder what the last three days, and the last three months, mean for what lies ahead.
Of course, there’s only one place to start.
Questions about Deshaun Watson’s suspension, Baker Mayfield trade loom
The biggest takeaway of all is the same one that existed before the entire offseason program even got started. Everything that happens in the fall requires some level of resolution at the quarterback position.
Minicamp ended with the question of how long of a suspension, if there is one, the NFL will be handing down to Deshaun Watson for any violations of the league’s personal conduct policy. At the same time, there remains questions as to how many more lawsuits will join the 24 already filed in Texas against him alleging sexual misconduct in getting massages.
Watson was present throughout the offseason program and minicamp, except for the days he was talking to NFL investigators. When he was present, he took almost all of the first-team reps ahead of backup Jacoby Brissett and third-stringer Joshua Dobbs.
The Browns spent the past three months operating as if Watson would be starting Sept. 11 against the Carolina Panthers. Stefanski, though, acknowledged those plans could change based upon new information.
One person who won’t be in those plans is Baker Mayfield, who has been absent from Berea all offseason and was excused from minicamp. The team has spent the offseason, since the March 18 acquisition of Watson, attempting to trade the former No. 1 overall pick.
If the Browns can’t get a deal done with someone — the Panthers, maybe? — then the question becomes what they do with Mayfield once training camp opens. They could excuse him from camp as they did in June.
“It’s just one of those things,” guard Wyatt Teller said of the Mayfield situation. “We’re all a brotherhood. The No. 1 man or the 27 hundredth, we all have to come together with that understanding of there’s a personal side and a business side.”
Grant Delpit looking the part at safety
Grant Delpit was finally able to get on the field last season after an Achilles tear wiped out his entire rookie season. The 2020 second-round pick out of LSU played in 15 games with seven starts, making 66 tackles, one sack, one interception, one forced fumble and three tackles for loss.
Delpit has carried the positive vibes from 2021 into this offseason. That included a strong close to the program with an impressive three-day minicamp.
“I feel pretty good,” Delpit told the Beacon Journal on Thursday. “I feel like myself. I just want to have a good season. I can’t say anything more than that. I have big goals for this season.”
A healthy Delpit could be massive for the Browns’ defense. He provides the kind of play-making ability one craves from the position, as well as opening the door for defensive coordinator Joe Woods to show more threesafety looks along with Ronnie Harrison Jr. and John Johnson III.
“Grant has been really good,” Stefanski said Tuesday. “He has done a very nice job. I think he has a really good understanding of what we are trying to do, which is half of the battle. You can play fast when you know what you are doing. He looks really smooth in and out of his transitions. You saw him make a play on the ball [for an interception] so he is doing a really nice job.”
Receiver David Bell has near-perfect offseason
When the Browns took David Bell in the third round of April’s draft, it was automatically assumed he had a chance to make an immediate impact. A Purdue product, Bell did nothing during either the voluntary offseason team activities or minicamp to dissuade those feelings.
Bell seemed to catch everything thrown his way. No really, everything.
Following Wednesday’s minicamp practice in Canton, Bell was asked about his claim of only dropping one pass to that point in OTAS or minicamp. That drop came on the first day of rookie minicamp in May.
It’s stuck with him ever since. “I’m real big on myself,” Bell said Wednesday. “So when that does happen, it’s uncharacteristic of myself to do that. I take it to heart. I try to make sure that it doesn’t happen again. Every time I drop a ball, it’s always one minor thing that I didn’t do, whether looking it in or my hands aren’t in the right place. So when I drop a pass, I know why I dropped that pass.”
Cade York’s leg living up to the hype so far
Outside of Bell, the rookie who has drawn the most attention has been kicker Cade York. The fourth-round pick out of LSU came in boasting of the kind of big leg needed to win at the NFL level.
York heads into the offseason break having shown just why that leg was so valued. During team field goal sessions over the course of the three days, York missed only three times in more than 20 attempts.
On Thursday, the Browns announced they had signed him to a four-year rookie deal. That same day, he had another chance to kick at First Energy Stadium, something that’s been a weekly part of his routine since arriving in Cleveland.
During the open OTA practices, he made at least one from 60 yards with distance to spare.
“Oh, he’s unbelievable,” Johnson said of York during OTAS. “I mean it looks like, I don’t know, like the ball just flies off of his foot. It could be a 30-yard kick, he’s going to hit it for 60. … He’s just doing what he loves doing, so I think that’s the beauty of it, but I’m really looking forward to the season and seeing him kick.”
Good health means good offensive line play
Jack Conklin didn’t participate in any of the on-field portions of either OTAS or minicamp. However, he was around the facility throughout the offseason as he rehabs from a ruptured patellar tendon suffered last November.
That was about the only thing missing from an offensive line that looks to get back to being one of the best in the AFC, if not the entire league. Nick Harris worked extensively at center with the first unit as he gets the initial crack at replacing veteran J.C. Tretter.
All-pro left guard Joel Bitonio didn’t take part in the OTAS in Berea, but was present throughout the minicamp. Left tackle Jedrick Wills didn’t show signs of the ankle injury which seemed to plague his second year in the league.
“I think Jed is right where we need him,” Stefanski said. “He has worked extremely hard this offseason. I thought he came back in really, really good shape so it is just a continuation of that work, and I think he will be right where we need him to be.”