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Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland.
This is my 34th Browns training camp and I have 34 thoughts about it.
Leading off
1.It’s the best Browns’ roster on paper in the 22 years of the expansion era.
2.It’s the toughest year – by far – for a first-time coach to take over a team and implement new systems on offense and defense.
3.So how does that dichotomy dictate expectations for the 2020 season? The second half of the season will be a better barometer of this Browns’ team than the first half.
4.The problem is the roster will suffer attrition – probably more than in a normal season. Many in the league expect injuries to increase as a result of physical training being disrupted in the offseason and preseason.
5.If I’m wrong, and injuries aren’t noticeably increased, then NFL teams will have stumbled upon a more efficient way of conducting the build-up to the long regular season.
6.Kevin Stefanski’s challenges are myriad. Foremost among them is how to balance preparing his starters for the season while also giving the backups enough reps to be ready when needed. If I’m right about the injuries mounting over the first half of the season, the backups will be more important than ever.
7.I was looking forward to seeing how long Stefanski played his starters in preseason games. I was hoping he’d play the regulars longer than recent vintage, but we won’t know until next year on that count.
8.Stefanski was hoping to audition offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt in the preseason games for the role of offensive play-caller. Now that the games have been canceled, I expect Stefanski to give Van Pelt the role without the audition. There is so much on Stefanski’s plate in his first season – with much more to come when the season starts – he needs to free himself of that added responsibility.
9.Truth be told, Stefanski doesn’t even want to call plays. Unlike some previous offensive-minded coaches, it wasn’t his play-calling that won him this job. Paul DePodesta, chief strategy officer, liked his intelligence, demeanor, leadership ability, composure, collaborative nature, inclusiveness and willingness to embrace analytics. Remember, DePodesta would have hired Stefanski in 2019 – before he even took on play-calling duties with the Minnesota Vikings.
10.Not much has been said about the Browns’ defense. That’s not a bad starting point for new coordinator Joe Woods.
11.For that matter, not much has been said about the Browns’ special teams. Coordinator Mike Priefer has to get his units to make a real difference this year.
The players
12.A lot has been said about this being a critical year for Baker Mayfield to have a good season. What constitutes a good season for him? At the risk of oversimplication, he has to beat the Steelers in Pittsburgh on October 18. Doesn’t matter if he hands off 30 times to Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt or throws 30 times. He has to produce a victory in Heinz Field. For any Cleveland quarterback, that’s a good year.
13.It’s a good sign seeing social media images of Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry participating in the first two days of Phase 2 practices (non-padded). Other than Mayfield, I’d say Beckham is under the most pressure to produce this year.
14.Being activated off PUP is a positive sign that Landry will meet his goal of being ready for the season opener.
15.I am so looking forward to seeing how creative Stefanski will be in utilizing Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt on the field together.
16.The Browns don’t really have a classic in-line tight end among the five on the roster. Closest to it, strangely, is rookie Harrison Bryant, who led all major college tight ends with 65 receptions and 1,004 yards at Florida Atlantic in winning the John Mackey Award. He’s 6-5 and 240 pounds and began his high school career at offensive tackle. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him cast in the role of in-line blocker his first season.
17.That is, if David Njoku can hold onto the ball.
18.The amount of trust the Browns are putting in offensive line coach Bill Callahan to develop Jedrick Wills quickly into a left tackle is admirable. If Wills holds down the starting spot from Day 1 and is good, he deserves rookie-of-the-year votes and Callahan deserves a statue outside FirstEnergy Stadium.
19.I suppose the storyline of Myles Garrett making Wills better every day in one-on-one battles can't be avoided.
20.I’ll say it again, center JC Tretter is one of the five most indispensable players on the team.
21.I’m looking forward to Sheldon Richardon’s first Zoom call. The wise guys in Vegas would establish the defending Dino Lucarelli Good Guy Award-winner as a prohibitive favorite to repeat.
22.For the sake of broadcasters everywhere, Sione Takitaki needs to come through and have a good year.
23.I have a feeling Mack Wilson’s growth in his second season will exceed that of any of the 2019 rookies.
24.To me, Grant Delpit is the most intriguing rookie draft pick. Note to Joe Woods: Don’t play him 30 yards off the line of scrimmage.
25.If they were competing in the Octagon, Donovan Peoples-Jones v. JoJo Natson would be a physical mismatch. Peoples-Jones is 6-2 and 212 pounds and Natson is 5-6, 153. Of course, in their competition for lead return specialist, speed kills.
Good ole days
26.Training camp used to be an opportunity to establish relationships. At the old Lakeland Community College training camp, Browns’ offensive linemen used to troll media with a daily chalkboard edition of The Pain Squealer. Media dined with players. At a lunch table, punter Jeff Gossett coined 1980s return specialist Gerald McNeil “Ice Cube” while fingering a slippery ice cube on a lunch tray. Access to players worsened over time. Now, Covid-19 has eliminated face-to-face interviews.
27.My favorite training camp was 1989 – Bud Carson’s first season as head coach. Cell phone cameras weren’t invented, but the image of linebackers coach Dan Radakovich remains etched in my mind. At the lunch table, Bad Rad is reading The Plain Dealer with reading glasses perched on his nose and two other pairs of glasses hanging from his neck. He’s laughing uproariously reading a story of a player in his position group.
28.Meanwhile, Bud would often eat alone, wallowing in daily self-persecution. He constantly worried he’d be fired before the season started.
29.I wish I had video of the annual media v. coaches softball games to kick off training camp under Marty Schottenheimer. Blood was shed on more than one occasion.
30.It’s hard to believe now, but upwards of 10,000 fans would descend on the vast Lakeland CC campus on weekends during the Bernie Kosar era. Always the showman, owner Art Modell would detect boredom in the audience and instruct Schottenheimer to tear up his script and conduct a team scrimmage period on the spot. The duels between Kosar and cornerbacks Hanford Dixon and Frank Minnifield were legendary. So much fun.
31.Kosar would sign autographs for so long, equipment men would be dispatched to rescue him and escort him to meetings.
32.What I liked about Bill Belichick’s training camps was he always sought to schedule joint practices with other teams.
33.A memory I’ve never shaken: Defensive coordinator Nick Saban pleading with me during a one-on-one interview, “Don’t get me in trouble with Bill.”
34.One of the all-time great Modell mass interviews occurred while the Belichick Browns practiced with the New York Giants at their camp in the 1990s. Giants owner Wellington Mara entered the media room first and tossed bread crumbs to the news-starved New York press to heighten some Giants controversy. Modell followed Mara, and was not going to waste the opportunity to entertain the New York media. He regaled them with stories of his wife Pat’s career as an actress. Anecdotes about William Holden, Lucille Ball, Laurence Olivier. Priceless.