Linebacker Mack Wilson suffered an injury to his left knee a day after his hit on Nick Chubb landed the running back in concussion protocol. (Cleveland Browns)
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Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland.
Takeaways from Day 4 of Browns training camp …
Nobody should have a worse day than Mack Wilson did on Tuesday.
It started with the second-year linebacker being demoted to the second team defense as a consequence of giving running back Nick Chubb a concussion with an overzealous, high hit in Monday’s padded practice.
It ended with Wilson suffering what looked like a serious injury to his left knee.
Wilson was making a play on a pass to rookie receiver Donovan Peoples-Jones on a shallow crossing route. After defending the ball from behind with his left arm, Wilson’s knee hyperextended to the outside as his left foot made contact with the ground.
Wilson was in obvious pain when medical personnel arrived. He was helped off the field and then carted into the team facility.
The Browns only would confirm the injury was to a knee and said Wilson would be “further evaluated.”
Wilson’s injury is the fourth to a key player in four days of camp opened to the media. It could be the most serious.
Pass rusher Myles Garrett has yet to practice because of a hamstring injury. Center JC Tretter is out indefinitely after arthroscopic surgery on a knee. Chubb is in concussion protocol. Now Wilson’s second season could be in jeopardy.
Although Wilson was demoted by coach Kevin Stefanski prior to Tuesday’s practice, it was viewed as temporary, largely a stern message delivered to the team to practice smartly.
Fact is, Wilson was the most certain player of a very uncertain and inexperienced linebacker corps. He made 14 starts as a rookie and was actively filling the leadership void on the unit created by the departures of veterans Joe Schobert and Christian Kirksey. Wilson’s overzealousness on the Chubb hit may have been a product of how eager he was to set a tone for the linebackers, whom he felt were disrespected by outsiders.
Before the injury, Wilson was replaced on the No. 1 defense by Tae Davis, an undrafted free agent with the Giants in 2018 whom the Browns claimed off waivers last year. Davis may be next man up for now.
But Wilson’s injury could mean the force-feeding of rookie third-round pick Jacob Phillips of LSU. Phillips was seen as a contender for one of the spots when coordinator Joe Woods employs three linebackers. Now, he is in the mix to perhaps join second-year Sione Takitaki when Woods leans to a two-linebacker set in a 4-2-5 base alignment.
The Browns are already penciling in rookie Jedrick Wills at left tackle and have been forced to give center Nick Harris and defensive tackle Jordan Phillips larger roles earlier than envisioned.
No doubt GM Andrew Berry will seek to add a linebacker to camp. Unsigned veteran Clay Matthews III would be the popular fan choice. But Matthews, 34, doesn’t fit the mold of “young, fast, athletic” with which the Browns hope to rebuild the position group.
Clear as mud
Why did David Njoku request a trade in July? And why did he rescind that request? The tight end failed to clear up what’s going through his mind in his first Zoom call press conference of training camp.
“I would rather not go into it. I understand where I am right now, I am a Cleveland Brown and I just want to leave it like that,” he said.
Asked if being reunited with his teammates and learning of his role in Stefanski’s tight end-centric offense changed his mind, Njoku’s answer was baffling.
“Let me take you back to my rookie year,” he said. “We struggled, we went 0-16 and it was tough. Fast forward now, I just feel like it is in my best interest to stay here for the time being and try to contribute in any way that I can to help the team win and succeed. I am here, I am excited to be here and I am ready to win.”
The more Njoku answered questions, the more he used phrases such as “I am still here” and “for the time being.”
I asked him to clear up whether the trade request was his idea or the idea of agent Drew Rosenhaus, whom Njoku hired in July.
“Like I said, I am not going into that at this moment,” he replied. “I am a Cleveland Brown for the time being. For now, I am a Cleveland Brown for the time being, and I am just going to leave it like that. Thank you.”
I suggested that repeating “for the time being” made it sound as if he expected his stay with the team to be temporary.
“Oh, no,” Njoku replied. “I’m just speaking on today, on now. I am not saying this is my last year here. I am just talking because all we have is the present. Does that make any sense?"
Um … Do you want to be here long-term?
“Yes, I want to be here long term,” he answered.
In four days of camp opened to media, Njoku has joined Austin Hooper in two-tight end packages. But quarterback Baker Mayfield clearly has targeted Hooper much more than Njoku in the early going. And few of Mayfield's targets have been received by Njoku.
Brownie bits …
Here’s a new phrase in the new norm of post-pandemic football: Contact integration. Stefanski said it’s the phrase used in the rules negotiated with the players union to describe the slow ramp up to full-scale practices with pads. Basically, teams were limited to 90 minutes on the first day of pads and it increases by 15 minutes over the next three days …
Tight ends coach Drew Petzing had an interesting answer when I asked him if Njoku was spending any time catching balls pre- and post-practice from the propelled JUGS machine. Petzing said he wasn’t a fan of that training method. (Jarvis Landry and Odell Beckham Jr. spend upwards of 30 minutes catching balls that way.) “The only issue I have with the JUGS machine is that you know exactly where the ball is going to go and at no point during NFL game do you know where that ball is going to be placed,” Petzing said. “One of the things I told him is I would rather see them catch balls from someone who, like myself, or really anyone, even if their arm is not great, because it forces them to pick up the ball in different spots every throw. I think he has done that. I know that they always get some extra work before and after practice or during some special teams periods. I think he has definitely committed himself to working out and I have definitely seen that in my short time here.” …
Another day won by the defense. Each of the first three quarterbacks was intercepted – Mayfield by Denzel Ward on a wobbler deep for Odell Beckham Jr., Case Keenum by linebacker B.J. Goodson, and Garrett Gilbert by cornerback M.J. Stewart on a deflection. Each pick was celebrated by the fired-up defense. Goodson also had a stop of running back Dontrell Hilliard behind the line of scrimmage …
Receiver Jarvis Landry (offseason hip surgery) rejoined team periods and safety Karl Joseph (hamstring) was also back. Defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobi (groin) was out.