Grant Delpit's season-ending Achilles injury may be the most costly of many Browns injuries to date. (NFL.com)
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Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland.
Takeaways from Day 9 of Browns training camp …
For a few hours early Sunday morning, Browns coach Kevin Stefanski lived in fear after learning in a wake-up call that he tested positive for Covid-19.
He rushed to his car at 4 a.m. to keep his wife and three children from being exposed to the coronavirus. He drove to the empty condominium he resided in before his family moved to Cleveland and quarantined in silence, wondering, worrying,“What if …?”
What if he really had it? What about his family? Were they infected, too? What about his players and coaches?
It wasn’t until close to 9 a.m. when a re-test proved the original result was a false-positive. Then Stefanski had to miss Sunday’s practice, per NFL protocol. He barked instructions over the phone to defensive coordinator Joe Woods, his contingency to coach the team, and to Callie Brownson, his chief of staff. Stefanski then watched the Browns run through a 7-on-7 drill on his iPad.
This is how badly things are going for Stefanski in his early days as Browns coach: The only break he’s gotten since getting the job in January was that Covid-19 test coming up false-positive.
On Monday, Stefanski arrived at work feeling pretty good about the way his organization handled the protocols triggered by over 10 false-positive results of players, coaches and support staff.
And then at practice – which he hoped would be the first in a stack of good ones -- promising rookie safety Grant Delpit, a key player in Woods’ emerging defense, suffered a season-ending Achilles tendon injury. Reports later in the evening confirmed what was obvious on the practice field.
Stefanski did not see Delpit go down without contact while backpedaling in a routine position drill for the defensive backs.
So despite handling his new team with extra care, respectful of their lack of physical team work in the offseason, Stefanski has now lost three key defensive players indefinitely, if not for the season.
Linebacker Mack Wilson suffered a hyperextended left knee defending a pass on Day 4 of training camp, top nickel back Kevin Johnson suffered a lacerated liver when tight end Harrison Bryant fell on Johnson’s abdomen on Day 5, and now Delpit has suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon.
There also has been the loss of center JC Tretter to a knee procedure the day before camp opened, a concussion to Nick Chubb that cost the running back three practices, and a hamstring injury to defensive end Myles Garrett that kept him off the field for six practices.
All of that came after Covid-19 wiped out the entire offseason program, OTAs, minicamps, joint practices with the Packers and four preseason games.
Stefanski couldn’t even participate in person in his first draft with his new partner, GM Andrew Berry. Like everyone else in the NFL, he was tethered virtually from his home.
I no longer worry about Stefanski’s won-loss record in his rookie season. I worry about him keeping his sanity.
The Delpit consequence
Several players in Berry’s first draft class have been forced into larger roles ahead of the plan because of injuries to others. In the case of Delpit, the plan was to prepare him for a key role right from the onset.
He would either have been the starting free safety or, at the very least, a key chess piece in Woods’ plan to deploy three safeties in a 4-2-5 alignment that may have become Woods’ base defense.
Delpit’s season-ending Achilles injury will force Woods to make changes on both fronts.
Most likely, free agent pickup Andrew Sendejo will assume the starting free safety role. Second-year safety Sheldrick Redwine is a possibility to get added playing time. The use of three safeties on the field together would have helped the precarious situation at linebacker. But now that is in jeopardy, too.
One of the underlying factors is that starting strong safety Karl Joseph continues to be in and out of practice to nurse along a foot injury that sidelined him in Oakland in November. Now, Woods doesn’t know if he can even count on three healthy safeties to incorporate the three-safety look.
I viewed Delpit as the team’s most intriguing rookie because he had first-round talent that would enable Woods to play him as a deep safety, close to the line of scrimmage, and also to cover slot receivers – all in the same series, if need be. That versatility might not have been properly developed until well into the season, but it was clear on draft day and in subsequent interviews that the Browns had reasonable hopes to extract significant impact from Delpit in his rookie year.
It's pure conjecture to rank the loss of Wilson, Johnson and Delpit in Woods’ defense. In my opinion, though, Delpit’s is potentially the biggest loss of them all.
Brownie bits
Delpit’s injury wasn’t the only one suffered in the defensive backfield. Cornerback Greedy Williams left practice with a shoulder injury and new No. 1 nickel back M.J. Stewart had to watch much of practice with ice strapped to a balky hamstring. Also, cornerback Terrance Mitchell sat out with a knee injury …
Still out were defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobi (groin) and tight end David Njoku (wrist) …
Even before Njoku sat out the last two practices with his injury, rookie Harrison Bryant was having an impressive early showing in his first training camp. He made a nice catch in the end zone on a pass from Baker Mayfield …
The Browns finally unveiled a two-minute drill at practice. It was run less than full speed in a 7-on-7 situation. Offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt said that now that is has been installed, the reps will come more frequently. Still waiting for a live two-minute drill in 11-on-11 …
Newly signed veteran linebacker Malcolm Smith made his first appearance in pads. Smith was put at the back of the line in linebacker drills.