On the last official day of training camp, the Browns practice pre-game warm-ups on their stadium field. (TLOD)
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Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland.
Takeaways from Browns practice and interviews …
They saved the easy stuff for last.
That’s what the Friday night dress rehearsal in FirstEnergy Stadium was all about for the Browns.
Absent a preseason game, coach Kevin Stefanski practiced his training camp roster on things like pre-game warm-ups, player introductions entering the field, and play-calls voiced into the quarterback’s helmet receiver.
(Stefanski did the voicing – not coordinator Alex Van Pelt – but Stefanski continued to keep secret who will call plays Sept. 13 in Baltimore. “I promise you, you will know before the game,” he said.)
Afterwards, Stefanski said nothing that happened on the field would affect the cutdown to 53 players. They’ll be informed beginning on Saturday morning.
Stefanski finished the last practice before regular-season mode with some offensive plays on air and then three two-minute drives against the defense, at about half speed. Case Keenum conducted one and Garrett Gilbert conducted two.
It’s too bad what happened on the field didn’t count because safety Jovante Moffatt thwarted one of the drives with an interception of Gilbert. Moffatt ended a two-minute drive last week in the stadium when he intercepted Baker Mayfield at the goal line.
Stefanski addressed the team on the field afterward and thanked the players for working hard through some tough situations in the pandemic-altered training camp.
Safety dance
Stefanski said that newly acquired safety Ronnie Harrison had not yet entered the building because of Covid-19 protocols and he tapped the brakes on the idea of Harrison contributing anything in Game 1 in Baltimore.
“We will see about that,” he said. “It is early to tell. There is a schematic fit with Ronnie. Talked to Mack [Wilson, his former Alabama teammate] earlier about him today. Just like the makeup of him, and we just were excited to add a player that we think will help us, but I think it is way too early to determine what that looks like, especially in Week 1.”
Stefanski said Harrison was attractive because the Jaguars run the same Seattle Cover-3 scheme Joe Woods intends to run with the Browns.
Earlier in the day, Harrison said on 850 ESPN Cleveland that he felt he could pick up things quickly enough to play in the Sept. 13 opener.
“It’s definitely doable,” Harrison said. “We still have a week.
“I’m a pretty smart guy and I’ve been in the league a few years now. They run the same type of stuff that we used to do in Jacksonville, so I don’t think that it will be so much the scheme, just really the terminology I need to learn.”
Brownie bits
All the Browns players who have been out of practice with injuries were on hand, including center JC Tretter (knee), Greedy Williams (shoulder) and Mack Wilson (knee). Tretter’s right knee was covered by a rubber wrap. Wilson was in a playful mood jostling with teammates on the sideline …
Kicker Austin Seibert had another busy night in the stadium. Coaches lined him up for eight field goal tries toward the closed end. Seibert made six in a row and then missed from 53 and 48 yards …
Baker Mayfield did not participate in anything beyond pre-game warm-ups …
A mock defensive unit was introduced over the PA system. It was: [linebackers] Jacob Phillips, Tae Davis, Sione Takitaki; [cornerbacks] Terance Mitchell, Denzel Ward; [safeties] Sheldrick Redwine, Karl Joseph; and [defensive linemen] Eli Ankou, Sheldon Richardson, Olivier Vernon, Myles Garrett …
The Browns will cut the roster to 53 on Saturday, sign 16 to the practice squad, and then most likely add a few waiver pickups to the bottom of the roster on Sunday. The team will report back to the facility on Monday, get Tuesday off and begin preparations for the opener in earnest on Wednesday.