Grant Delpit got in one good day of work after missing 12 practices, and then re-injured his hamstring on Wednesday. (Cleveland Browns)
On his second day back after a 12-day layoff, safety Grant Delpit re-injures his hamstring
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Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland.
Takeaways from Day 15 of Browns training camp …
Prior to practice, safety Grant Delpit talked excitedly about how good he felt on his first day back after missing 12 practices with a hamstring injury.
This coming after missing his entire rookie season with a ruptured Achilles tendon.
“I’m not behind at all,” Delpit insisted about the mental aspect of his game.
As for the injuries – both on his right leg -- Delpit said with conviction that he was as fast as ever.
“Felt like second nature,” he said. “I haven’t really missed a step. Hopefully, [I’ll] come out today and feel good again.”
It was not to be.
Midway through practice, Delpit was chasing preseason receiver sensation Davion Davis on a route and pulled up, favoring his right leg. Understandably frustrated, Delpit was led indoors by a trainer.
After practice, the team confirmed Delpit re-injured the same hamstring which kept him out longer than any returning player.
Thus ended – for now – the development of coordinator Joe Woods’ “big dime” three-safety look, the anticipated antidote to Patrick Mahomes’ lethal passing attack with the two-time AFC Champion-Kansas City Chiefs.
With that season-opener rematch of the divisional playoff game last season only 25 days away, Woods’ three versatile safeties – John Johnson, Ronnie Harrison and Delpit – have practiced together for a grand total of one day – on Tuesday.
“I’m anxious [to get the whole defense together],” Delpit had said in his pre-practice interview session. “I’m waiting on the day we’re all healthy. That’s the main thing, getting through camp healthy. I know people might be frustrated when we’re not out there practicing one day, but the main goal is getting ready for Week 1, the Kansas City Chiefs.”
Harrison also returned on Tuesday after missing 10 days with his own hamstring injury. He made it through his second straight practice on Wednesday without incident.
“I think [the defense has] tremendous potential,” Harrison said. “Got a lot of guys with talent at every position. We’re stacked. Bunch of playmakers. Bunch of guys that love to play football, that know the game of football. It’s gonna be special when we all put it together.”
Alas, that will have to wait some more.
Relationships matter
The Giants are coming! The Giants are coming!
The team that brawled among itself on its first padded practice weeks ago, which resulted in quarterback Daniel Jones getting buried under a pile, arrives Thursday for two days of joint practices with the Browns prior to their preseason game Sunday in FirstEnergy Stadium.
The practices, scheduled at Cross Country Mortgage Campus – weather permitting – are not open to the public.
Joint practices work best when the opposing coaches have a relationship to abide by their own ground rules and avoid unproductive fighting. Coach Kevin Stefanski and Giants coach Joe Judge have such a relationship.
“It is a huge deal,” Stefanski said. “I know what Joe is about. I know what he believes in. There is that relationship there where we know our two teams and then I think you can get good productive work when you have that.”
Stefanski, 39, and Judge, 39, never worked together. Their relationship dates to high school days in Philadelphia. Stefanski actually beat out Judge for quarterback at St. Joseph's Prep School, which resulted in Judge transferring to another area school. Stefanski said he played with Judge’s older brother, Jim.
“Joe is a good coach, a good man,” Stefanski said. “Excited that he is going to be out here. Cannot wait to catch up with him.”
The teams will participate in a practice scripted by both coaches, featuring one-on-one drills, two-minute offense and red zone work. Stefanski said the practices will be at full speed, but there will be no tackling to the ground.
Diversity counts
When Stefanski put together his coaching staff, he made sure he had assembled diversity of age, of experience, of coaching systems, and backgrounds.
One of the holdovers from the Freddie Kitchens’ staff kept was running backs coach Stump Mitchell, who is 62 and considered “old school” among a football operations department loaded with younger, new-school figures. Mitchell was an NFL running back from 1981 through 1990, and remembers the days of two-a-day padded practices that ran up to three hours.
Asked if he talks to his players about those days, Mitchell said, “They wouldn’t believe me.
“You have some guys on every team, on every team in the NFL, that [could] have played back in the day because of their attitude – Nick [Chubb], Kareem [Hunt], Odell [Beckham Jr.], Jarvis [Landry]. Those guys could’ve played back in the day.
“Then you have other guys that nurse [injuries], and don’t know the difference between injury and pain. It’s a big difference. With 120 to 130 guys in camp [back in my day], as a player trying to make a team, you realized you had to be hurt in order to sit out. Being drafted didn’t mean you made the team back then. It just meant you had an opportunity.”
Brownie bits
Big names among the missing on the practice field again Wednesday were Myles Garrett (hamstring), Denzel Ward (soreness) and Jadeveon Clowney (undisclosed). Their availability for the Giants practices are unknown …
Beckham continued to stay out of team work, which all but guarantees he won’t participate in team drills against the Giants. Stefanski declined to say if Beckham would participate in one-on-ones, either …
There is an interesting dynamic continuing between three players battling for perhaps two spots – running back/returner D’Ernest Johnson, all-purpose hopeful Demetric Felton and returner/receiver JoJo Natson. Here’s what Mitchell said of the Johnson-Felton battle: “It doesn’t matter which one is on the team or if both are on the team. They have to understand right now their role is as a special teams player, and when we bring them in offensively, they have to make plays because they don’t get a lot of reps. Special teams-wise, they have to see that as No. 1 and I think both did a great job against Jacksonville. Demetric went down to make a tackle. He got dish-ragged the first time. The second time he learned to be more physical and he made the tackle. D’Ernest, this going on his third year, he understands special teams is what it’s all about.”
