Safety John Johnson had to offer encouragement to Grant Delpit after his teammate called the Patriots game his worst game ever. (Associated Press)
Browns safety John Johnson says not everyone has been committed to doing what it takes
You must have an active subscription to read this story.
Click Here to subscribe Now!
Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland. He has covered the Browns since 1984.
Takeaways from Browns practice and interviews …
Little morsels are coming out to help understand why the Browns have underperformed and put themselves in position of having a “critical crucial” contest against the Ravens in Baltimore on Sunday.
Leadership seemingly has been an issue.
The $230 million franchise quarterback is in the middle of an 11-game NFL suspension, and the defensive leader missed one game with injuries suffered after losing control of his car driving at a high speed.
With the season on the brink, two members of the team’s so-called leadership council have spoken out to try to avoid a mid-season funeral.
Still in uniform after the 38-15 rout by the Patriots, quarterback Jacoby Brissett addressed everybody in the locker room with an impassioned plea to pay more attention to the details of each’s job to eliminate mistakes – him included.
“I know he was very disappointed in himself. I know he felt that boiling up and had to let it out,” said running back Nick Chubb.
On Wednesday, safety John Johnson said not everyone is fully committed to his job.
“It’s a commitment thing,” Johnson said. “When practice is over and our day’s done, you can’t just run out of the building and forget about your job. I think we need everyone in this building to be 100 percent in on the task at hand. Right now, I think we’re at a place where that’s not the case. So whatever we got to do to get everyone on the same page, I think that’s what it is because that’s the only way it’s going to turn around.”
Pressed on who’s not giving 100 percent, Johnson pointed broadly to the younger players. The Browns entered the season as the youngest roster in the NFL – something the organization simultaneously takes pride in but uses as a crutch.
“You can say we’re a younger team, but that’s no excuse,” Johnson said. “This is a big-time league, the top of the top. We got to find ways, however that may be. The leaders on this team have to get together and figure it out. But we got to change something.”
Coach Kevin Stefanski welcomed the veteran leaders giving the coaches a hand in saving this season from going down the sewer.
“I have talked to John, I have talked to the leadership group and talked to a lot of the young players,” he said. “You do want these guys to take their jobs seriously. This is a job at the end of the day, and you have to spend time with it when you are in the building, and you have to spend time away from the building.
“There are young players, of course, that you are trying to teach them how to be a pro. Until you teach them, there are some guys who don’t know. Like most teams, you have young players that you are bringing along, but I think the guys do a good job of pouring everything they have into these weeks.
“We fill up their day. We fill it up with whether it is meetings, walkthroughs, practice, lifting, rehab and those type of things, but there is also an element of this job that you do stay committed to it outside of this building.”
(Interestingly, in another context, 45-year-old Tom Brady on a podcast recently compared the commitment to a football season to “going away on deployment for the military.”)
Stefanski continued: “My message to the team when you are not producing how you want to produce, we all have to do our jobs and then we all just have to do more. I think it is do your job a little bit better, but let’s do more. What more can we do?”
The coach clearly is appealing to the veterans on this matter.
“As coaches, we play a factor in that in giving guys projects and homework to do, so to speak,” Stefanski said. “I think so often in my career just watching young players come into this league, they are really raised by their [position group] room in a lot of ways. When you have a room with some veterans who can show them the way, that is ideal.”
Brownie bits
Still no commitment from Stefanski on any lineup changes after three losses in a row. The team hopes to get linebacker Deion Jones up to speed in the second week since being traded from Atlanta. “Other things would be just seeing who is available and that type of thing,” Stefanski said …
Guard Wyatt Teller, wearing a walking boot in the locker room, told reporters he’s out this week with a calf injury. Stefanski bended a little from mid-week routine and allowed that Teller was “doubtful.” …
Hjalte Froholdt replaced Teller in the Patriots game, but Stefanski wouldn’t commit yet on Teller’s replacement. Michael Dunn and Drew Forbes are possibilities, too. As for seldome-used veteran Chris Hubbard, Stefanski said the team considers him exclusively a tackle now …
Johnson said that safety Grant Delpit was so upset with his play against the Patriots that he called him on the way home from the game and said it was the worst game he ever played. “I said, ‘bro, you made tons of plays in that game,’” Johnson said. “The few that got away from him kind of stuck with him and lingered. That’s the ups and downs of a season. You just have to bury it and move forward. He’s a good player so I know he will.” …
Running back Nick Chubb, on getting only 12 runs and one pass in the rout by the Patriots: “Of course I want the ball in my hands. It doesn’t have to be a run, it could be anything. But I trust in whatever the coaches have going on. I felt we were behind so we had to throw the ball more and that’s what we did.”
