Cornerback Denzel Ward, a three-time Pro Bowler, was one of the regular participants in the Browns' 10 voluntary OTA practices. With mandatory minicamp on tap this week, the no-shows of the OTA sessions will join him in the last event before summer break. (Cleveland Browns)
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Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland. He has covered the Browns since 1984.
Call it OTA fatigue. Or just one of those years when vacation schedules kept veteran players away.
It just hasn’t been a banner year for attendance at the Browns’ “voluntary” workouts
More than a dozen mainstays on the Browns’ division-contending roster have missed most, if not all, of the 10 OTA practices held over the last three weeks.
That’s certainly their collectively-bargained right. Rather than OTA-shaming the missing, let’s point out some of the key players who have participated fairly regularly.
Among them have been:
Deshaun Watson, Jameis Winston, Tyler Huntley, Denzel Ward, Martin Emerson, Elijah Moore, David Bell, Ethan Pocic, Wyatt Teller, Dawand Jones, Jedrick Wills, James Hudson, Jerome Ford, Pierre Strong, Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, Alex Wright, Maurice Hurst, and Greg Newsome.
What does it mean? Who knows? But the die-hards who have participated should be acknowledged.
They’ll be joined this week by all the stragglers at the team’s mandatory minicamp for three days beginning on Tuesday. It’s the last team event before summer recess.
What can be accomplished in three days of up-tempo minicamp practices is debatable. But there are lingering issues for Kevin Stefanski and his staff to resolve prior to the start of training camp at The Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs, WVA, on July 25.
1. When will Watson be cleared medically to throw in competitive practice periods?
Watson has thrown essentially twice a week during OTA practices. He threw only to offensive players “on air,” meaning without defensive players covering.
In competitive reps in 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 periods, Watson gave way to Winston and Huntley. Watson also would take mental reps in some periods, executing play-calls in half-speed without throwing the ball.
The Browns’ medical staff is monitoring Watson’s recovery from shoulder surgery meticulously. Stefanski said, “We’ll be smart there and just kind of do what the docs tell us.”
The Browns say that Watson is on schedule to be ready for the start of the regular season. Stefanski hasn’t commented if Watson will play in any of the three preseason games, however.
You would think that a key milestone for Watson would be the joint practices against the Minnesota Vikings prior to preseason Game 2 on August 14-15.
Under Stefanski, the joint practices have served as the climax of training camp. He would want his starting quarterback available for those sessions, especially if he is withheld from the preseason games.
2. With Watson not competing in live periods and so many starting players missing OTAs, can offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey get them up to speed with the new offensive system he’s implementing?
“That puts a lot on us as coaches and in the quarterback room to make sure we’re maximizing every learning tool possible,” Dorsey said. “From the different camera angles to on the practice field, making sure we’re talking live as plays are going on and all that stuff. So you don’t want to limit what you’re installing just based off of [Watson’s] availability, because there’s things that those other guys need to make sure they’re getting reps on, too.”
Much of Dorsey’s shotgun-spread system is based on the use of “choice routes,” which are post-snap decisions made by receivers depending on the coverage they see on a particular play. It is incumbent for the quarterback and receivers to be on the same page for this to work.
“It takes reps,” Dorsey said. “It takes them talking about it, it takes watching film. There’s so many different aspects of not only those routes, but a lot of different routes within the system. So, yeah, to answer your question, there’s a lot of communication there.
“When we had Cole [Beasley] in Buffalo, there was an adjustment period there, and getting on the same page like that first year was like, ‘Oh, is this going to work?’ Because it just takes time for quarterback and receiver to get on the same page on some of those field routes.”
3. When will Nick Chubb be cleared to practice and how will the running game evolve without him?
Nobody knows when Chubb will be cleared to practice. He had surgery on September 30 to repair the medial collateral ligament and meniscus in his left knee and a second surgery on November 14 to repair the anterior cruciate ligament.
Chubb has been rehabbing regularly from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. for months.
Although he started running on land in April, Chubb said, “I didn’t start moving really well until, kind of, lately. So, you know, now it’s feeling good to be able to move around.”
Chubb likely will begin training camp on the active/PUP (physically unable to perform) list. That means he counts on the roster of 90 but has not been cleared to practice.
At the roster cut to 53, another designation must be made. If Chubb begins the regular season on the reserve/PUP list, he must miss at least the first four games of the season and would not count against the team’s 53 roster.
After the fourth game, the Browns would have a five-week window to allow him to practice. Once he begins practicing, the Browns have a three-week window to decide whether to activate him, place him on injured reserve or negotiate an injury settlement. So life on reserve/PUP can consume up to 12 weeks of the 18-week regular season.
In Chubb’s absence, the Browns intend to use a running back-by-committee approach involving Ford, Strong, D’Onta Foreman and Nyheim Hines. Hines has not participated in OTAs because he is recovering from ACL surgery. He has said he hopes to be ready for the start of training camp.
Complicating the availability of Chubb and Hines is the fact the Browns have changed their running game to accommodate Dorsey’s shotgun-spread offensive system. This means running the ball primarily out of the shotgun formation, rather than with the quarterback under center, and using a running back as a receiver often in empty formation.
Dorsey would not answer a question about how much he anticipates the offense being in shotgun formation.
“I think it’s a conglomerate effort, and between Kevin, myself, the whole coaching staff, there’s a lot of input on those types of things, not only from the pass game, but obviously the run game as well,” he said.
“So to put a number on that, I think the season is so fluid, and a lot of times, you don’t really know because of the way the league has evolved in terms of what you can and can’t do in training camp and OTAs and things like that. A lot of times those things are evolving until week three or four of the season, and it’s not truly set in stone until you get a really good feel in true live game action.”
4. How much progress will special teams coordinator Bubba Ventrone make with the new hybrid kickoff format?
Ventrone has said he intends to practice kickoff returns and kickoff coverage often and hard right through the preseason.
Judging from just one practice period open to media, Ventrone wasn’t just giving lip service.
The most physical period of the Browns’ entire OTA season was devoted to the new kickoff format. Bodies were knocked to the ground on just about every rep.
It remains to be seen which players will be tabbed as returners in the new format. Ventrone has said several “skill” players will get reps.
5. Are there no issues with the defense?
Its main issues are improving from its 32nd ranking in red zone situations and figuring out how to play better on the road.
Otherwise, with only two new projected starters to break in – 3-technique tackle Quinton Jefferson and middle linebacker Jordan Hicks – the unit figures to grow naturally in the second year under coordinator Jim Schwartz.