DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum Browns sign WR Damon Sheehy-Guiseppi

He's heading for the practice squad. They have too much depth at WR for him to make sense on the roster. And for a homeless guy who grazed random cookouts, lived in a 24hr gym, and basically sneaked into camp, that is a monumental achievement.

His speed is something. I suspect with good nutrition and training they can get a bit more out of him. Definitely the kind of player a team needs to take a flier on and practice squad him. I don't see anyone being crazy enough to claim him from there.

One more year in camp and with good nutrition and training he makes the 53. That is the stuff of sports legends right there. Ever hear the Eminem song "Cinderella Man"?

Or what do I know? They stick him on the 53 and make him a return guy. If he pulls off a return like that in a regular game at home the place may get a bit wild.

I thought the same thing. He was one bad twist of the football from packing his locker lol.

Had to be surreal for the kid. Running at sprinters speed, nearly 100 yards, things slow for a second as you wonder if this is a dream, you hit the endzone, wow. Back to regular speed, bodies being piled on you like wood on the world's biggest bonfire, can't hear, can't breathe, wonder for a second if you might actually die down there.

Welcome to the NFL, kid. I think keeping him on the roster may be a hard sell, considering the talent you may be cutting, and his limited role. I would do it, that's part of the identity thing. Making room on the ship for someone who has busted their rump, against all odds, through challenges way bigger than most of the team... And the Gods always seem to reward in kind.

Go DSG!

They were saying on 92.3 this morning that if he doesn't make it, it will be the same scene from Rudy where all the guys are going to turn in their jerseys. LOL

Return was AWESOME ... what a heart warming moment ...

Don’t count him out ... his return ability could get him on the roster as the “6th WR” over Willies or Strong ..

Not sure he’d make it to the practice squad ... he’s got elite elite speed and there’s los of teams out there whose WR’s STINK ...

Love to see him in brown and orange ...

Other thing was the blocking on that return ... GREAT JOB by the ST’s ...

This is gonna be FUN!!!!

I noticed that, too. Hats off to him for quickly recovering, not losing focus.

edit: Hey, Cribbs put the ball on the ground off the catch in that return TD in that one Pittsburgh game.

Yeah, his desire is contagious ... as you see with the celebration. If he’s even with Strong, you gotta keep him

J/C

I’m pulling for this kid like everyone else but I think he will be lucky to make the practice squad. He just doesn’t seem to have the hands.

For anyone who missed the extended story of his road to the NFL, this was published on the Browns site in April...


https://www.clevelandbrowns.com/news/the...-landed-a-tryou


The improbable story of how little known WR Damon Sheehy-Guiseppi landed a tryout and, ultimately, a contract with the Browns

Nick Shook
Staff Writer Thursday, Apr 11, 2019 05:31 PM


A little more than a week ago, Damon Sheehy-Guiseppi was sleeping outside. It was just him, his two bags and a patch of grass in Miami, Florida.

He was spending his nights getting as much rest as he could outdoors, just steps away from renowned NFL Combine trainer Pete Bommarito's facility, where Sheehy-Guiseppi had spent his last $200 on training services. He did so because he had no other choice: His workout with the Browns, perhaps his one and only shot at the NFL, was a week away.

If that doesn't sound preposterous enough, here's how Sheehy-Guiseppi worked his way into a tryout for the Browns: He convinced them he was supposed to be there.

Sheehy-Guiseppi, who's based in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, was once an NJCAA All-American returner.

He racked up 1,178 kickoff return yards in his first season at Phoenix College, then improved on that by leading the nation in kick-return yardage (1,278) and kick-return touchdowns (4) in his second season. He also finished second in the NJCAA in yards per kick return (32.8) and punt return yards (400).

All the while, he yearned to grow as a football player, frequently asking offensive coaches at Phoenix College to help him become a wide receiver. They declined, telling him to focus on being the best returner he can be. Sheehy-Guiseppi thinks part of it had to do with his reserved nature, which didn't help him build a rapport with the coaches he needed to help guide him.

And even then, he really wasn't supposed to even be on the roster. He didn't make the basketball team at Mesa Community College, finding himself instead running track until a car accident derailed the end of his first season. He didn't get a call back after working out for Phoenix College, the second junior college he pursued. But while there, Sheehy-Guiseppi obtained a schedule for summer workouts and just started showing up with persistence. By the end of them, the staff really couldn't say no to his participation.

So as we move ahead in time to when Sheehy-Guiseppi had the smallest sliver of a chance to run in front of NFL-associated eyes, it comes as no surprise, then, that he carved out a spot in a place he didn't belong.

Sheehy-Guiseppi arrived at a workout in North Miami after learning of the gathering from a friend of a friend made through a flag football league in Arizona. The connection played coy on the details with Sheehy-Guiseppi, though, causing him to almost miss out on the opportunity. And there was one more catch: He might not be allowed to participate.

"I was like 'just give me the address and I'll talk to them myself,'" he recalled. "So I show up and the guy says something to me. He was like 'who are you?'"

Sheehy-Guiseppi found out Browns vice president of player personnel Alonzo Highsmith would be at the event scouting prospects, so he researched Highsmith to figure out what he looked like. Then he saw Highsmith, but only after he had to convince the man in charge of admission that he was supposed to be there, and that he and Highsmith were familiar.

They were not.

"Knew nothing about him,” Highsmith said of Sheehy-Guiseppi.

Sheehy-Guiseppi spotted Highsmith when the latter arrived, bee-lined over to the personnel man and introduced himself. That was enough to get the man with the list to write his name below the printed, expected participants, which was also enough to earn him a chance to run the 40-yard dash.

A 4.38 was good enough to catch Highsmith's eye.

"He had an excellent workout,” Highsmith said Thursday. “Caught punts well, ran fast. I called (Browns assistant general manager) Eliot (Wolf) and I said 'hey, this kid Damon Sheehy, man he ran fast.' He goes 'really?' I said 'yeah, he caught the ball well, I'm thinking we should bring him up.' And then I was like, well, maybe we'll wait, but then I thought about it and Eliot goes 'well let's just bring him in now.'"

Sheehy-Guiseppi was on Cloud 9 after receiving an invitation to Berea for a workout one week later. Problem was, he'd bought a one-way flight to Miami with the last of his mother’s rewards points. He boarded the plane set on earning a workout. He wasn't going back to Arizona, at least not until after his potential NFL chance was exhausted.

He started the following days in a bedroom rented online, but still needed to stick around in Miami beyond his stay. Set on making it on his own and knowing his mother, Shawnah, was operating on a budget, he chose the patch of grass for two nights, and a 24-hour fitness center for another, keeping these details from his mom.

"I kept using guest passes," he said. “I went to the laundromat (to charge his phone), used that. Those were my three spots. (The fitness center) was showing the most love, they kept letting me come back."

When he explains the story, Sheehy-Guiseppi sounds like he just finished running down the beach. There's so much to tell in so little time, and it spills out of his mouth, information arriving in rapid fire. He was planning on sleeping on the beach, drifting off to the sound of the surf. For a few hours, that was his temporary home.

Eventually, he grabbed his bags and decided to move camp closer to his place of business: next to a fence surrounding Bommarito's, the training home of multiple NFL standouts (Chiefs DL Chris Jones and Panthers WR Curtis Samuel, to name a few).

He trained there for a week, waking up and walking in at 6 a.m. and staying until 3 p.m. before deciding where he'd head to shower and charge his phone. For food, he wandered up to side-street cookouts and had his mother and friends back in Arizona remotely order him meals.

"I ate like maybe once or twice a day," he said. "I just had to see if I could get a meal that's going to hold me for the whole day."

He was doing everything he could to make sure he was at his peak performance when his time came in Northeast Ohio, which surprisingly isn't far from a place he'd called home for a few years.

In high school, Sheehy-Guiseppi moved from Arizona to Traverse City, Michigan, following his older brother to his father's home. That's where the second half of the hyphenated last name comes from: his father, John Guiseppi. Damon is one of three boys; the youngest, Dylan, is a guard on the VCU basketball team. Dylan's VCU bio offers a peek into their interesting journey, with the listing of hometown (Lake Havasu City) resting right above the high school (Saint Francis, which is located in Traverse City, Michigan).

Damon attended Saint Francis for his final two years of high school, too, making the difficult decision to leave his mother behind in Lake Havasu City.

"I went because my mom just felt like the Catholic school, private school was just a better opportunity for me," Sheehy-Guiseppi said. "She wanted me to go to private school so I could get the best education and hopefully I could go somewhere."

Sheehy-Guiseppi said he gets his unflappable determination from his mom, who is a Saint Francis graduate and built her own career from restaurant serving to marketing while raising he and his athletic brothers as a single parent. His dad provided the direction to pay attention to detail.

"Growing up, I didn't know it at the time, but as I got older I realized how hard she worked for everything she did," Sheehy-Guiseppi said. "That was just a blessing. She didn't have anybody come help her out. She did it all by herself. We didn't have no stepdad growing up, nothing like that. It was all her by herself."

If Sheehy-Guiseppi sounds like a bit of a football nomad, it's somewhat true. He was born in Orlando, Florida, moved to Lake Havasu City with his mother, and then ended up in Traverse City. He played Pop Warner but was headed to junior college to play basketball. Around that time, he got seriously involved in weight training (leading to him eventually major in kinesiology) and after the car accident, he decided he'd instead pursue football at a second junior college. In between, he took a year off athletics, working as a door-to-door home alarm system salesman, at which he was “very successful,” according to Shawnah.

He succeeded at Phoenix College, too, but couldn’t convince the school to give him an athletic scholarship, even after he'd earned his All-American status and after his friend had given up his own full scholarship in an unrelated matter. The plan shifted to selling himself as a Division I scholarship athlete.

Sheehy-Guiseppi dropped out of Phoenix College, went to a bank, applied and received a credit card and maxed it out, traveling to every FBS school from Arizona to Florida with the same request: Watch my film.

Before he could even attract an offer, though, he found out he only had one more year of eligibility remaining because he didn't start playing football until his third academic year of school. To make matters worse, he was nine credits short of being able to transfer.

He was stuck.

"Only one school wanted to watch it," Sheehy-Guiseppi said, "but I went to every big-time school in the SEC you could think of, Big 12, and then I came back and I didn't have any money to go back to school."

Left with no collegiate options, Sheehy-Guiseppi resorted to training "for two years straight," with his sole focus centered on making it to the NFL. He loved training so much and wanted so badly to find a way to professional football, he frequented every notable training facility in Arizona, connecting with quarterbacks like former Browns camp participant Brogan Roback and former Florida and Notre Dame passer Malik Zaire for whom he'd run routes. Sheehy-Guiseppi even spent nights in former NFL safety Toby Wright's gym so he could get a chance to make as many NFL connections as possible.

Now, this isn't exactly a tale of a wandering, homeless football player. He stayed with his mother, who supported his pursuit of his dream because she knew he’d only get one shot at it, and even if he didn’t make it, he’d learn something from the experience.

“I was as supportive as I could be, trying not to crush his dream,” Shawnah Sheehy said. “But making sure I wasn’t being a detriment to (Damon) really being a productive member of society. Goals are great, but he was getting older. I was like ‘hey, you can do this, and you need to do it. You need to follow through, you need to show up. It’s not just always about training. It’s about a bigger picture, too. So if that’s what you want to do, then put 110 percent and I will support you any way that I can support you. And that’s what I’ve been doing.”

But that's how badly Sheehy-Guiseppi wanted a chance. That's how his collegiate success happened, a product of pure effort and determination.

A Phoenix College coach noticed him finishing first in the team sprints during Sheehy-Guiseppi's first season and asked him if he could return kicks. Sheehy-Guiseppi, who had never returned a kick in his life, said yes. And then he became an All-American returner.

When considering this, it comes as no surprise that he decided to sleep outside the Miami gym, with his NFL chance closer than ever.

That chance became a reality -- albeit potentially temporary, as nothing in the NFL lasts forever -- when he arrived in Berea with the same two bags slung over his shoulder. Soon after, he'd impressed Browns scouts enough to earn a contract -- and a free meal.

"Incredible,” Highsmith said. “To be out of football as long as he's been out, and still have that type of speed? That means he's fast. And now he's eating three square meals a day, sleeping in his own bed. The sky's the limit for him."

I'm wondering if we can practice squad him and maybe try to turn him into a DB and special teams guy.

It's gonna be hard to unseat guys on the WR depth chart.

Hopefully this kid can become this team's Josh Cribbs. Hard not to root for him. Callaway's suspension should help his chances of making the team, at least for the first 4 games.

Haha love the Willie Mayes Hayes reference

Nice call Pete!

j/c:

Considering his story and how many good WRs we have, I suggest that even if he doesn't make the team or the PS, the Browns employ this dude in some capacity.

It would be a good-will act and he can continue working out on his own. I would prefer that to him living on the streets again.

That would be a nice gesture, but he might just make the team by returning punts to the EZ.
Stuff like that.

It seems like he can be a fit in the CFL or XFL.

Literally it reminded me of the first time I saw Wes Welker as a player in San Diego. Undrafted FA... My eyes told me he was a player. San Diego cut him on the final cut, and Miami picked him up.

Then Bad boy Bill traded a second for him, and the rest is history...

J/C

I’m thinking he has a real shot to make the team (or PS) ... at least initially as Callaway is suspsended. Remember, Callaway is our PR. If he shows that much promise as a returner (more than Hilliard) we may keep him.

Of course, I don’t know what he’s like on STs as a gunner.

j/c

Joe Thomas has been on Cleveland Browns Daily all week. Yesterday they were talking about S-G's chances of making the team. Joe opined that as deep and as talented as our WR group is, combined with the pass-catching abilities of our TE and RB groups, keeping S-G on as a pure return specialist has more value than keeping a #6 WR. With even the threat of a break away punt return, opposing teams will try to kick away from S-G, resulting in shorter punts and punts out of bounds. If that shortens punts by an average of 10 yards per, for 4 punts per game over 16 games, that's 640 yards before the yardage he actually returns is factored in.

All of this is assuming that S-G continues to demonstrate the ability he showed on Thursday.

That's a pretty good point about being that important to the team as a returner.

Man, I am really rooting for this guy. That was such a cool thing to witness. Here is another article that is atop of Yahoo's home page. Much of it's already been mentioned, but it's still a lot of fun to read and watch. I will just post the link due to the videos and tweets.

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/browns-damo...-135838013.html

Agreed. Still, it's worth talking about, because we know Dorsey and Kitchens read this board.

Go Guiseppi!!!!

I might be a sap, but I love this story!!!!

I'd like to see more before I anoint him the second coming... Plus, he doesn't look like he's built to take a hard hit, so I'd like to see him get up once or twice after getting plowed.

Kinda like Devin Hester.

Yes, I’d like to see him out there as a gunner, on both returns, and a bit at WR/Slot with the last group. He’s got to be valuable in multiple ways.

BUT, Callaway’s suspension does help his cause initially. He could earn his way on and then get to the PS for the remainder

I would rather he can be a gunner but he looks smallish for that role ... IF dude is a great returner i could care if he’s a good gunner or not ...

I said what Joe did earlier in the thread ... he could be our “6th WR” due to his return skills ... it depends on what we value more .... depth at the WR position or him as a returner ...

After his TD thursday, someone will give him a shot at playing.... Thats it we don't

I've been thinking about this. Think about our wide receivers.

OBJ
Landry
Higgins
Callaway
Strong or Willies

Do we really want the top guys coming off the field for a 6th wide receiver? Or, would it be wiser to keep DS-G as a returner and have him as our 6th WR if we ever need to go down the list that far?

If he's kept just as a returner specialist where he is not getting reps at WR. I say, teach him how to hold. As we don't want our punter competition to be lost by the better punter that can't hold.

As a return specialist that isn't being counted on as a WR will have extra rep's to spare in practice to work on this. He's obviously gritty and hard working.

I guess the 'got ya', is the returner is a higher likelihood position of injury then a punter. So this plan would be setting us up for failure. I retract this idea as being worthwhile. Just looking for ways to increase his value.

The suspension of Calloway is big for this kid. He will get a lot of return action since Calloway was listed as the #1 returner.

I think Calloway can practice, but I see no sense in him returning punts at this point.

Let Guiseppi return them and see what he can do.

In the old days you kept return specialists. Sure, they played some other position, but they never played. On our team, Flea Roberts and Dino Hall didn't play much when not returning. Metcalf played. Once Kelly started playing he didn't return punts. Cribbs didn't play all that much outside of returning the ball...a few wildcat sets.

I want Guiseppi to make the team as much as anybody I ever have. It's a story with a movie script waiting to be written. Kind of like the story Walburgh played about the Eagles player or the movie Rudy.

Have to like things like that.

Thats exactly what i thought before i made my post before Joe said it ...

Were gonna have 5 good ones ... u don’t need more ...

Right now we have 3 really good ones and 4 and 5 don’t appear to be bums ... with Calloway we would have 4 really good ones ...

Not sure witch way the dumb ass affects this ..

It’s probably gonna come down to that 6th WR, 4th RB, or 4th TE, or return specialist

At least until Callaway and Hunt return

On the sideline it was Baker who took the ball from Sheehy to make sure it got saved for Damian, being his first NFL touchdown. I remember Baker taking Rodney Anderson's helmet after a rushing TD at OU, and cleaning the dirt clods from the facemask. No wonder these guys would run through a brick wall for him.

And Damian sure needed the oxygen after that return. I don't know if it was from the run or the endzone pile-up. Good luck young man.

j/c:



This guy wants it soooo bad. I don't normally fall into the trap of promoting guys who shine in preseason games, but I can't help but root for this guy. This city was built on blue collar workers busting their ass each and every day. I hope this guy gets his chance.

I am happy for this guy. With his improbable back story, his TD return and now Callaway's suspension it may just be, yet another gift being handed to him. If so, what a story and man, what luck (not taking away anything from him regarding the hard work he has put into it), but with all the things he has done to get on this roster...if he is part of the final 53 he may want to buy a lottery ticket as he seems to have some damn good luck on his side.

Consider the typical Browns fan.
Consider the family histories that brought the present-day Browns Fan to this point: up from dirt, with nothing but heart, will, desire and a sense of 'no quit' to get where we all are at this moment in 2019.

How can we not love this young man?
I'm a pure football fan/student with the best of them, but I'm a Human Being first. And I love a great human interest story.

If this kid can't inspire me to get behind another person, I need someone to jump-start my soul..02

I'd much prefer to spend time on guys like Giuseppe, as opposed to Callaway. Callaway has all the talent in the world, but will ultimately piss it away, as evidenced by past history.

Give a guy like Giuseppe the opportunity and let him run with it. His attitude and drive to succeed is remarkable. Give him NFL level coaching, nutrition, etc and he's a guy that can make a difference on a team.

Why does he have to unseat a receiver? He can unseat anybody bound for special teams. Our long snapper doesn't play on the offensive line.

As I said earlier, Calloway is out 4 games. That gives this kid a 4 game roster spot. By that time the staff will know if they want to keep him or if there is someone else to release.

Trust me, if this guy through 4 games has several break out returns...not saying they have to be TD's, you know, 15 yards here, 20 there, we will keep him. You keep field flippers.