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That's it. Thanks.

This team could easily start off 0 and 2.

We better run the hell out of the ball this year...

Well that's a bummer. I see a few ways that can be interpreted unfortunately none of them bode particularly well.

Kevin Stefanski: ‘We’ll see’ on Greedy Williams’ shoulder, Jarvis Landry is fine, Earl Thomas isn’t his call, and more from Browns training camp

https://www.cleveland.com/browns/2020/08...ining-camp.html

By Mary Kay Cabot, cleveland.com
BEREA, Ohio — Browns coach Kevin Stefanski began his Zoom conference Tuesday lamenting the loss of second-round Grant Delpit to a season-ending ruptured Achilles that will require surgery.

“He’s disappointed, but I think he’s got the right mindset’' to come back,’' Stefanski said.

He said the Browns have the “next man up’' mentality even though they’ve been particularly hard hit in the secondary.

“We have a resilient bunch,’' he said.

Here are some other quick hits from Stefanski and from the padded practice:

* Stefanski was asked the severity of Greedy Williams’ shoulder injury, which he suffered in practice on Monday. “We’ll see,’' he said. “We’re still evaluating.’' A source told Cleveland.com that the injury ‘doesn’t seem to be critical.

* He was asked if the Browns will pursue seven-time Pro Bowl safety Earl Thomas, who was released by the Ravens after an altercation with a teammates: “I’ll leave that in [GM] Andrew Berry’s court.‘'

He wouldn’t speculate as to whether the Browns would take on a character issue such as Thomas when they’re trying to change the culture on the team. The Browns will look to bring in some defensive backs to replace their injured guys.

* Stefanski addressed receiver Jarvis Landry (hip) walking in early during practice. “Jarvis is still getting his work in,’' he said. “He continues to work with our people inside.’'

* He had high praise for rookie tight end Harrison Bryant, who’s had an excellent camp, especially with David Njoku sidelined with a wrist injury.

“He’s a very locked in young man,’' he said. “I’m very pleased with his progress.‘'

* Cornerback Kevin Johnson, who suffered a lacerated liver last week, is back in the building and doing some light conditioning. He’s expected back early in the season..

* Browns defensive end Chad Thomas got up slowly after a play, and walked inside with a trainer with a neck injury. He can’t afford to miss time. He was slipping down the depth chart and needs a strong finish to camp.

* Cornerback Terrance Mitchell, who was missing from the field on Monday with a knee injury, worked off to the side on Monday. So did Njoku, cornerback M.J. Stewart (hamstring) and defensive end Adrian Clayborn (groin).

* Linebacker Tae Davis was not out on the practice field Tuesday because of an undisclosed illness.

* Browns defensive coordinator Joe Woods said special teams coordinator Mike Priefer and offensive line coach Bill Callahan also missed Sunday’s practice, presumably also with the same false positive COVID-19 test that Kevin Stefanski and others had. He joked that’s why he probably got the nod to run practice.

I want to be optimistic but I have a bad feeling about this year. New coaches (again), new schemes (again), key injuries (again), lack of practices and continuity due to COVID. I will hope with bated breath.

J/c

By the sounds of it, we look pretty bad. That’s depressing.

Watched Baker completely miss wide open guys today.

Where is the uber confident gunslinger from 2018?

It's like he was emasculated last year and can't recover.

It's early I know. But I haven't seen anything special yet, and I've been watching as much as I can. He can't even complete passes in 7 on 7. 7 on 7, the ball should never touch the ground.

And then this damn CBA. These guys need a ton of work and tomorrow is an off day. LOL

I would say Keenum has actually looked worse.

Lots of picks. Lots of checkdowns.

j/c

This thread is why I don't get hyped up and excited. I did last year, and that turned out.......well.

I try to not get too high or low on the Browns. After the last couple of days it’s hard not to get low. Today Baker was missing high once again and when he threw a catchable ball it was dropped. Rishuz is right when he says Case is worse.

This is not any type of surprise. Case Keenum is a journeyman backup. He's bad.

When Zegura is piling on, you know it's bad.

I brought this up earlier, but has anyone been paying attention to the placement of Baker's left foot when he delivers the ball. Is it aligned w/his back foot and the target or is it out to the left? Opening up too much results in high throws. Just wondering...

I tried to watch his footwork but they really don’t show it that much. They tend to have tight camera angles.

Good point. Stuff like that frustrates me. It's like when you are watching a game and you see a defensive guy making a great move or seeing an o-lineman get used and the camera cuts away before they unpile.

I will say this, I see a lot of inaccurate throws and a lot of high throws. I also saw him only working one side of the field today.

Baker needs a lot of work. Hope he's not taking tomorrow off. Call up OBJ and Hooper and Jarvis and Higgins. Go to the facility and work. Man does he look bad.

Receivers look great when they get accurate balls.

Before the usual suspects have a meltdown, I fully recognize it's early. But I would say watch today's practice and tell me you aren't at least a little concerned. I mean I think it's day 10. Should be seeing some improvement, not regression.

I understand this could all swing the other way. Guess I'm just taken aback by what I saw today.

Yeah, today was real bad. With the exception of the red zone TD to Higgins I don’t think a wide receiver caught a pass from Baker. Even our new TE and him had trouble today.

So what's the plan for making up for Sunday's lost practice?

They did end up practicing on Sunday.

Sounds like we just aren’t very good lol (especially Baker) ... that sucks to hear

It's to be expected.
Like he said, we didn't get that time in the spring.... we're playing catch-up. Every team with new coaches is going through the same thing. All that stuff that coaches and players figure out about themselves and what they do well early in an offseason, they are stuck trying to do now while also trying to get ready to play real games.

The injuries are past the point of being concerning. I'm curious if other teams are experiencing a higher than normal rate of injuries right now.


I fully expect us to be like a misfiring engine for at least the first half of the season. We'll run ok in spurts, then backfire on ourselves. By mid-season we should smooth out, but by then it probably won't matter.

Scary. sad to hear this. Might write some of this off to yet another install. But we may need to run the ball heavily until we can manage to spin it. Play those that catch and those who connect. Concerned, not scared yet.

I have made a point of pointing out the problem with Drafting slight of built College DB's to play in the NFL. The Browns have made this a habit. Ward , Greedy and Delpit fall into this category . I was not a in favor of the Delpit pick. Thought the man was glass. Will be interesting to see how many games the three can stay on the field this season.

It makes sense on an elementary level that the Browns are behind the curve due to not having as much time together this year while having a new coaching staff. In fact, no one can even dispute that.

However, we can dig deeper. I look at Carolina. I bet they know their identity. Give McCraffrey the rock as a runner and in the passing game. Run a ton of horizontal routes and let Bridgewater beat teams w/his quick reads in the short to intermediate passing game. I'd say that is their offensive identity and they have a new coach.

I look at the Browns and I see more offensive talent at the skill positions than any other team in the league. I see an above average offensive line. The question is the QB.

I watched a segment on NFL Network this morning during my rehab. The crew was talking about Baker and the Brown's success for this upcoming year. Kyle Brandt spoke about how many weapons he has. Best RBs in the league. One of the best WR groups in the league. Two excellent TEs. Huge investments in the OL. He spoke about how other qbs would love to be in that situation. He wondered if it was enough.

I wonder if all those weapons present a problem? I ask because if Baker isn't very good, are we wasting time trying to develop a big-time passing game? And if we don't want to have a big=time passing game, why in the hell are we wasting so many receiving talents?

This season is all about Baker. No qb has a better situation than he does in regards to talent. His fanboys won't want to hear it, but he needs to get it done........this year!

So I am clear - this year is all on Baker 100%. Or "he just needs to play well" ? I agree he needs to play well and be accountable. I do not agree that the entire offensive performance boils down to Baker 100%.

Likewise - your post might seem to imply the only (or biggest) reason we don't have an offensive identity today is because of Baker. If so I disagree. I think it's probably a factor along with a host of other factors, not the least of which is a new HC and OC.

I'm in the camp that I don't care how Baker plays this year, he needs another year.

98% of fans, media, and most likely the Browns organization will not subscribe to that line of thinking unfortunately. You seem to really like Baker. For your sake, he probably does need to play well.

The guy has been dealt an incredibly crappy hand when it comes to stability and being able to get comfortable in a system where he can react and doesn't have to think so much. That sucks and is why I'm supporting him past this year.

But considering his weapons, if he does have a bad year, we probably need to accept that Baker is a QB who can be good when everything else falls into place. He's not going to put the team on his shoulders. So not a true franchise QB, but a Ryan Tannehill type. I'm holding out hope for the former but after what I've witnessed in TC to date, I'm concerned it's going to be the latter.

Agreed.

Unless he plays so absurdly bad, i.e., 7TDs/29INTs, your hand is forced.

I'm probably half way between you and Vers (assuming I am anywhere close to his intent on his post).

I like Baker because he is our QB and I've seen him do things I don't think any other QB since the return has the ability to do. I have relatively high expectations, and think he's been hurt by being part of a poorly run Browns organization.

I also think he hurt himself last year and needs to own his bad play, and think he needs to show improvement. I don't think the performance of the entire offense comes only on his shoulders.

I think the depth of talent on offense is real, but so is the handicap and impact of being on his 3rd HC (whether interim or otherwise) and all the different play callers and influences on the offense regardless of the terminology thy use.

I mostly agree w/that. Let's hope he plays great and there won't even be a question other than when to give him his big contract.

So if he doesn’t improve at all from last year that’s OK and it will be written off to the “crappy” hand he’s been dealt ... on one side your right about the “crappy” hand .... on the other side there’’s prolly 25 - 30 qb’s that wish they had that “crappy” hand .... we have by far the best skil position players in the league ... hell we have two top 5 - rib’s ... one of the top 3 wr’s and another top 10 ... thats far from “crappy” and will make any qb look a lot better than he is ...

Anyhow ....

If he leaves the pocket due to phantom pressure and throws way to many picks and is missing receivers on a regular basis U think that’s OK and its not a cause for concern?

Part of my thinking is that short of being in a position to draft Trevor Lawrence, I would rather roll the dice on another year of Baker, then thinking he could easily be replaced with someone who is going to be better. I don't think there will be a "better" option out there.

I do think that this is a big year for Baker and how he is viewed in NFL circles.

I don't feel comfortable making a prediction on how he will perform. A part of me is saying that he is going to have a monster year. Another part of me worries that he will be similar to last year in terms of reading coverages and pocket presence.

I wouldn't bet money on either one. Last year, I actually laid down a big of money on him winning the MVP.

I can agree with that ... even average nfl qb’s don’t grow on trees and Bake will still be “relatively” young with upside ... with the talent we have if we get another year from Bake like last year (i highly doubt we will ... i expect a monster year from him ...between Freddie and bakes lack of off season prep it was the imperfect storm ... ) we need to shake the trees and not ignore a shot at bringing in some comp ...

With this talent ... IF Bake don’t improve and we get a shot to bring in some comp I think we have too ... and the last two years a few average nfl qb’s and a few above qb’s have been available ... that NEVER used to happen ..

I also agree.

If Baker sucks you just trade for Aaron Rodgers and then prosper.

j/c...