DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum Browns News and Notes Part Deux

lol my goodness David ... get some better home safety

He should just consider moving out of that house.

David should consider calling Steve DiSchiavi and Amy Allan from that show The Dead Files to check his house out!!!

Falcons sign Tommy Togiai off Browns practice squad


Link

Bummer. I thought he played decently last year but I admit I didn’t pay a ton of attention. I’m surprised he hadn’t played at all this year.

Togai was really really bad.. i didn't know we put him on the PS, I thought we released him

We kept him, but no doubt he was just a guy. We can replace him with maybe 6 dozen other guys floating around out there.

Six of one, half a dozen of the other.

j/c...



The story of the toy pickup trucks earned by Browns players and how it's fostered camaraderie within the team

By: Camryn Justice
Posted at 6:57 PM, Dec 21, 2023
and last updated 6:57 PM, Dec 21, 2023

BEREA, Ohio — Sitting in the Browns meeting rooms, you might see a toy pickup truck lying around. It might seem out of place in an NFL building, but those trucks are hard-earned currency for the players who get them.

Every week, offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt tracks pickups—when a player helps his teammates up after a play. Pelt sees that as a crucial stat that doesn't show up on the box score but changes the dynamic of a team.

"When I played, I always tried to be the first one to help guys up off the field. That's just something I always believed in. The tighter the group, the more success you have and that's just something that I've always done and these guys have all bought in across the board, as a team, and it's awesome to see. You hate to see a guy lay there and then guys walk away and we won't put that on film," Van Pelt said.

So, to foster that and encourage pickups, Van Pelt created a reward system.

After a game, the offensive coordinator goes back and counts the players who helped their teammates up after a play. The player who has the most that week earns a toy pickup truck.

Plenty of players have earned themselves a toy truck because this team is all about camaraderie, but a few have led the team in pickups and have had a unique trophy of sorts to display to their peers.

On the offensive line, Ethan Pocic has earned himself a truck. In the running backs room, Jerome Ford always lends a hand when it's not him being picked up after a run. But the overall winner has been tight end David Njoku, who is always there with his hand out, ready to support his teammates.

"Dave's probably had five or six on the season so far. He won one last week as well as did Harry. So our tight end group had a ton of pickups and that's what we are all about, that when we play connected as a unit and as a team and we play for each other," Van Pelt said.

Njoku said it's not so much about getting the trucks, which he said he might give to his daughter, but more about showing appreciation for his teammates.

"I wouldn't say that the pride comes from getting the truck. I'd say it comes from just making sure that nobody, none of us get up by ourselves. I think we take great pride in that," Njoku said.

The team sees that effort and acknowledges how impactful it truly is.

"He’s a positive force in this building, both on the practice field, in the locker room, on the game field. He brings such great energy to this team. And when I say that specifically, he picks his teammates up more than anybody on our team," said head coach Kevin Stefanski.

But it goes beyond helping his teammates off the ground. This season has seen Njoku come into his own and shine as a star on the offense in any role—receiving, blocking, anything he's asked to do.

"Couldn't be more happy for Dave. When we first got here, it wasn't always smooth sailing and he's really bought in and it shows and Kevin's got a great trust and belief in him as well and it's great to see that he's thriving right now. Really happy," Van Pelt said. "I think the person he is, he's prideful. He wants to be successful and a lot of times when guys get frustrated early, it's because they're not having the success that they feel like they need to have. And Dave, he worked through that and then he became an unbelievable blocker, took his game to the next level on the blocking and just stayed the course and worked and worked and worked."

Acknowledging the pickups on the team with a toy truck might seem like a small gesture. But when guys like Njoku, Pocic, Ford and others embrace it, it becomes ingrained in the culture of the team. To have the pickup truck in your hands means you embraced the culture and have something to show for it.

With a group of highly competitive guys, that kind of acknowledgment not only fosters a sense of camaraderie for the player who holds the toy but also embodies what this team is all about.

"The act, it really shows that we really play for each other. We love each other. This is probably the most in-tune team I've ever played with, the chemistry and the love we have for each other. You know what I mean? I think that's really what you need to be successful to win is to play (for) more than just yourself," Njoku said.

https://www.news5cleveland.com/spor...its-fostered-camaraderie-within-the-team

This guy has turned me into an avid fan.
When he played the next game after the firepit episode, I said to myself: "This is a man who wants to be a leader..."


The self-deprecating sense of humor is a plus. A leader who can make jokes about himself is a leader guys will follow and rally behind.
I've been telling Dawgs all this year: we are seeing a true culture change in 216. Coaches are instilling an ethic, players are buying in, and guys like Chief are setting examples. I've waited 2 decades to see this. Glad I'm still around for it.


BONUS: I should be above shadenfreude, but it doesn't hurt to also see the opposite happening in 412.

Njoku was all about himself early on. Now, he is all about the team. It's awesome to see. I know it's hard for players to see far into the future when contracts on the line and you aren't winning, but props to the Chief for getting through the minefield and being the player he is today. Love him on the Browns.

Agreed. He was drafted at the age of 20 and has matured into a selfless team leader. I was thrilled when Berry gave him the contract extension.

Njoku leads all NFL TEs in yards after the catch.

I ordered a Njoku jersey directly after the last game.

After the catch, #85 extends the play like a 2020 Kareem Hunt: wild, unrestrained, hell for leather, every time the ball's in his hands. How can you not love a player like that?

I love how he's happy to bowl over/run through/stiff-arm dbs after first contact... and how he's also not afraid to launch himself for an extra 2-3 yards near the end of a play.
Chief plays football the same way #27 always has: all-out, always for the team/always for that extra yard. How can a fan not root for someone like Dave?

He's played himself into a central cog in the '23 Browns Machinery- and it's been fun to watch.
David Njoku is what a successful NFL draft story is supposed to look like:

1. promise
2. process
3. production

This is what it looks like to draft/cultivate/deploy a player into a regime that didn't completely turn over its entire roster/coaching staff/FO every 2.5-3 years for the first time since 1999.

I truly hope that CLE continues its current trend. I can see something being built.
Not just a team than could win in the near future, but a team that could build a multi-year run of relevance/dominance.


.02,
Clem.

He’s REALLY good when gets heading north after a catch. Fast, and a big man with attitude when he gets in space. Just gotta keep his eyes on the ball.

Glad we extended him.

Anthony walker is week to week with a knee scope

Wills was put on season ending IR with a knee scope.


What am I missing here? Was there also another injury wills had surgery for?

It all depend on what they found while scoping.

But we are paying him too much. lol

Who did Dallas take with that 5th or is it next year 5th?

The Cowboys chose Matt Waletzko, OT from North Dakota., pick #155. He is currently on IR after playing sparingly. They also swapped 6th round picks with us that year. The Cowboys chose Devin Harper, LB from Oklahoma State at pick 193. He was waived by the Cowboys and picked up on waivers by the Bengals in September of this season.


The Browns chose Michael Woods ii WR from Oklahoma at pick # 202.


I think we won that trade.

Getting Obo back could be a big deal

this could also be huge to get Juan back

... and DTR to IR

DTR got crunched on his final play. He ran off the field, all twisted up like a geriatric patient. It hurt me to watch.

oko back would be big, and if we can get delpit back for the playoffs, it looks that much better, too bad we don't have any OT that would be back

The only solace I have about our OL is that most every other team is in a similar situation. The OL injuries league wide is a plague

Not that it really changes the joke at all, but the Cowboys wanted rid of his contract and had Ceedee Lamb breaking out.

The lack of sacks these past few games doesn't mean much to me. He is still the most disruptive defensive player in the league week after week after week even if the sacks don't come to fruition. He is still requiring the double-teams, opponents HAVE to gameplan around him, and his pressure rate continues to be at or near the top of the league.

He should be DPOY without question.

Simply comparing sacks to other players to justify who is the best seems elementary and silly.

Agreed. Imagine if the Refs called the holding penalties on him!!

j/c:

Browns Sign QB Jeff Driskel Off Cardinals Practice Squad

https://www.si.com/nfl/browns/news/browns-sign-qb-jeff-driskel-off-cardinals-practice-squad

I remember him from the Bengals. Quite a few of their message boards fans wanted him to start over Dalton.

A lot of Browns fans wanted DTR to start ahead of PJ Walker. Some wanted to start DTR ahead of DW... I'm afraid fan support for the back up QB doesn't mean an awful lot !

We are shorthanded at WR. How do we start a Bring Back Landry petition.

j/c...

I wonder if we plan on bringing a WR, I think Moore is done for the year, that was more than a concussion, that looked like Tua last year with the fencing. We saw in the second half we have nothing to throw to without cooper/moore. Tillman has been a huge disappointment, his inability to run the right routes is starting to show. Bell is a nobody. Maybe Landry could be an option as a possession type guy. But cooper and Njoku are going to have gameplans in the show to stop them, be nice to have atleast one more reliable target

What ever happened to the Pre season all star WR we had on the roster ?