Storylines Heading Into Cleveland Browns Training Camp

The Cleveland Browns open their training camp next week as rookies report on July 22 and veterans the next day. Every year there’s at least a few stories that follow the team and individual players going into camp. While bigger stories often take precedence, smaller stories sometimes make their way into the rotation, should they not fall through the cracks.

So what stories are following the Browns into Berea this year? Well let’s look at five different ones and see what could be on the horizon.

 

1. Returns From Injury
Several Browns players went down with injuries last season.  Deshaun Watson, Nick Chubb, Maurice Hurst II, as well as two starting safeties and three different starting offensive tackles all found their ways to the season-ending injured reserve. Through all of that, Cleveland finished as one of the best teams in the AFC.

Cleveland would love to turn the page, but injuries are one of the most unpredictable parts of the game. Injuries such as broken shoulders (Watson) and MCL tears (Chubb) can have effects on how someone plays even after they’ve recovered. For any kind of success to blossom, they’ll need to hope that the damage sustained won’t affect them going forward.

General Manager Andrew Berry has gone out and acquired depth at most of the positions that were ravaged by injury. Names like quarterback Jameis Winston and running back D’Onta Foreman are expected to play significant roles should the injury bug start to ramp up again.

 

2. The Extension Game
The big story coming out of minicamps and OTAs was that wide receiver Amari Cooper chose not to participate and ended up being fined for unexcused absences. The reason given for his absences had to do with wanting an extension as he heads into his contract year. Berry has acknowledged that his contract is coming to an end and has said that re-signing him is a priority.

On top of Cooper, Cleveland must start thinking about extensions for other players as well. Chubb, linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, wide receiver Elijah Moore and left tackle Jedrick Wills Jr. all are about to play on their contract years. Realistically, Chubb and JOK should take priority but in today’s NFL that’s far from a guarantee.

One thing to watch will be if Cleveland works more on extensions during the season. Players like safety Grant Delpit, right tackle Jack Conklin and long snapper Charley Hughlett all have signed extensions during the season in the last couple of seasons. An interesting note in all of that is two of those extensions came in December (Delpit and Conklin): so, the last month of the year could be the most interesting for some of those names.

 

3. Offensive Changes
Cleveland’s offensive personnel underwent a massive face lift and it had nothing to do with the players. Offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt, running back coach Stump Mitchell, tight end coach T.C. McCartney and offensive line coach Bill Callahan are all gone. Ken Dorsey (OC), Duce Staley (running backs coach), Tommy Rees (TE coach) and Andy Dickerson (OL coach) were hired to take their places.

Additionally, former UConn offensive coordinator Nick Charlton and Roy Istvan were hired as an offensive assistant/run game specialist and assistant offensive line coach respectively to help flush out the offense even more.

While Staley and Rees have important roles, the two big names many are focused on are Dorsey and Dickerson.

Dickerson will take over Callahan’s role. Callahan was seen as one of the big reasons why the Browns have had success on the offensive line and why players like guard Wyatt Teller and offensive tackle Dawand Jones were able to develop. Dickerson runs a similar style and past organizations such as the Seattle Seahawks and Los Angeles Rams have praised his ability to teach. It’s not going to be an easy transition but judging from some of the comments by current Browns linemen, it sounds like it’s going smoothly.

As for Dorsey, it comes down to a philosophy change: Dorsey and head coach Kevin Stefanski were extremely similar in offensive philosophy.. Adding a voice like Dorsey into the offensive room should shake things up a bit. Deshaun Watson abilities lend themselves more to playing in a style similar to Josh Allen rather than that of Andy Dalton or Joe Flacco. This is paramount because playing to your key pieces abilities is often how a team finds success, more so than trying to plug someone into a certain offense and hoping it works out.

It’s easy to get wrapped up in these changes following Cleveland’s trip to the playoffs last year but sometimes it’s necessary to evolve the offense. Flacco, Jacoby Brissett and Baker Mayfield were better fits for Van Pelt’s system and ideals. With Watson being “the guy” now, they need to have an offense that will better fit his skills. The change was inevitable, it was just a question of when.

 

4. Rebuilding The Middle Of The Defense

Cleveland rebuilt this defensive line with defensive end Myles Garrett being the focal point. The additions of Za’Darius Smith, Ogbo Okoronkwo, Shelby Harris, Maurice Hurst and Dalvin Tomlinson may not have led to amazing sack numbers but ultimately made the defensive line more productive overall. The weapons on the line had enough firepower to help make defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz’s defense work.

This year, it seems like the linebacker room got that treatment. Cleveland would take fliers on Jordan Hicks and Devin Bush. They’d also draft Nathaniel “Bookie” Watson out of Mississippi State in the sixth-round, as well as Winston Reid out of Weber State as an undrafted free agent.

Add these names to last year’s group of Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, Mohamoud Diabate and Tony Fields II and this room looks different. Last year was an underrated unit but this year’s has the potential to be even better, it just needs to come to fruition.

 

5. Return To Sender
The NFL has once again changed their kickoff rules, this time opting for something similar to what was done in the XFL. This should make kickoffs more exciting while simultaneously increasing the vitality of the kick returner. Cleveland currently has three interesting names to serve as returns: Nyheim Hines, James Proche II and Pierre Strong.

All three men have good speed, solid hands and return capabilities. This shouldn’t be a case of “iron sharpening iron,” rather who can outperform who in camp.

Statistically, Hines should be the favorite with more experience returning and even recording four punt or kick returns for touchdowns. However, Proche II will be trying to defend his role from last year.