Jump to content
THE BROWNS BOARD

A few thoughts on the training camp practice, Monday, 8th August

calfoxwc

By calfoxwc
in THE BROWNS BOARD

Recommended Posts

calfoxwc Grand Master

calfoxwc

Posted
Posted

1. Like Canton Mike mentioned to me, Hue and the rest of the coaches run a great uptempo

practice. The difference is awesome. Before, it seemed like the coaches stood around, and

the tempo was so slow, the players got bored. Not now. The practice is quick, uptempo,

and the players really seem to enjoy the pace. A LOT gets done.

 

2. Amazing still, is the rappport the Browns have with THESE coaches. I have never

seen it before. The coaches TEACH all the time - technique, the way the systems work,

I suppose, a lot of teaching. And the players really seem engaged with learning from coaches

that have so much to teach. It isn't just "coach says something, and the player walks away".

 

It's "coach teaches to player(s), and the players respond with questions and comments."

It tells me that the players are ALL IN on believing in their coaches, and respect goes

both ways.

 

3. The players -really- seem upbeat, and having FUN out there, a lot of fun chatter.

At one point, the db's were challenging a pass, tried to intercept it, the wr and db's

nearly collided, and went pass the line, nearly landing on me and the guy to my left.

We caught them just as they stopped in front of us. I believe it was Rahim Moore, #20?,

that laid on the ground, doing a beautiful version of an inch worm crawling, while they

were all laughing and hooting and hollering. This, friends, is how a team comes together.

 

4. With so much going on, I just noticed certain players and took note.

 

a. Terrell Pryor. the REAL DEAL. Pryor is having fun being "ALL IN", and goes

to block on a pass play like he means business, and when he gets his hands on

the ball, he has moves, and gets serious yacs. He's explosive off the los, great hands,

and he looks like he may very well become a well known name, like a Josh Cribbs,

one of those popular players. He no longer looks like the ex qb trying to become

a wr. He IS a wr now. And he looks unstoppable.

 

b. Scooby. Seems to have excellent instincts, has very, very fast hand to hand

"combat" moves, and very quick feet. I hope he sticks. Probably backup ILB.

 

c. Joe Haden is back active. Saw him take off from the los, and he looks ready to roll.

 

d. Danny Shelton, my co-favorite player, along with Joe Thomas. The defensive line

has a promise of a very, very, very good rotation. They have two really big, stalwart

road graders in Lawrence-Stample and John Hughes. They are 6'1",, 320, and

6'2", 320. And then, there is Danny Shelton. 6'2", 335.

 

But Danny Shelton doesn't look like a road grader anymore. He's trimmed, very

athletic looking. What is fascinating, at least to me, is that on the drills where the dl's

take off, and go low to spin around the back of the olineman... Shelton went

low and around so quickly I was stunned to see he could do that. That's

335 lbs in a low, tight arc 3 pt crawl, and he was so quick at it I was ...stunned.

That should scare the crap out of opposing qbs. Shelton looks unstoppable,

and not sluggish in the slightest. Shelton can MOVE. Nassib, Cooper, Meder,

the rest... the coaches have a lot of tough decisions to make with the competition,

in several positions on the team.

 

e. Higgins is just a wr who has "it", too. He was making some plays, and seems to be

very physical on going to block on a play,

 

f. So, I was looking around in the defensive backfield, and missed it, but Canton Mike

says that one one red zone play... they had Pryor at qb, and RGIII was ... somewhere else.

I'll let him elaborate.

 

g. Gabriel shows more fluency in his route running, and even showed a stutter step and

change of direction I don't remember him doing much of before last year. Of course,

he's small. Hawkins looks even smaller. Interesting. How many wr's they keep, and which

ones, is one of the great mysteries to us all - tough decisions, there, too.

 

h. While Danny Shelton was signing autographs, I walked over and said to him that

I LOVE the way he plays the game. He flashed his big grin, and said "Thank you, goin after it evey day".

Danny is very, very popular.

 

i. Seems like these Browns have a serious, fun, inner confidence with where they are

as a TEAM, with believing in their coaches, and it shows in the upbeat pace of the practices,

and the fun chatter with the players. Amazing difference.

 

j. sorry, that's all I can muster. It was really hot, and I had sweat running down into my eyes

a few times when the breeze went quiet, and my binoculars fogged up. And I'm just

a fan, no football scout .

 

EDIT* oh, there was this drill where the lb's go after the "qb", and when they get to him, the coach

tosses a "fumble" behind the dummy, and the lb immediately goes after the "fumble".

This is cool. Never saw this any other practice in past years, ever. Just a smart, teaching

moment of a drill. The coaches do that a lot.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
calfoxwc Grand Master

calfoxwc

Posted
  • Author
Posted

didn't notice him - Ricardo Louis. Nope, saw his number, he looks tall at 6'2". But there is

a lot going on all over the place....

 

Maybe it's just me, but Louis is all in, it seems, I just didn't see him take his turn, and don't

know the numbers as well as Canton Mike, so..

 

but I went and found this article again, since you bring him up... and it's impressive. Louis fits the profile

excellently, and was a combine kid, he's 6'2", 4.3 speed, and was in the TOP FIVE in several combine wr

drills. Has a ton to learn, coming from Auburn, like Coleman out of Baylor. But he's a learner, like Coleman. Smart kid, loves the game. In my dumb opinion, I've read how he's raw, he'll be on the practice squad. You want this kid on your football

team next year, maybe, because if he develops... watch out.

 

http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2016/05/ricardo_louis_sees_auburns_201.html

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Flugel Grand Master

Flugel

Posted
Posted

Appreciate the nice write-up Cal!

 

Good to hear Danny Shelton trimmed up. It should really help him get his pad height down easier this year without the extra belly cargo.

 

Sounds like Pryor is consistently impressing people. Both you and Tia had good things to say about Higgins on your visits to camp.

 

Hard to believe we'll be watching them play this Friday already.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Canton Mike Newbie

Canton Mike

Posted
Posted

Cal,

That was a great write up!

 

To address a few items you mentioned....

 

-Camp energy & Coaching...Off the charts compared to what we have seen in the past.

-Danny Shelton is carrying a good bit of weight but faster & looks MUCH thinner. I've always heard muscle outweighs fat. Wonder what his % of body fat is "then & now".

-Pryor red zone play...Pryor lined up at QB, RG3 split wide right. Pryor took a step or 2 back & ran up the gut for the TD.

-Louis...This pick had me wondering too as he has great physical/speed tools but seems to be a "dropper". To me, he just drops too many balls, then he'll make a brilliant catch. ??? Guess time will tell.

 

I have a great deal of confidence in this Coaching Staff & finally able to trust a Browns' Staff in player evaluation. It will be very interesting to see how it all pans out.

 

Mike

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Flugel Grand Master

Flugel

Posted
Posted

Cal,

That was a great write up!

 

To address a few items you mentioned....

 

-Camp energy & Coaching...Off the charts compared to what we have seen in the past.

-Danny Shelton is carrying a good bit of weight but faster & looks MUCH thinner. I've always heard muscle outweighs fat. Wonder what his % of body fat is "then & now".

-Pryor red zone play...Pryor lined up at QB, RG3 split wide right. Pryor took a step or 2 back & ran up the gut for the TD.

-Louis...This pick had me wondering too as he has great physical/speed tools but seems to be a "dropper". To me, he just drops too many balls, then he'll make a brilliant catch. ??? Guess time will tell.

 

I have a great deal of confidence in this Coaching Staff & finally able to trust a Browns' Staff in player evaluation. It will be very interesting to see how it all pans out.

 

Mike

 

Interesting Mike! My guess is Louis is a punt coverage team gunner this year if he makes the roster.

 

It's just refreshing to see a coaching staff on the same page with the front office after last year's drama. That turned into a War of the Roses caliber divorce between Farmer and Pettine that became such a distraction - it spilled over to the field in 2015.

 

1 thing not to lose sight of is this team won 7 games in 2014...

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Tour2ma Contributor

Tour2ma

Posted
Posted

1 thing not to lose sight of is this team won 7 games in 2014...

 

How many starters from 2014?

 

Offense: 4... Hawk, JT, Bito, Greco

 

Defense: 3... Kirksey, Kruger, Haden(?)

 

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/cle/2014_roster.htm

Link to comment
Share on other sites
sisky fringo Newbie

sisky fringo

Posted
Posted

thanks for the info fellas.

 

as far as Louis being a head scratcher in the 4th round...Martavis Bryant was projected by most as a 4th or 5th rounder project and the Puke took them with their first pick in the 1st rd (!).

 

beauty is in the eye of the beholder and coaches draft according to system and scheme. i have faith these guys have a pretty good idea what they are looking at, and what kind of players they want on their team. maybe Louis can have Johnson Bademosi's roster spot this year... ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Mudfly Newbie

Mudfly

Posted
Posted

thanks for the info fellas.

 

as far as Louis being a head scratcher in the 4th round...Martavis Bryant was projected by most as a 4th or 5th rounder project and the Puke took them with their first pick in the 1st rd (!).

 

beauty is in the eye of the beholder and coaches draft according to system and scheme. i have faith these guys have a pretty good idea what they are looking at, and what kind of players they want on their team. maybe Louis can have Johnson Bademosi's roster spot this year... ;)

Bryant was a fourth round pick.......drafted where he was projected.....

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Tour2ma Contributor

Tour2ma

Posted
Posted

Yes. Starting nickel back. He probably plays the first defensive play in close to 50% of games.

 

Ah.... wasn't aware that we are lining up in "the nickel" as our base defense.... good to know...

Link to comment
Share on other sites
jiggins7919 Experienced

jiggins7919

Posted
Posted

Guess who is back at practice today?!!

 

JOSH GORDON BABY!

 

Yes, yes...I know I shouldn't expect all that much from him right away, but I can't help it. I had so much watching Gordon that one year, that I can't help but wonder what our offense can look like with him running down the field. If Josh returns to just 75% of what he used to be, I can't imagine how a team will match up in the secondary. Josh is the obvious #1, but everything I've read is Andrew Hawkins is actually the most difficult guy to cover, and let's not forget about this rookie we have...Mr. Coleman. Those are three pretty difficult guys to cover.

 

Also, Corey Coleman is back practicing and might actually play Thursday, as well as TE Seth Devalve.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
tiamat63 Veteran

tiamat63

Posted
Posted

 

Ah.... wasn't aware that we are lining up in "the nickel" as our base defense.... good to know...

I must disagree with this. We play nickel than anything and to me, if you walk out on the field for the first offensive or defensive snap (barring extreme situations, injuries, etc) then you're a starter for that game.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
wargograw Newbie

wargograw

Posted
Posted

 

Ah.... wasn't aware that we are lining up in "the nickel" as our base defense.... good to know...

 

You didn't specify base defense. He's still the top guy at his position and that position is on the field a ton....oftentimes for the first play.

 

And in the spirit of the discussion, he was an instrumental part of our 2014 defense.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Orion Veteran

Orion

Posted
Posted

Guess who is back at practice today?!!

 

JOSH GORDON BABY!

 

Yes, yes...I know I shouldn't expect all that much

 

I can't bring myself to expect anything out of him.

 

He'll probably pull a hammy or something in a day or two and ride a bike until his suspension starts.

Is Manziel still a contact in his phone?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...