clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Voluntary Minicamp Begins April 16 for Cleveland Browns

By Chris Pokorny
USA TODAY Sports

Cleveland Browns head coach Rod Chudzinski is getting ready to gather [most of] the troops together for the first time as the team begins their voluntary minicamp on Tuesday. The three-day minicamp ends on Thursday, spanning from April 16th to April 18th and represents "phase two" of the team's offseason program.

Phase one of the offseason program began on April 1st and consisted of players doing workouts with the strength and conditioning coaches. According to the NFL's Collective Bargaining Agreement, here is what can happen during phase two over the next couple of weeks:

(ii) Phase Two. Phase Two shall consist of the next three weeks of the Club's offseason workout program. Subject to the additional rules set forth in Section 5 of this Article, during Phase Two all coaches shall be allowed on the field. On-field wor­kouts may include individual player instruction and drills, as well as "perfect play" drills (e.g., offense or defense only, but not offense vs. defense), or special teams drills on a "separates" basis (e.g.., kicking team or return team only, but not kicking team vs. return team). No live contact or team offense vs. team defense drills are permitted. No offense vs. defense drills are permitted (e.g.., no one-on-one offensive linemen vs. defensive linemen pass rush or pass protection drills, no wide receivers vs. defensive backs bump­ and-run drills, and no one-on-one special teams drills involving both offense and defense are permitted.) Players cannot wear helmets during Phase Two.

There are a few tweaks to the rules because this is a "minicamp." To summarize:

  • All coaches will be allowed on the field.
  • No contact is permitted.
  • There can be no one-on-one offense vs. defense drills.
  • The offense can run team drills against the defense, provided there is no contact. The same stipulation applies to special teams drills.

Per the team's official team site, Chudzinski talked about getting started:

"We’re excited about getting out there," Chudzinski said. "It’s just good to get out there and actually start coaching. This is the first opportunity. We have some team periods, and some periods of seven-on-seven to get a chance to really coach them up. It’s hard at this point because it’s so early to get evaluations, but we’ll get a little bit of that, an early assessment for that."

"We really want to make sure the guys understand us and get to know us. We need to get to know them, (making sure) that they understand how practice operates, the tempo that we want, the style and how practices are laid out and set up. We also want to start introducing our concepts from an Xs and Os standpoint and go out and get a chance to execute those things, and get a chance to work on some of the base techniques and lay the foundation for our team."

A couple of days ago, Browns quarterback Brandon Weeden was getting excited for minicamp:

Here is the remainder of the team's schedule over the next few weeks:

Voluntary Minicamp: April 16-18
OTA Offseason Workouts: May 14-16, May 21-23, May 28-31
Mandatory Minicamp: June 4-6

More From Dawgs By Nature