Cleveland Browns Minicamp - Day 1 Recap

The Cleveland Browns began mandatory minicamp on Tuesday, and the first thing the media jumped at this morning was a report by ESPN Cleveland's Will Burge that claimed that running back Trent Richardson would be out of action until some time in August, which means he would miss part of training camp. Is the rumor true? Find out the latest in our Day 1 minicamp recap below.

CLEVELAND BROWNS - DAY 1 MINICAMP RECAP (6/4/13)

1. What's Up With Richardson? When head coach Rob Chudzinski was asked if Richardson would be ready for training camp, Chudzinski responded, "Yes, that is my expectation." Does that throw a wrench in Burge's report from earlier? Richardson was busy exercising lightly on the sidelines again, and will be made available to reporters on Wednesday. I'm sure he will dismiss the report too, but we won't know for certain about Richardson's status until the first day of training camp, which could be around July 26th.
   
2. Greco Remains a Starter: The good news continues for John Greco. According to the Plain Dealer, Greco remained with the first-team offense, but this time he was back at left guard. Shawn Lauvao was the starting right guard. The second teamers were Jason Pinkston at left guard and seventh-round draft pick Garrett Gilkey at right guard. I wonder if Ryan Miller is being pegged as a tackle.
   
3. Weeden Settles In: Steve Doerschuk of the Canton Repository has a good write-up on his blog about what Brandon Weeden and Jason Campbell have been doing. On Day 1 of mandatory minicamp, he said it was a tale of two "halves" for Weeden. He was "not sharp" in the first half, but was "crisp" in the second half. The Plain Dealer noted that Weeden completed plenty of deep balls, including several to receiver Josh Gordon. Coincidentally, it was the opposite for Campbell: sharp early, but he had a terrible sequence later on.
   
4. Getting a Feel for the Coaching Staff: What is the mentality like out in Berea?
   

   D'Qwell Jackson on the focus of the new coaches: "There's a major sense of urgency to win now."

   — Steve Doerschuk (@sdoerschukREP) June 4, 2013

5. Jabaal Sheard Receives Praise: Working behind Jabaal Sheard, first-round pick Barkevious Mingo batted away a pass thrown by Jason Campbell during practice, according to the Plain Dealer. But Sheard has been handling the adjustment to outside linebacker quite well, according to outside linebackers coach Brian Baker:
   

   He’s been the most pleasant surprise to me because he had the [play] of a defensive end and defensive lineman and having some of those things conflict with what he’s doing as an outside ’backer. I thought that would be more of a roadblock for him. Typically, those are those things that are. There are a lot of differences that he had to embrace as a 4-3 end in this league. He’s done a great job of separating that. He’s got a great understanding of football and just great special awareness. He’s just been really a pleasant surprise.

6. Who Will be the Kick Returner?: We know that Travis Benjamin is a virtual lock to be the team's punt returner, but what about kick returner? Cabot had some more names who were trying out for the possibly wide open kick return job:
   

   Johnson Bademosi got first dibs, followed by Buster Skrine, Travis Benjamin, Mike Edwards, Dion Lewis and Dominique Croom.

   It's interesting to see Benjamin among those names. I had wondered if he would be given an opportunity to pull doubly duty like Joshua Cribbs did. Still, I don't think he'll actually end up as the team's kick returner.
   
7. Injury Report: Besides Richardson, the other players who were just doing light exercises included WR David Nelson (knee), WR Jordan Norwood (hamstring), OT Chris Faulk (knee), and safety Jamoris Slaughter (knee). Nelson is expected to be ready for the start of training camp.
   
8. Brownies: WR Josh Cooper received a couple of mentions for making good catches. ... CB Buster Skrine saw most of the action as the No. 2 starting cornerback. ... When asked about the competition at kicker, Chudzinski said that it is back and forth and that Brandon Bogotay has a stronger leg than Shayne Graham. ... Chudzinski said that he will typically go with afternoon practices for training camp. ... Lastly, the coach denied hearing anything about a possible suspension coming for a Browns player.

The Browns will be back at it Wednesday and Thursday before resting up until the start of training camp in late July. During that gap, our training camp previews will commence. A little bit later, we will post the transcript from Rob Chudzinski's press conference following the conclusion of Tuesday's practice.