Cleveland Browns Training Camp Recap: Day 6 - Bruce Smith arrives

Cleveland Browns Training Camp Report - Day 6 (8/2/17)

1. Full Squad Ready to Go: After a day off, the Browns were in shells on a day with no tackling permitted. There were no managed days off, which means everyone was ready-to-practice and that the first-team offensive line was together for the first time perhaps all camp. Notably, the player who was at right tackle was second-year man Shon Coleman.

2. Bruce Smith Arrives: This offseason, we heard that Hall of Fame DE Bruce Smith was going to visit Browns training camp at some point, largely because of him being a mentor of sorts to first overall pick Myles Garrett. But he was also observing the other defensive linemen:

3. Garrett Graduates to the First-Team Defense: This is no surprise, considering how much he’s been dominating so quickly, but DE Myles Garrett is now with the first-team defense. And with LT Joe Thomas playing, that means we also got our showdown between the immortals. We are going to do a separate post later [update: see that post here] on to go more in detail about the faceoff, but here is one clip from Browns Chalk Talk in which Garrett gets around Thomas and knocks QB Cody Kessler down.

This was a screen play, so one might say that an offensive lineman baits the defensive end to get around the edge so they don’t interfere with the screen that way. However, I don’t think Thomas wanted to let Garrett get around him as quickly as he did.

4. Punch the Ball Out: Sometimes, it’s fun to watch the props used in the individual drills. Here, you can see an assistant coach trying to punch the ball out of running backs’ hands as they are high-stepping. (I get the feeling that maybe the tight ends could use this drill too).

5. A Note on Peppers: We haven’t talked about SS Jabrill Peppers much this camp, but here’s a note on him. Emory Hunt of Football Gameplan was in town for practice today, and he liked what he saw about Peppers’ recognition against the run:

6. Coming Up Short at Crunch Time: There was a variation on the two-minute drill today. For QB Cody Kessler and QB Brock Osweiler, the situation was that the offense was down by four points at the end of the game with no timeouts. Therefore, they needed a touchdown to win, and risk-taking was more appropriate. Both drives ended up in interceptions, per Mary Kay Cabot of the Plain Dealer:

That’s good news for CB Joe Haden and CB Briean Boddy-Calhoun, though. When it was QB DeShone Kizer’s turn, his situation was that the Browns were down by only one point, needing a field goal. He got the team in range for that attempt.

7. Positive Press for Njoku: Even though it was lighter end zone drills (no front sevens), TE David Njoku made one touchdown grab over two defenders, and then this snag.

That pass came from QB Kevin Hogan. After practice, head coach Hue Jackson said that we know already that he can make these types of plays, but that he needs to make them consistently now.

8. Kicker Competition Draws Even: Today was a good day for K Zane Gonzalez, who was perfect on five attempts. Both kickers hit from long range, but K Cody Parkey reportedly missed from 39 yards out:

9. Brownies: CB Marcus Burley was shaken up and had to leave after colliding with a teammate in this clip. ... TE Seth DeValve dropped a big pass over the middle in team drills. ... Also moving up to the first-team defense on Wednesday was veteran DE Desmond Bryant. ... Aditi Kinkhabwala of the NFL Network is in town covering the Browns this week. ... Completion-wise, it was an ugly day for the quarterbacks, perhaps predicated by the fast pace of the two-minute drills.

10. Next Up: The Brown’ next practice is Thursday in Berea, from 3:25 PM to 5:55 PM. Friday will then be the Orange & Brown Scrimmage at FirstEnergy Stadium.