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The Browns were back to practice on Sunday after a day off on Saturday. If you haven’t seen it yet, we posted our 53-man roster prediction here.
Cleveland Browns Training Camp Report - Day 2 (8/16/20)
1. Rain Pushes Up Start Time: Practice was originally scheduled to begin at 2:00 PM ET. In the past, if rain was in the forecast, the team would cancel practice to fans and just move activities indoors. Rain was expected to hit the Cleveland are just after noon, so the team had the flexibility of moving the start time of practice and Browns Live up to 10:00 AM ET.
Sunday’s practice restrictions were the same as Friday: no live hitting, and no pads. The restrictions come off on Monday.
2. Essential Practice Time at WR: For some players, a sitting out some practices in camp doesn’t mean too much (DE Myles Garrett). For others, it’s critical toward the evaluation of their roster spot, which is why it sucks to see that WR Damion Ratley was sidelined with an undisclosed injury.
Ratley being out creates more opportunities for others, and one of the early things to look at this camp is the fact that WR JoJo Natson has been getting some looks with the first-team offense. Natson has been known as a punt returner, but Cleveland fans saw first hand how an undersized player in Taylor Gabriel made some noise a few years ago.
Couple of quick observations from team:
— Daryl Ruiter (@RuiterWrongFAN) August 16, 2020
-Jojo Natson got some reps with 1 O
-Baker to Hooper is going to be a theme
-OBJ looks like OBJ, made a beautiful sideline catch
-Peoples-Jones was unhappy with a CB & scrapped with him for a brief moment
-Teller at 1 RG, Dunn 2 RG #Browns
3. Beckham’s Sideline Catch: Piggybacking off the previous tweet from Daryl Ruiter of 92.3 the Fan, he says that WR Odell Beckham made a beautiful sideline catch. It’s just a 1-on-1 type of drill, but it’s always good to see more chemistry being developed between Beckham and QB Baker Mayfield, and the Browns Live broadcast showed this snag by Beckham live, with CB Terrance Mitchell in coverage:
Oh. pic.twitter.com/sLLmVdmnYF
— Jake Burns (@jake_burns18) August 16, 2020
4. Drill of the Day: Today’s drill of the day features the Browns’ linebackers working on shedding a blocker to continue attacking a play.
#Browns LBs working on shedding blocks as Born to Run plays. pic.twitter.com/YkASNbOwcZ
— Scott Petrak ct (@ScottPetrak) August 16, 2020
5. Nickelback Competition: According to Zac Jackson of The Athletic, the Browns’ defensive backs split up for a drill, splitting into three groups: outside cornerbacks, nickelbacks, and safeties. That gave Jackson an opportunity to see that CB Kevin Johnson, CB Donnie Lewis Jr, and CB M.J. Stewart Jr. were the first three cornerbacks competing for the nickelback spot. Johnson is the clear favorite to win that role and has had a strong showing to begin camp:
#Browns CB Kevin Johnson has stood out early in training camp. He had a breakup or INT of Case Keenum pass (hard to tell from a distance if he caught it along sideline). Then after next play, Johnson got into brief fight with rookie WR Donovan Peoples-Jones.
— Nate Ulrich (@ByNateUlrich) August 16, 2020
6. Field Goal Competition: Even though K Austin Seibert doesn’t face any competition in camp, it’s still always a competition for him: any kicker knows that a string of bad days and weeks could have the team looking elsewhere. Seibert got off to a good start to camp, connecting on 7-of-8 field goals, with his only miss being from 49 yards out. The missed kick was from the left hash, and he missed it wide right.
K Austin Seibert 7-8 in ST FGs - ✅ from 33 R & L hash, 37, 39, 41, 44, 46 L, 49 L #Browns
— Daryl Ruiter (@RuiterWrongFAN) August 16, 2020
7. Bitonio With Good Insight: After practice, OG Joel Bitonio talked about the offensive line trying to help C Nick Harris get up to speed, and the improvements that QB Baker Mayfield embraced this offseason:
#Browns left guard Joel Bitonio said obviously we want center JC Tretter playing in season opener, but added we're preparing for worst-case scenario and he and other players on offense can help rookie center Nick Harris with responsibilities if Tretter can't be on field in Week 1
— Nate Ulrich (@ByNateUlrich) August 16, 2020
#Browns Joel Bitonio on Baker Mayfield: He let us know it wasn't enough last year. He didn't do enough to help Browns win and he felt bad about it.
— Scott Petrak ct (@ScottPetrak) August 16, 2020
He looks better, his body looks a lot better. He really did take those steps.
8. Brownies: Rookie WR Donovan Peoples-Jones showed a little immaturity perhaps in throwing a few jabs at veteran CB Kevin Johnson during a brief scuffle. ... Wyatt Teller is taking first-team right guard reps, while recently-signed Michael Dunn is taking second-team right guard reps. ... Rookie LT Jedrick Willis had a false start, and was replaced for a rep. ... WR Taywan Taylor has been making some nice catches. ... LB Mack Wilson says he feels like the Browns’ linebacker group is being disrespected by outsiders, and he’s using that as motivation; he’s been practicing as the WILL mostly. ... Head coach Kevin Stefanski said he plans to have two of the Browns’ practices take place at FirstEnergy Stadium. ... Jimmy and Dee Haslam talked to the media after practice. ... A total of 15 puppies have been adopted via the Browns Puppy Pound this year.
9. Next Up: The Browns’ next practice will be on Monday at 2:25 PM. It will be a padded practice, and per league rules, the first practice session will be 90 minutes during this period. As long as there isn’t an off day, each subsequent practice can be increased by 15 minutes in length.
#Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said intensity will ramp up tomorrow in first padded practice, but we'll be smart about acclimating, and it remains to be seen if we'll have any tackling to the ground
— Nate Ulrich (@ByNateUlrich) August 16, 2020