Saturday Dawg Chow: Browns news (8/28/21)

Cleveland Browns:

• Kevin Stefanski’s decision to start Baker Mayfield and select starters vs. Falcons goes against his Camp Health theme (cleveland.com) - Kevin Stefanski’s decision to start Baker Mayfield and select other starters in Sunday night’s preseason finale in Atlanta flies in the face of his Browns training camp theme for 2021: Keep the veterans healthy at all costs.
• Communication will improve connection between Browns’ Baker Mayfield, Odell Beckham Jr. (Beacon Journal) - Team drills ended and a special teams period began, so Odell Beckham Jr. drifted to an adjoining field to talk with passing game coordinator/receivers coach Chad O’Shea. Quarterback Baker Mayfield joined not long after, and soon the fourth-year signal-caller and three-time Pro Bowl receiver were engaged in serious discussion over a route.
• Richard LeCounte III feeling ‘at home’ with Browns (clevelandbrowns.com) - LeCounte is healthy and playing with confidence as he looks to further earn his role on the 53-man roster in his rookie season.
• Browns rookie Tony Fields finally sees the field (Browns Wire) - The Cleveland Browns have dealt with a lot of injuries during training camp this year. One of the longest lingering issues for the team has been with rookie linebacker Tony Fields II. Finally, the Friday before the final preseason game, the Browns get to see Fields on their fields.

NFL:

• Saints pick Jameis Winston to succeed Drew Brees as starting quarterback (The Times-Picayune) - Fifteen years ago, the New Orleans Saints ushered in an era of unprecedented success and stability for the franchise when they signed quarterback Drew Brees to a free-agent contract. Friday, the Saints tabbed Jameis Winston as Brees’ successor, naming Winston the starting quarterback for their Week 1 game Sept. 12 against the Green Bay Packers.
• Kliff Kingsbury and Kyler Murray are running out of time to produce fireworks (The Ringer) - The vaunted Air Raid offense turned into the Horizontal Raid last season, and now the supposedly electric duo in Arizona faces a make-or-break season.
• Six NFL teams headed for ugly 2021 season (CBS Sports) - August has not been particularly kind to some teams, with bad luck, mounting injuries, self-inflicted errors, and bad juju all swirling around. For teams already very much on the margins, and facing a talent imbalance and in many cases with very inexperienced hands overseeing the coaching staff and/or the roster, suffering even one critical injury to a key starter can undermine any gains. Unfortunately for these half dozen teams, they already check far too many of the above boxes, with the potential for overwhelmed coaches and/or facing immediate crisis at key roster spots, with not much going their way heading into the final exhibition contests.