Sunday Dawg Chow: Browns news (6/11/23)

Dawgs By Nature (the week that was):

• Browns training camp will be much different for fans this year (Jared Mueller) - Browns fans have made training camp a party, proving how great they are for years but 2023 will be different.
• The story of how Art Modell became owner of the Browns (Barry Shuck) - Up until their move to Baltimore in 1996. the Cleveland Browns only had three ownership groups. The final one placed a dagger into the hearts of every fan of the orange and brown.
• Does the Vikings’ release of RB Dalvin Cook have any effect on the Browns’ Nick Chubb? (Chris Pokorny) - The Minnesota Vikings sent some shockwaves across the NFL today when the news broke that they will be releasing RB Dalvin Cook. This is the same Cook who has made the Pro Bowl in all four of his six seasons with the Vikings. They are bailing on him half way through a 5-year, $63 million extension signed a couple seasons ago. My first thought when I saw the news was, “Is this a headline we could see with the Cleveland Browns in a future season, when it comes to Nick Chubb?”
• Browns ‘core’ ranked 11th best in the NFL with upside to ‘fly up the list’ (Jared Mueller) - The Cleveland Browns spot in most NFL rankings is somewhere near the middle of the pack as the national media is, understandably, uncertain of what type of player QB Deshaun Watson will be after a struggle during a six-game stretch in 2022. The rest of the Browns roster is considered to be good to very good but the fate of the team falls on Watson.
• When might the Browns sign Jedrick Wills to a contract extension? (Thomas Moore) - Cleveland Browns general manager Andrew Berry made the expected and reasonable decision in May to pick up the fifth-year option on left tackle Jedrick Wills Jr. Now with Wills under contract for the next two seasons, the next step is to consider what a second contract could look like, if one were to materialize, and when it makes sense to start talking about one.
• Two Browns on The Ultimate Over-30 Team (Jared Mueller) - Stalwart Joel Bitonio and new addition Za’Darius Smith at the top of their positions in the NFL despite their age.
• What does DeAndre Hopkins want? (Thomas Moore) - Is it money? A chance at a ring? Or both? The answer could put the Browns at the front of the line for the free agent wide receiver, according to one analyst.

Cleveland Browns:

• Browns 53-man roster projection: Tough calls at receiver, D-line, linebacker (Beacon Journal) - The Browns are off on a month-plus-long vacation. They’ll get back together in July and head to West Virginia and The Greenbrier for the first practice of training camp on July 22. So what we have for you today is, based upon who’s currently on the 90-man roster, a post-offseason projection of the Browns’ final 53-man roster. Some of them are obvious, but there’s still plenty of time for many to be altered for a variety of reasons.
• 3 standouts from Browns minicamp (clevelandbrowns.com) - Deshaun Watson was the top player of the pass-oriented camp, but who else stood out in the three days of practice?
• Even though it’s early, it’s OK to be excited about the Browns defensive line (cleveland.com) - Everything that happens at this stage of the offseason has to be taken with a grain of salt. Players aren’t in pads, there’s not contact in practice, it’s still early. But …

NFL:

• ‘I love that guy’: How Saints’ Derek Carr, Michael Thomas’ bond is blossoming (ESPN) - As New Orleans Saints quarterback Derek Carr walked up to the podium, he gushed over the speaker before him. There’s a clear bond forming between Carr and wide receiver Michael Thomas, and a series of phone calls throughout the offseason has helped link the two — even before they were teammates.
• Former Lions WR Calvin Johnson on Jameson Williams: ‘Anything I can do to help him, I’ll do that’ (NFL.com) - Second-year Lions wide receiver Jameson Williams has a Hall of Famer in his corner. Calvin Johnson, who attended two of Detroit’s mandatory minicamp practices this week and met Williams for the first time, later discussed the possibility of mentoring him.
• NFLPA’s ‘secretive’ search for executive director has most in the dark (The Washington Post) - About 20 months after player representatives voted to extend DeMaurice Smith’s contract for what he called his final term as executive director of the NFL Players Association, the union continues a quiet search for his successor that could be entering its final stages.
• NFL teams most likely to go from worst to first in their division: Jets, Browns among top candidates (PFF) - We often see NFL teams go from worst to first in their divisions, with the league set up to do just that through the scheduling quirks, the NFL draft and the salary cap. PFF’s Zoltán Buday looked at the teams most likely to make the jump back in February, but with the offseason largely behind us and some difference of opinion from myself, we’re back to take a look again.