Saturday Dawg Chow: Browns news (6/3/23)

Dawgs By Nature:

• Where are your former Browns now? CB/S Felix Wright (Barry Shuck) - The story of former Cleveland Browns defensive back Felix Wright is not just of a great football player, but of a football player who persevered in sports as well as in life.
• How many wins is Jim Schwartz worth for the Browns? (Jared Mueller) - The biggest changes for the Cleveland Browns may have come prior to the start of the NFL offseason with the firings of DC Joe Woods and special teams coordinator Mike Priefer. Replacing those two with Jim Schwartz and Bubba Ventrone are thought to be huge upgrades.
• DeAndre Hopkins rumors update: What I’m hearing, what is being said (Jared Mueller) - With wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins a free agent, the rumors have heated back up as no trade compensation and, likely, a more realistic contract make reuniting Hopkins and Deshaun Watson possible in Cleveland.

Cleveland Browns:

• Browns special teams coach Bubba Ventrone done with long hair, NFL kickoff rule (Beacon Journal) - The Bubba Ventrone who Browns fans remember from his playing days in the late 2000s and early 2010s had a look. There were the long, flowing locks coming out from the back of his helmet. But the Bubba Ventrone who has returned to the Browns this offseason as their assistant head coach and special teams coordinator has replaced the Sampson-like look with one more aligned with Mr. Clean.
• Cade York and Bubba Ventrone are on the same page as Browns’ kicker enters 2nd season (cleveland.com) - Cade York and Bubba Ventrone haven’t been working together that long, but the two already seem to be on the same page.
• Nick Chubb cherishes time with Jim Brown, honored to share same position (Browns Zone) - Jim Brown informed the NFL world the Browns had selected Nick Chubb with the No. 35 pick in the 2018 draft. That was only the beginning of the relationship between the greatest running back in franchise history — and arguably the history of football — and one grateful to follow in his footsteps.

NFL:

• ‘Humbled’ Shane Ray hopes to complete four-year NFL comeback with Bills (ESPN) - Shane Ray considers his final two years with the Denver Broncos and the two pandemic years after to be the hardest of his life.
• Free-agent defensive end Yannick Ngakoue ready to find ‘stable home’ with contender in 2023 (NFL.com) - Yannick Ngakoue is adding the free-agency tour into his offseason routine and, this time around, he’s not interested in playing for a middling team.
• Ben Johnson going back to the basics heading into Year 2 atop Lions offense (mlive.com) - The Detroit Lions promoted Ben Johnson to offensive playcaller last season, and immediately soared to No. 4 in the league on that side of the ball, their best finish in more than a decade. They averaged 26.6 points per game overall, their most productive season since 2011. And they turned over the football less than everyone else in the league. That’s good. But the question of the day, as it always is in the NFL: What comes next?