Browns edge rusher Myles Garrett was a problem for opposing offensive coordinators before he won his first defensive player of the year award. He remains a problem.
Garrett was asked whether there was anymore offenses could do to stop him or slow him.
“Well, there’s always more,” Garrett said Friday, via Mary Kay Cabot of cleveland.com. “So I don’t want to say too much and then get jumped the first game of the year, but I look forward to it. I look forward to the challenge, whatever they throw at me. It gets me excited. The odds just get stacked against me or against us and it’s like, ‘How are you going to find another way to be unstoppable? How are you going to find another way to change or disrupt the game? How are you going to put yourself in position to win and put your teammates in position to win? How do you allow them to take over if you’re going to take two or three?’
“Those are the kind of thought processes I have. If I’m going to win two, but it’s going to take too much time for me to get there, it’s getting my hands up or maybe running a game so that my guy can get free. Because they’re spending so much attention on me, it’s seeing how someone can make the play, not just me. It’s a defense full of stars. So, I want all of these guys to get the opportunity to shine.”
Garrett spent the offseason watching video of Maxx Crosby, Nick Bosa, Micah Parsons, Trey Hendrickson and T.J. Watt, among others, to see if he can find something new to work into his game.
“Whether it’s double team, chip, outside chip, wide receiver, tight end from the backfield, triple teams -- whatever it is, looking at how they go through their process and beating those and trying to implement that into my game however I can and watching those guys definitely helps take my games to the next level because we have so many talented guys at the position,” he said. “So just trying to learn from my own mistakes, watching it day in and day out, making sure I minimize the mistakes that I make.”
Garrett is a five-time Pro Bowler and a three-time All-Pro who has 88.5 sacks in seven seasons. His rookie season of 2017 is the only season the No. 1 overall pick hasn’t had double-digit sacks.
The Lions lost kicker Michael Badgley for the season Thursday when he tore his hamstring. They have former UFL kicker Ryan Bates on their roster but will make him compete for the job.
The Lions worked out four kickers Friday.
Matt Ammendola, Lucas Havrisik, Andre Szmyt and Matthew McCrane are competing for a spot on the roster.
Bates made three field goals of 60 yards or longer in the spring season for the Michigan Panthers, including a 64-yarder, but he was only 17-of-22 overall on his field goal attempts.
Szmyt also played in the UFL, and he led the league in field goals made in going 19-of-21, including 4-fo-5 from 50 yards or longer for the St. Louis Battlehawks.
Ammendola played five games for the Texans last season and has played 20 games in his NFL career, going 24-of-35 on field goals and 29-of-33 on extra points.
Havrisik kicked for the Rams in nine games last season, his only NFL experience, and went 15-of-20 on field goals and 19-of-22 on extra points.
McCrane kicked for three teams in 2018 and was good on 8-of-12 field goals and all nine extra points.
Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson is feeling unburdened entering the 2024 season.
Watson, who has played just 12 games since the end of 2020, told reporters in a Friday press conference that he’s changed his approach entering his third year with Cleveland.
“I think honestly it’s really just blocking out all the bullshit, honestly, outside,” Watson said. “It was tough coming in two years [ago] — different environment, different team, different all that. So you come in and your character has been mentioned this way and then it kind of flips on you and you’re trying to... the biggest thing is you’re trying to get people to like you or improve.
“But now, it’s like, at the end of the day, it’s two years in and you’re going to like me or you have your own opinions and, yeah, it is what it is. So I think blocking out all the noise and focusing on me, and focusing on what I need to do to be the best Deshaun Watson I can be for myself, my family, and my teammates.”
Watson sat out the 2021 season while still on Houston’s roster as he’d requested a trade. Then after Cleveland acquired him, Watson was suspended for the first 11 games of 2022 after he was found to have violated the league’s personal conduct policy. And in 2023, Watson missed three of Cleveland’s first nine games — and most of a fourth — before suffering a season-ending shoulder injury in Week 10 against Baltimore.
Watson admitted that “of course” it’s been tough to, as he put it, block out the bullshit.
“My character was getting challenged,” Watson said. “And like I said, I know who I am, and a lot of people never really knew my history or knew who I really was so they’re going based off of other people’s opinions and whatever other people are saying. But, yeah, I’m a person that likes to have people like me. And I feel like a lot of people are like that. So, sometimes things in your brain you’ve got to turn and you’ve got to forget it. It is what it is.”
Now that Watson is healthy — he noted that his shoulder is right on track — he’s looking forward to putting the disappointment of 2023 behind him.
“Not just because I couldn’t show exactly what I can do for this organization — I understand that they put a lot into me, but sometimes the injuries you can’t control,” Watson said. “So a lot of things didn’t fall in place the last two years, but praying and taking it one day at a time that everything [does] this year.”
But he says his motivation is internal and not being drawn from naysayers.
“Just being the best Deshaun Watson [I] can be for this team so we can get that ultimate goal. And maximizing my potential, my talent — that’s my motivation,” Watson said. “I don’t have anything else that’s going to motivate me.
“I could give two fucks what other people say, to be honest.”
Kevin Stefanski teased a big announcement last week, saying he would reveal who was calling the offensive plays for the Browns this week. He did that Thursday.
The Browns head coach will retain play-calling duties.
“I’m going to call the plays next year, so I’m going to get that out of the way. I know everybody is interested,” Stefanski told beat reporters in his news conference. “Any decision I make for our football team, I take a lot of information in. I try to listen to a lot of people and make decisions. Ultimately what I feel really, really confident in is our offensive staff. I feel really strongly about coach [Ken] Dorsey and the entire offensive staff, so we will continue to be an operation that works together. It’s never been a one man show.”
The question was the biggest one for the Browns as they began training camp this week.
After the wild-card playoff loss to the Texans, Stefanski fired Alex Van Pelt and hired Dorsey as offensive coordinator. Dorsey is a veteran play-caller.
Stefanski has called the plays with the Browns since they hired him in 2020, with the lone exception being the wild-card win over the Steelers int he 2020 season when he was out with COVID. Van Pelt called the plays in that game.
This season, Stefanski will continue to send the plays to Deshaun Watson, who played only six games last season because of shoulder injuries. The Browns finished 16th in total yards and tied for 10th in points in 2023 with Watson, Dorian Thompson-Robinson, P.J. Walker and Joe Flacco all starting at least one game.
The Browns have a couple of injury situations to monitor on their defense heading into Week One.
Head coach Kevin Stefanski told reporters from training camp on Thursday that cornerback Greg Newsome had surgery on his hamstring on Wednesday. Newsome was placed on the non-football injury list ahead of the first camp practice this week.
Stefanski also said that defensive end Dalvin Tomlinson needs to have his knee scoped. Tomlinson is on the physically unable to perform list.
The hope is that both players will be healthy enough to play in the season opener, but it doesn’t sound like there’s much reason to think that they’ll be available at any point in camp or the preseason.
As they begin training camp this week, the Browns have placed seven players on their injury lists.
As expected, running back Nick Chubb has been placed on the physically unable to perform list as he continues to recover from the season-ending knee injury he suffered last year against Pittsburgh in Week 2.
While there has been no announced timetable for Chubb’s return, a video was posted on social media earlier this month showing him squatting 540 pounds.
Chubb has averaged 5.3 yards per carry over the first six seasons of his career.
The Browns also placed offensive tackle Jack Conklin (knee), offensive tackle Jedrick Wills (knee), defensive tackle Dalvin Tomlinson (knee), and safety D’Anthony Bell (shin) on the PUP list.
Additionally, Cleveland placed cornerback Greg Newsome (hamstring) and running back Nyheim Hines (knee) on the non-football injury list.
All seven players can be activated upon passing a physical before the start of the regular season.
It’s veteran reporting day in Cleveland, and wide receiver Amari Cooper is ready to go, after the Browns made it worth his while.
Cooper is getting a $5 million raise and the team is guaranteeing his salary for this season, according to multiple reports.
No years were added to Cooper’s contract, so he remains on track to hit free agency in March of 2025. With a strong season in 2024, Cooper will set himself up for a big payday in eight months.
Despite the Browns’ revolving cast of quarterbacks, the 30-year-old Cooper had a career-high 1,250 receiving yards last season. He has been Cleveland’s best offensive player since arriving in a trade two years ago, and now the Browns are rewarding him for that.
Earlier this month, we took a look at some of the veterans who might decide to stay away from training camp in order to get the contracts they want. Since then, none of them have gotten new deals.
Now that the clock is ticking loudly toward camp for the various teams with players who want more, and who in every case deserve it, it’s time to pay closer attention to whether deals get done and, if not, what will happen.
Here’s the rundown from July 3.
Tua Tagovailoa, Tyreek Hill, Matt Judon, Haason Reddick, Ja’Marr Chase, Amari Cooper, Courtland Sutton, CeeDee Lamb, Micah Parsons, Jordan Love, Tristan Wirfs, Alvin Kamara, Brandon Aiyuk, Matthew Stafford.
There could be others that we’re not thinking of. As to those we listed, we’ll find out if they get their contracts and, if not, whether they’ll show up and practice, show up and not practice (hold in), or hold out.
Some will say that a holdout from a player under contract amounts to a violation of that contract. This overlooks the fact that there’s a second contract — the Collective Bargaining Agreement — that gives them the right to withhold services in an effort to get more.
Yes, it comes with a cost in the form of daily fines. For players not on their rookie deals, the daily fines can’t be waived. For players on their fifth-year options (like Tagvailoa, Aiyuk, and Lamb) missing a preseason game entails a fine in the amount of a regular-season game check.
Quarterbacks will get the most attention. Rarely if ever does a veteran quarterback refuse to show up and practice for camp. But that continues to be the most effective way to get the team to do the thing it has refused to do, since quarterback continues to be the most important position for any NFL team.
Tagovailoa, Stafford, and Love. Those are the ones to watch.
There’s no reason to think the Packers won’t get something done with Love. They believe in him. And they could give him a contract with a high annual average along with an escape hatch that gives the team a way out after two or three years, if it’s not working. (Two years ago, for example, the Raiders gave Derek Carr an extension — and they cut him after only one season.)
Stafford has been clamoring for guarantees beyond 2024 since the Rams didn’t draft his potential replacement in round one. Since then, his annual average of $40 million has been eclipsed by Jared Goff’s $53 million deal. What will he do if the Rams don’t finally take care of him?
Then there’s Tua. The Dolphins surely will make him an offer that gives him a lot more money and security than the $23.1 million he’s due to make in 2024. It will make sense to take the bird in the hand. But if it falls far short of what he wants, it also will make sense to stay away until they give him what he wants, or something close to it.
As with the Packers and Love, the Dolphins can give Tua a deal with big numbers — but that also lets the Dolphins cut the cord if he regresses and/or has another rash of injuries.
The Browns are waiting until training camp is up and running to answer one question about their plans for the 2024 season.
Head coach Kevin Stefanski hired Ken Dorsey as the team’s new offensive coordinator this offseason, but he has not said which of the two men will be calling the team’s offensive plays this fall. Stefanski was a guest on 92.3 The Fan on Thursday and a fan who donated money to Stefanski’s Keepers Foundation in order to be a co-host of the show asked him to reveal that information.
Stefanski said that everyone needs to have a little more patience.
“I’m sure I’m getting that question officially in about a week, so you’re gonna have to wait a week,” Stefanski said.
The question of who is sending the plays into Deshaun Watson’s helmet is a significant one for the Browns, but any play needs to be executed well and that will ultimately be the determining factor in the team’s fate this year.
Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson has been on a throwing program this offseason after his 2023 was cut short due to season-ending shoulder surgery.
During a press conference at his annual 7-on-7 tournament in Cleveland on Wednesday, Watson told reporters that his shoulder is doing well with camp set to begin next week.
“I just have been taking it one day at a time,” Watson said, via Zac Jackson of TheAthletic.com. “Everything has been set in stone [with the rehab schedule], and I haven’t had any setbacks or anything that’s holding me back.”
Watson added that he’s “in a great state,” though he declined to answer whether or not his passing will be restricted when camp begins.
However, Watson did say he has been throwing every day, including a trip down to Florida where he met up with Cleveland’s receivers, like Amari Cooper. Watson was limited during the offseason program after he started throwing again in April.
Entering his third season with the Browns, Watson has completed 60 percent of his throws for 2,217 yards with 14 touchdowns and nine interceptions in 12 total games for the club. Last year, Cleveland was 5-1 in games Watson started.