Head Coach Kevin Stefanski (7.25.24)
Opening Statement
“Okay, good to see you guys. We’ll start with injuries. Greg Newsome had surgery on his hamstring, so he’ll be out, hopefully have him back for week one but I’ll have more of an update as we get closer. Dalvin Tomlinson is having surgery tomorrow, having a scope on his knee. Same idea, we’ll update you guys as we get more information on those injuries and those are all, like we’ve always talked about injuries, we’ll continue to just work through it. Tony (Grossi), you can tell everybody I’m going to call the plays this year, so I want to get that out of the way. I know everybody’s interested and 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 and ultimately what I feel really confident in is our offensive staff. I feel really strongly about coach (Ken) Dorsey and the entire offensive staff. So, we’ll continue to be an operation that works together. It’s never been a one man show, so I just want to make sure that that was; I know Tony was going to ask, so I want to get it out there before then. And then, you know, we’re very, very excited to be back down here. As you guys know, this is a beautiful place for us. It’s very lucky that we have ownership that lets us come down here and do it first class. They treat us great down here. So, we’ll be down here for eight nights, get some really good work in, and then we’ll be back up in Berea to see our fans. So, but excited about the season. As you guys know, it’s always an exciting time for us to get back on the grass working. So, I thought the guys did a nice job with today and then we’ll continue to get our work in while we’re down here. But any questions?”
Any details on Greg (Newsome)? When did he get hurt?
“It was while he was working out this off season, maybe a week ago or so.”
Was Dalvin (Tomlinson) just wear and tear? How did that sort of go?
“Yeah, again, one of those things that you come in, you check everybody physical and sometimes you do MRIs and you check in and you make a decision you think is in the best interest. And for Dalvin, you know, the timing of this, obviously, no timing is good but, felt like this is something we can get out of the way.”
What’s the outlook for (Nick) Chubb and Conklin now that they’ve gone through the camp process? “Yeah, Daryl (Ruiter), I think with all of our guys it’s so important just to let them continue to work through that. There’s no date in mind for any of our players. They’re all on different injuries, different timelines, if you will. But I know this, those guys, all of them will continue to work and work hard.”
Did you see the squatting video that Nick Chubb had?
“I did. Yeah, I told Nick, ‘I don’t post any of my videos online, but he feels free to post all his.'”
Do you think it’s important that (Deshaun) Watson appears in a preseason game before the Dallas game?
“We’ll see. I mean, it’s certainly something that I will talk to our staff about, talk to Deshaun about that. We’ll make that decision when appropriate. I thought about it, Tony, but I don’t have an answer right now.”
What will be Deshaun’s throwing schedule? Is he still every other day?
“It’ll be a little more than that. We’ll be smart. We’re very fortunate to have a great medical team around Deshaun, so we’ll continue to make good decisions. He looks great, feels great, so we’ll just be smart about it.”
Will he participate in team drills right away?
“Yes.”
Could you say that the play calling decision was made before here?
“No, I take my time on decisions. I talk to a lot of people and decisions that I think are important to the team. I take my time and I talk to people; I gather information. But I want to reiterate, I feel really, really strongly about our entire offensive staff. Ken Dorsey is going to be a huge, huge help to me, not just on game day, throughout the week. He has a huge influence on what we do offensively already; the things that we’re implementing, things that he’s putting together, the way he works with our offensive staff. So those are things I don’t take it lightly, Tony (Grossi). I spend some time with them.”
How much of that was, “If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it,” because it’s gone so well the first four years?
“Every year stands on its own merit. You know, we have, we really have all new, I think it’s six or seven new coaches on the offensive staff, so I’m excited about everybody’s role in that and that’s why I mentioned it earlier. I feel strongly about the offensive staff, about that whole group in there and I think that we will continue to work through a lot of things. I think with a new staff, I mentioned that to the guys this week – there are things that come up in OTAs that you got to work through, then there are things in the preseason, then there are things in week one. So that’s just the nature of being year one with a group. But I feel really, really strongly both about the people and the coaches in that campus.”
Do you think that you and Ken are even more aligned philosophically than you thought when you hired him?
“Yeah, that’s a good question, Tom (Withers). I think it’s interesting, we see the game similarly, but then in a lot of ways, we challenge each other and push each other. But we’ve worked in similar systems. Ken’s played in this league as a high-level player, obviously in college at a high level, so he has a unique perspective. He has a unique perspective from the different guys he’s coached. So, there’s plenty that we see similarly, but there’s also plenty that we push each other on, and that’s the fun part of working with anybody that you really trust and you have respect for, but you can push each other.”
Jerome Ford, where was he today?
“Personal matter. Expect him back soon.”
Is he in town?
“Not yet, but he will be.”
Might this give Ken (Dorsey) more of an opportunity to really just hone in on Deshaun and the other quarterbacks that will work with him, especially coming off of the shoulder surgery?
“Yeah, I think I feel real confident about Ken’s ability to coordinate the offense, and so much goes into that. Whether it’s installed, managing the staff, and then, as you know, Ken is the main voice in the quarterback room. Now, I’m in there every day and listening and adding when I feel appropriate. We have a young coach, Ashton Grant is in there. We have veterans in Jameis (Winston) and (Tyler) Snoop Huntley. So, there’s a lot of really strong voices in there. But I do think Ken has a unique perspective, and I feel really confident in his ability to impact both the quarterback room, but more importantly the offense.”
It seems like Deshaun really likes him and they’re really hitting it off and kind of seeing eye to eye on things already.
“Oh, for sure. And that’s – if you know the parties involved, it shouldn’t be surprising. Deshaun loves to work. He’s pushing himself and all these guys, and Ken has a great way about him again, both in the meeting room and on the field.”
Obviously, there’s some mystery with Amari (Cooper) and his contract situation to begin training camp. How much of a sigh of relief was it for you guys to get that done and get him here in time?
“As you know, there’s the business side of football, we all have agents, those things. I don’t want Andrew’s (Berry) job, so he deals with those type of things. And I trust Andrew and, you know, you trust the people involved in that decision. But excited for Amari.”
Kevin, with (Jedrick) Wills out and even (Jack) Conklin out, you have (James) Hudson with the first team out at left tackle. Does that rule out Dawand Jones moving this year?
“Yeah, I wouldn’t rule out anything at this point. It’s in camp, so you can’t look too far into day one. We’ll move guys around. So, in football, as you know, you have to be ready to adjust, especially with that position. And guys have to be able to play both sides. So, we’ll see how it goes at.”
The spot that you guys had the surgeries, cornerback and defensive tackle, you have a lot of depth in both of those positions. Does that give you a little bit of work heading into this camp?
“As you know, Mary Kay (Cabot), you don’t want to be without anybody. You want everybody here. But you’re right, we feel strongly about the roster. We feel strongly about those positions, and we’ll get those guys back when they’re ready.”
Kevin, coming back to the play calling. Have you developed a certain comfortability? Is there a certain comfort level on game days like having the play calls? You know, there’s a certain, “I’m sort of in control at this point?” or…
“I mean, yeah, I don’t know. I haven’t done it the other way. I know guys that do do that and you have the head coach card that you pull out if you want something else called. So, I know it can be done in a bunch of different ways. My confidence comes from the people around me. I feel really strongly about that group. I feel strongly about how we operate on game day and the communication that we’ve had from a game management standpoint. And then this again – I go back to a bunch of new coaches. So new offensive line coach, new tight end coach, new running back coach. That’s important. Those are important factors in all that as well.”
What has Amari meant to you guys in this offense in the two years he’s been here?
“He’s been pretty good. He’s, you know, a very productive player. He’s, Andrew’s talked about this before as well, but Amari really fits in with who we are. He works very, very hard, doesn’t say much. Kind of keeps a focus on the football field, practices hard, doesn’t miss games. I know that was rare for him to miss games last season, but he’s been ultra productive. We as an offensive staff love moving Amari around, finding different ways to get him in football. You know, you go into games and, you know, teams are saying to keep the ball out of his hands, and he finds a way to get open. He’s big, powerful. So, we’re very excited that he’s here.”
Kevin, not just what he does on the field, obviously, but the mentorship role he kind of plays in that room. With Jerry (Jeudy) being here now especially, how important is it to have him here this early just for that?
“It’s a really good point. Amari is the OG when it comes to wide receiver. They all look up to him. They all respect him. When he speaks, everybody listens. They watch how he, you know, how he works. He doesn’t have to say much, but the way he works really factors into our young guys. You mentioned Jerry being an Alabama kid, Elijah (Moore) being from Florida. I mean, these guys all really do revere Amari. And that’s, I think that you see that in how they work especially.”
You talked about all the new pieces you have on the offensive staff. How do you go about getting them all on the same page?
“No magic wand. It’s just a lot of meetings. We spend a lot of time together. That’s why I mentioned earlier, you have a lot of meetings in the offseason program and really go all the way back to February or March. You sit down and you meet and then you get players on the practice field and there are certain things that come up and you got to work through those. How exactly do we want to teach this? Then you go here and there’s many things that come up in practice and we got to just work through it. It’s no different than any year one staff, whether it’s our defensive side last year with Jim (Schwartz) and our defensive staff, there are things that you just have to work through. There’s a process of getting through offseason program, training camp, preseason, and then really it continues on into the season, making sure that you’re all on the same page. But the bottom line is it comes from a lot of discussion and a lot of time spent together.”
We talked a lot about the positives that you got out of last year coming down here. When you’re reassessing and you were planning this trip out, how much did you look back and go, “let’s adjust this” kind of, trial and error?
“We looked at everything, how we meet, how we practice. You know, when we got down here last year, we just went to a walk-through. We decided to do a little bit more today to get the plane ride out of them. So we’ll adjust a few things here and there. Last year, I believe we practiced for four days, had an off day, practice for four days. It’s a little bit different. It’s three off days, five. So that presents a couple of different challenges if you will. So we’ll adjust a few things and how we meet. I feel really good about how we ramp up to get ready for this season. As you guys know, it’s a 17-game season, plus if you earn some more games. So we’re mindful of all that as we put this plan together.”
How was your starting camp message different this year than maybe last year or the last three years?
“It kind of goes back to, Scott, every year stands on its own merit. Different people, different coaches, different players. We’re all in different spots of our career and life, 2024 season will be unlike any other. It’s just how it operates. I told the guys, and I know all 32 clubs talked about winning Super Bowl, everybody does. As you know, that costs nothing. It’s very cheap, talk is cheap. You can say really anything you want, we don’t really hone in on a lot of things that we may be able to speak into existence. We just kind of focus on the work, and that’s why we’re down here. We’re here to work.”
So why did you decide to tell us you were calling plays?
“Because I was tired of you asking questions [laughing]. Alright, thanks guys.”
###
***Visit the Browns Media Center for materials provided by the Browns communications department, including media schedules, press releases, quotes, photos, media guides, rosters, depth charts and more.***