Head Coach Kevin Stefanski (8.5.22)
On if the Browns’ distribution of reps between QB Deshaun Watson and QB Jacoby Brissett has changed this week as developments have occurred regarding Watson’s availability:
“No, I think with our plan, we will just kind of await clarity on the situation but just continue to move ahead with what we are doing.”
On if the Browns have clarity that Watson will not be able to play the first six games of the season or if there remains a possibility that Watson could play Week 1:
“I hope in the next few days that those type of questions get answered.”
On the Browns’ plan for Watson and Brissett P1 at Jacksonville, including if the NFL has not issued a final ruling on Watson’s discipline:
“We are talking through that. It is coming up here on Friday so we are talking through some of those scenarios, but I have not finalized those just yet.”
On if there is a sense of a letdown that there potentially was closure in understanding Watson’s availability for 2022 following Judge Sue L. Robinson’s report only for the uncertainty to be extended by the NFL’s appeal:
“Like I have said to you guys from the beginning, we are just controlling what we can control. Understand that this is a process, and I will continue to make decisions with the information that I have.”
On if the timeline for Brissett to receive more first-team reps has been moved up, given the public sense is Watson’s discipline will be lengthened following the NFL’s appeal:
“I am not going to speculate. I am going to wait until I have some concrete information.”
On if the Browns were prepared for a scenario involving an appeal by the NFL or if it was a surprise to the organization:
“I think all of these scenarios you have to be ready for. Again, it is like we have talked about all along, I do not spend a lot of time thinking about the various scenarios – kind of just deal with what is in front of me.”
On confidence the Browns can accomplish their goals for 2022, regardless of Watson’s availability following the conclusion of the NFL’s process:
“I am not going to go too far into the future and what is coming. I think I have tried – I have asked the players to do this so I am going to do the same – to take a one-day-at-a-time approach, focus on the day and focus on what we have in front of us, which is practice. All of those type of conversations are for another time.”
On reasons why Browns fans should be excited for the 2022 season, regardless of Watson’s availability following the conclusion of the NFL’s process:
“Like we have mentioned, we are excited about the season as a team. The guys are very excited about 2022. You mentioned the fans, we have definitely felt the energy from these fans. In terms of specifics past that, I do not know that it is that time yet. I think the guys are excited about the work that they have put in so far, and they are certainly looking forward to competing come September.”
On offensive line coach Bill Callahan being one of the first announced members of his coaching staff in 2020:
“(Pass game coordinator/wide Receivers) Coach (Chad) O’Shea was the first hire. Coach Callahan was somebody who I did not know personally. Really, the connection there was through (former Vikings Head Coach) Brad Childress. Coach Childress and Coach Callahan worked together way back when – I believe maybe it was at Illinois when they first started together. Coach Callahan I obviously knew from afar, knew all about him and respected his work. As you get to the business of putting a staff together, that is a complicated puzzle. That offensive line piece is a very, very large piece of that puzzle. When Coach Callahan happened to be available at that time, and with my connection to Coach Childress, (LA Rams Head) Coach (Sean) McVay I spoke to about Coach Callahan early on in that process, and it was very clear that he was somebody who I felt like I needed to have on this staff. No. 1, he is a good offensive line coach, but No. 2, being a former head coach was something that was important to me, as well.”
On if he was given advice to hire an OL coach as quickly as possible:
“That is definitely something that is talked about in this business. It is a big hire. As you guys know, Coach Callahan means a lot to our success and means a lot to me on a personal and professional level. It was a big deal when we were able to get him because there are certain years that a Bill Callahan is not available, based on he has a job. In that case, I was fortunate enough that he was looking for one.”
On former Browns T Joe Thomas as a resource for Browns OL:
“It has been great. Joe is always welcome here. I have told him that. He can come every day if he wants. We will set up a locker for him. He is somebody who has done it at such a high level for such a long time and been through the ups and downs of an NFL season so I just feel like he has a lot to offer our guys. As much as Joe is willing, we are always willing to take him here in Berea.”
On if this is the first time Thomas has been able to be hands-on with Browns players during his time as head coach, given the COVID-19 protocols in place the past two seasons:
“Yes. If you think back at least for me to 2020, nobody was here. ‘21 was all of the tiers, and there was a limited number of people that you could bring in. Definitely, this is the first time that it feels normal that you can have a resource like Joe Thomas available to your players.”
On if the Browns are where desired prior to the first preseason game at Jacksonville:
“Hard to say. I think we are where we are knowing we have a long, long way to go. I think the guys are working very hard. I think we are where we want to be from an installation schedule, but we have work to do. Fortunately here, we will get some more hot weather to do it in, and we will be in pads the next couple of days, starting to integrate that contact period and those type of things. We are on track but recognize that we have a long way to go.”
On CB Martin Emerson Jr., in addition to size and length:
“I think he is really competitive. He does a nice job out at practice and competing for the ball. He is very intelligent. We knew that going into that process with the draft. That has shown up. He does what he is supposed to do when he is supposed to do it so he has been very accountable in that way. He has been as advertised and why we are excited to get him. He has shown those things to us.”
On if the Browns have scheduled three consecutive days of practice in pads, given the NFL protocols during training camp:
“Not this week but potentially moving forward.”
On how having versatility in size and skillset in the Browns WR room has helped the Browns defense:
“That is a good question because we do try to do ones versus ones oftentimes. You want ‘good versus good,’ and for our players to get really good competitive work against each other, I think there is a way to do that. Certainly, when you are talking about the offensive players going against some talented defensive players, you have (WR) Amari Cooper who is a bigger body, a different skillset than say a (RB) Demetric Felton (Jr.) for instance. I think that it is really good that those guys get to work against different people throughout this camp.”
On if any Browns players who have sustained injuries will return to practice today:
“Those guys are really close. I think in the next few days we will get some of those guys back, but not today.”
On CB A.J. Green’s consistency in training camp and if the media are making ‘more of what we are seeing or not enough of what we are seeing’:
“I do not know what you are making of him (laughter). He is having a good camp. He is a good football player, and I think he has showed that when he got opportunities last season in games. He has shown up on special teams throughout his career. He is another guy in the natural progression of being a third-year player and seeing if he can take that next step.”
On if pulling the team together Wednesday during training camp was a result of ‘not seeing the work he wanted’:
“No, no, no. That was just sometimes I will pull them together to explain the next drill that we are doing.”
On if Browns CBs ‘could get a better teacher than Cooper’:
“That is a good point. He is a challenge for corners. I just think about when I was evaluating him this season when he maybe was going to be available, the corners in this league really feel Amari coming off the ball. It is – again, we have talked about it – that combination of size, speed, savviness, lean and all of those type of things. Those corners talk to Amari a lot after a play and ask about certain things he is seeing. He is definitely able to show them physically and then he is the professional that loves to talk ball afterwards.”
On where CB Greg Newsome II can improve in Year 2 after a successful rookie season:
“I think there is a ton of room for growth with Greg. Again, a second-year player. Played inside and out for us last season. Was competitive when the ball was in the air. I think there is a ton of technical things that he can work on, and he is working on those things with (pass game coordinator/defensive backs) Coach (Jeff) Howard and (assistant defensive backs coach) Coach (Brandon) Lynch. Then just a general understanding. So much of that becomes schematic understanding and pattern recognition, the things that allow you to just react and not think. You see some of those young players oftentimes playing slow because they are thinking, and we really want them to react as opposed to think.”
On Newsome sharing family members are often his harshest critics and if his own family was the same while he was playing football:
“Oh yeah, I know what that feels like. That continues to today.”
On if the criticism came mostly from his father:
“Yeah. Dad and brothers, yeah.”
On the philosophy of ‘turning over any stone to find talent’ and if free agent QB Colin Kaepernick would be on the Browns’ ‘ready list’:
“I am not going to have those type of discussions on who we have looked at and have not. I will kind of leave that internal.”
On T James Hudson III:
“James is doing a good job. He is continuing to come along. He played a lot last season – maybe more than we thought he would because we had that rash of injuries early. He got thrown in there and had some good moments, and then I think this offseason has been really, really key for him getting his body where it needs to be and getting his understanding of the position and where he needs to be because he was a defensive player; he was a late transition to offensive tackle. He is a guy who I believe is making strides, and I go back to (assistant offensive line) Coach Scott Peters, Coach Bill Callahan and (offensive assistant) Coach John Decoster, and the work they are doing with him I think is showing dividends.”
On DT Perrion Winfrey’s progress, particularly now that the team has held padded practices:
“I think to your point, now is when you start to answer that. I still think that it is a little early just when they have only been on for a couple of times. There is a skillset there obviously that we are excited about. You see him in drills. He comes off the ball there and there is an explosive ability. He needs a ton of technical work, like a lot of these young guys do. He just needs reps after reps after reps. Luckily, we have the time to do that for him right now, but I would say it is a little early to make more of a claim than that.”
On if there are similarities to prior experience with (former Vikings and Browns and Bills QB) Case Keenum playing most of a season in Minnesota as a backup to QB Jacoby Brissett potentially being in that type of scenario:
“I definitely use my experiences in the past to help inform me now, and that was also a unique situation. I definitely lean on some of those experiences that I had. Other experiences to think about when (Pro Football Hall of Fame QB Brett) Favre came into the Vikings late in the process, (former NFL QB) Sam Bradford got to the Vikings with a late trade after (Dolphins QB) Teddy’s (Bridgewater) unfortunate injury. I think a lot of your coaches here who have spent a lot of time in this league have seen a bunch of different things when it comes to guys becoming available and then getting them ready to play and having an offseason to get a guy ready to play. I think we are going to use all of those experiences that we have, but when it comes to the quarterback position, the approach we are having to take right now is we have to get everybody ready to play. That is the beauty of training camp when you can have a bunch of reps and get Deshaun his reps, get Jacoby, get (QB) Josh Rosen and get (QB) Josh Dobbs his reps. I think that is kind of where we are now.”
On if there has been a ‘method to the madness’ of how the Browns are distributing QB reps with Watson and other QBs without knowing Watson’s availability this season:
“I hope so (laughter). We will let that play out, but we have to get Deshaun ready to play. He has not played football in a year. We have to get Jacoby ready to play. He is potentially going to be playing early for us and starting, and we are going to be counting on him. Same things for Dobbs and Rosen. Those guys have to be ready to play. I just look at it as we are going to use every opportunity we have out here – individual drill, post-practice and during practice. We have to get all of these guys ready to play.”
On if any ‘rustiness’ is apparent with Watson, given he has not played in a game since 2020:
“I would not say that I see ‘rustiness.’ These preseason games will be an opportunity to play when it is a game setting, the defense can come after you and you are truly in a game. I think that that will really be more when you get closer to game reps than say a practice.”
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