Head Coach Kevin Stefanski (5.10.25)
What did you like about the two rookie quarterbacks going from day one to day two?
“Yeah, I like these guys. You know, them in particular. But all these guys are taking coaching. I think that’s such a big part of this, and we’ve talked about it a little bit the last few weeks is no one’s a finished product. So, we’re trying to do everything in our power to develop these young men into players. It’s a process. It takes time. So, I like the attitude of these rookies where they understand there’s work to be put in. I know everybody kind of slept pretty well last night, which is good, and then we’ll get another good day tomorrow. But they’re really – they’re taking coaching, which I appreciate.”
Yesterday you had like eight reps in the team drills, today only five…
“Was it less? It should have been the same amount.”
Yeah.
“Check Tony’s (Grossi) math.”
It wouldn’t be the first time.
“Yeah, no, it was the same number of reps.”
Mason (Graham) got a little bit ill out there.
“He did.
I’m sure you saw, but was it just like the heat of the moment?
“I think he ate too much. I think the cooking in the kitchen was too good. So, a few less wings next time.”
The rookies join the veterans Monday, right?
“Yes.”
I know it’s still early in the offseason program. Like, will they be on the field? They do everything the veterans do starting Monday?
“Yes, they will. Now on Monday, since they’re coming off the minicamp, they won’t do anything on the field physically. Give them a break. But they’ll be released into the wild on Monday.”
When will you decide what undrafted guys might be back?
“What do you mean by that, Jeff (Schudel)? The tryout guys?
The tryout guys, yes.
“Got it. Yeah, we’ll huddle up tomorrow when we get another good practice in with these guys. And I’ll tell you what, there’s some guys that are going to make life hard on us, making some tough decisions. And that’s the fun part of our business, is they get to go put it on tape and that’s their resume and then we’ll make some decisions.”
Can I ask about one of those guys? Luke Floriea? He’s a receiver. He’s been returning punts. Do you have an impression on him?
“Local kid, I know that. You know, I think he’s acquitted himself very nicely. He knows what to do, gets open, catches the ball. He’s done a nice job.”
You mentioned with the homework that you send them; you don’t want to overwhelm them. You want to push them and not overwhelm them. What’s the approach then on the field when you’re in the moment coaching them up?
“Yeah, very similar, Cam (Justice), in that you want to push them. We want it to be hard. And, you know, as you saw from Mason, it was hard. But we also, we’re trying to be smart too, and not put anybody in harm’s way, so to speak, because the numbers in line are not as big as they typically are. So you have to be really smart. And I think the position coaches are doing a really nice job and making sure that these guys -we’re getting our money’s worth in terms of what we’re working, but it’s also a teaching tempo the majority of the time we’re out there.”
You said yesterday that both quarterbacks were as advertised. I think that was the phrase you used. I know it’s like only two days here, but did you, like, notice any difference between what you saw from them yesterday versus what you saw today as far as, like a positive progression?
“Yeah, I wouldn’t say much. I think everybody’s on – you want to be on that progression, Daryl (Ruiter). You want to continue to get better every single day. Our installs will increase. So, there was more on their plate today than there was yesterday. And obviously tomorrow we’ll have a little bit more and a couple new plays. So, with all these young players and certainly at the quarterback position, you have to know what the install is for that given day and master those plays for that given day and then we’ll revisit them at a later date. But so much of it is committing these things to memory, getting a walkthrough rep in the indoor before we come out here and then getting a physical rep. I mean, there’s concepts that we’re working in practice here that we haven’t gotten full speed reps yet from our vets because the vets can’t go offense or defense. So, we’re kind of in the laboratory on a couple few concepts to see what they look like in live speed.”
What do you think of Carson (Schwesinger) today? That pick in the red zone.
“Yeah, did a great job. I mean, you talk about his intelligence and things happen so fast down there in the red zone. So, the ability to process quickly is really important and made a great play on the ball.”
In relation to the quarterbacks, you said that everything’s being scrutinized locker room, meeting room. Do you care how they present themselves?
“I said evaluate. I didn’t say scrutinize, Tony (Grossi), that’s your word.”
Do you watch the interviews?
“This guy does (Peter John-Baptiste). He watches all of them.”
How important is that?
Peter John-Baptiste: “We want all of our players to represent themselves in the organization.”
Kevin Stefanski: “That’s the chief. I think, Tony, these young, I think you guys are getting to know these young players, quarterbacks, this whole rookie class. These are some impressive young men. They’re really good on the field, they’re really good off the field. But a part of talking with you guys is talking to our fans. We want them to get a feel for who these young men are and I think the more they get to know them, they’ll understand these guys really want to work hard at this thing. It’s their craft. It’s now, as I’ve told them, it’s now their job.”
What did you say about Mason (Graham)? That, you know, he gets sick and then I watch him rinsing out the helmet himself actually and then go down and work with Jacques again.
“He also apologized to the offensive line because they were real close to it and almost standing in it. But he’s fine, he’s got the right mentality.”
Kevin, in terms of, in terms of a four-way quarterback competition, would you have to add another receiver or two more than usual to the training camp roster?
“Yeah, it’s a good question. Potentially. We’ll see how, how the roster shakes out after this weekend. But if you start to two spot, quote-on-quote, where you put two drills simultaneous, you do want to make sure that you have enough guys for those type of things.”
Quinshon (Judkins) yesterday was talking about his NFL moment, was seeing his name on his locker. Other guys have talked about walking in. The building and maybe seeing Myles (Garrett) in there. Do you see them go from kind of wide-eyed rookie to okay, now we’re in this. Can you see that evolution of them over a weekend?
“I think I will see it. I don’t know if I’ve seen it yet. You know, it’s early and this is the fun part for these guys. They’ve been dreaming about this for their whole life. I mean, whether you heard your name called in the draft or you’re signed after the draft or whatever it is to walk in here, put the jersey on, put the helmet on, it’s pretty special. I’m happy to be a part of that with those guys, but there’s also a lot on their mind. There’s maybe not so much time to reflect for them just yet, but it is pretty special for their first time out here as Cleveland Browns.”
Kevin, if you were to pick one play from Dillon’s college career and say this is why this guy can be an NFL quarterback?
“Yeah, it’s hard because, I mean, a couple plays come to mind. And he played long enough where there should be plenty to choose from. You should probably as you look at quarterbacks, I think watching those third down plays are really important in the evaluation of quarterbacks. That’s always been that way and something that I think with our quarterbacks, we definitely value those plays on those money downs. When it’s in the fourth quarter, you got to make a play.”
Kevin, what you saw from the quarterbacks’ two days so far, how do you think they’ll stack up against Kenny (Pickett) and Joe (Flacco) when they all get together?
“Yeah, not so much worried about how they stack up, per se, Mary Kay (Cabot), but excited to have them around Deshaun (Watson), Joe (Flacco), Kenny (Pickett). Welcome them into the quarterback room and you know, understand that’s a place where we work really hard, we talk about a ton of football, high level football, and I think they’ll fit in really well.”
Have you seen Dillion (Gabriel) and Shedeur (Sanders) like on the field in the moment, as you guys are going through the installs or the plays, ask questions if they have questions and how they’re really kind of showing you what they’ve learned.
“Yeah, there’s lots of questions. That’s good. This is the time certainly to ask those questions. Coach (Bill) Musgrave, Coach (Tommy) Rees are in there before meetings, after meetings, available for text message at night if they have questions on certain concepts. So, there’s no easy way to just pour an install into a person. Say, here’s our offense, here’s our playbook, figure it out. It just takes time, you know, this is not something that you can just pick up and snap your fingers. I wish it was. So, there’s just a lot of meetings. You’re going to make mistakes, both physical and mental. But what we’re trying to do is coach off of those and learn from those.”
I know you had mentioned Deshaun (Watson) being in the quarterback room as well. Any update on him? He’s out of the boot, right?
“Yeah, he’s working really hard. Doing a nice job in his rehab. Doing a great job in the meeting room as well.”
Kevin, the offensive line at some point here, the reality is it’s going to go through a transition. A lot of guys in the final year of the contract and things like that. What have you seen from a lot of these young kids you brought in this weekend, and is there potentially an opportunity for one or two of them to maybe get an opportunity here?
“Yeah, we’ll see. I think that’s the beauty of this camp, and any opportunity you get on the grass with your coaches is to show what you can do. So these are young guys. Coach (Mike) Bloomgren is working them really hard. They’re taking coaching like we talked about earlier, where they’re all getting better, and then we’ll see how they, you know, how it all shakes out at the end of this thing. But the focus right now and what they’re doing, they’ve done a really nice job.”
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