Head Coach Kevin Stefanski (7.30.24)
Opening Statement:
“So, we’re going to move the schedule around a little bit. We were hoping to get lucky with those clouds back there, but as you can see, we’re not going to get lucky. So, we’ll move the walk-through up. So, we’ll do the walk-through this morning, then plan is to practice around 2:30 this afternoon, so keep you guys posted on that. Questions, weather related questions. Fire away.”
Is (Deshaun) Watson scheduled to throw today?
“Yes.”
Will Dawand (Jones) or Mike Hall Jr. be back?
“Yes.”
At the end of last year, Kevin, Jim (Schwartz) talked about the next step for Jeremiah (Owusu-Koramoah), maybe being out on the field 100% at the time. Do you see him progressing toward that? And if so, could he be a call the plays kind of guy?
“I do, yeah. I think Jeremiah now, as he gets older, becomes a veteran, better understanding what we do, more comfortable out there. Calling the defense if we need him to, we can signal the defense from the sideline as well. So certainly, you want to keep your best players on the field as much as possible, and that’s up to Jeremiah in a lot of ways to be comfortable in those roles.”
Kevin, what have you seen from Michael Woods after a year away?
“Continues to do a nice job. As we get going into these practices, I think you’ll see more and more reps where he’s kind of showing what he does. I think he’s a really good separator versus man in particular, catches the ball well, has a good understanding of what we’re doing.”
What will we see out of Grant Delpit this season?
“Just continue to come on. I think everybody saw what Grant was able to do, how he was able to play in our system, the physicality that he brings to what we do, has great ball skills. As he becomes a veteran in this league, takes on more of a leadership role, is in a really good room with some guys that understand what it takes to play ball and Grant’s right there at the top of it.”
How much does Jim’s system sort of help unlock some of the potential that Grant has?
“Yeah, it kind of goes back to – I think we talked yesterday about tight ends. Versatility is key in football and certainly safeties. You’ve seen safeties that can play down on the line of scrimmage, can play in the post, can play a half field, can play at the linebacker level, you can blitz them. So, I see safety similarly with versatility. It allows the coordinator do a bunch of different things.”
Yesterday we talked to David (Njoku) and Andrew (Berry) about Mike Vrabel’s kind of interchanging role. I was curious from your perspective, like, what does that look like? Is he kind of in the building? Like, is he in a specific position room?
“We have Vrabes really focusing with the offense. I mean, Vrabes, we’re having him do a bunch of different things and I know you guys are going to talk to him and he can kind of let you know, tell you what he’s doing, but helps me a ton in all the head coaching areas. I can bounce things off of him. [He] helps our personnel group because he’s got a very good eye for personnel. And then I just think it’s valuable to have a former defensive player, former defensive coach in the offensive meeting. So Vrabes is in there with us on offense going kind of giving that perspective from a defensive side and then in particular working with the tight ends when we get to an individual perspective.”
In addition to that, I know that you guys were on a committee together. What have you maybe learned about him personality wise over the past couple of months?
“Coach Vrabes is somebody – we’ve talked about this, we’ve gotten to know each other pretty well over the years, but never when you’re opposing teams in the same conference you got to be careful with sharing too much information. So, we’ve talked a lot about different catholic school gyms in northeast Ohio, but that transitioned into more actual football discussions now that he’s wearing Browns gear.”
What are the daily assignments for him? Do you tell him “You’re on tight ends” or does he have a say in that?
“Ask what Coach Vrabes says. He talks about the ‘org chart’ a lot, so we’ll find out who his direct report is.”
Kevin, obviously there’s uncertainty of running back, but what are the ways that D’Onta Foreman could help in the offense?
“Yeah, he has played really good football in his career, runs hard. As you see, just turn on the tape – he’s a physical runner, can catch the ball out of the backfield. So, I do think he brings an element to this room and see how it all shakes out. But certainly, is a veteran that you can turn on the tape and see what he’s been able to do.”
Kevin, with the safety room, what stands out about that room to you and the veterans you have in that space and the way that Ephraim’s (Banda) been able to really just connect with that group?
“It’s a very good group. Like you mentioned, Ephraim does a great job with those guys. But I really like that you have some older players, some veterans, some young guys. You have guys that can do a variety of different things on the job. So, but it’s a really, really cerebral group.”
How does the energy change when you’re going through drills, when you have guys like Vrabes and Bubba (Ventrone) getting right in the middle of those drills and actively participating?
“I think that’s part of coaching. I think that’s part of good coaching is being an active participant, showing the guys the drills that you’re going to be taking part in. There’s a bunch of different ways to do it. There’s a bunch of different styles. But I do think active coaching is really beneficial for the players.”
So, who’s winning the most of those heats between Jameis (Winston) and Vrabes?
“I don’t know. As long as Vrabes stays upright. I don’t think we’re putting them on the clock, though.”
And Kevin, just with crazy weather like this, again, you talked yesterday that your staff would be ready with equipment. Is this a perfect example of your team’s gonna through adversity during the season?
“Just a little rain. I mean, honestly, it’s like I mentioned yesterday, Mary Kay (Cabot), it’s easy for us as coaches. We just gotta go to the next meeting. We don’t have to be so responsible for setting up this field and setting up the video, so our group does a great job. You can’t predict the weather as I found out. I mentioned as a young coach, I was the weather coach for Brad Childress back in the day. That is a very thankless job. You have no idea. Yesterday we had walk-through, it looked like it was going to rain and it didn’t rain at all. So, you just gotta roll with the punches and know that you can’t predict it.”
Where is the walk-through?
“We’ll just go inside for walk-through. Yeah, it’ll be just move some tables out of the way and do a walk-through inside.”
When you have to go one field on turf if it’s two on grass, do you have to cut back on stuff?
“No, shouldn’t. And a lot of things you’re taking into account here is we want to make sure when we go on these fields that they’re safe. So, I want to give it enough time where Scott Springer and our grounds group can get to work on those fields. But yeah, just got to be able to adjust.”
Do you think you’ll be out here for practice?
“I do, yeah. That’s the hope.”
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