by The Browns began training camp on July 22nd at the Greenbrier in West Virginia. The nine days were meant to bring the team closer together and create team chemistry, which has been lacking in recent seasons. The Browns had their first day of training camp back in Berea at CrossCountry Mortgage Campus today, August 1st, at 2:00 pm. Here is what to look for and expect to see during the rest of training camp.
Expect To See Deshaun Watson Grow
Deshaun Watson looked phenomenal, almost like his old self in OTAs and Minicamp, but he hasn’t necessarily been tearing it up in training camp. Yes, he has had flashes of elite quarterback play in training camp with precision throws and his ability to extend the play, but he also hasn’t made the smartest throws. It almost seems he is trying to make superhero throws on every play instead of the easier one. He likes to force many of his passes, which eventually get intercepted or broken up by the defense. I will give Watson the benefit of the doubt, though; he has a brand-new number two receiver this year in Elijah Moore, who the Browns traded for this off-season. I’m guessing Watson is trying to form as much chemistry as he can with him, hence the forced passes. I expect Watson to improve on this throughout the rest of training camp as he gets more comfortable with his new-look offense. I see him making the smartest passes in Week 1 against the Bengals.
Look For The Defense To Continue To Grow
The Browns went out and hired a former Super Bowl-winning defensive coordinator in Jim Schwartz this off-season. His main staple is producing dominant defensive lines. He already had arguably the best edge rusher in the league in Myles Garrett. The Browns then signed edge rusher Ogbonnia Okoronkwo, signed defensive tackle Dalvin Tomlinson, and traded for edge rusher Za’Darius Smith. Schwartz has the pieces to have one of the best defensive lines in the league; expect to see them gel more as training camp goes on. It’s not all about the defensive line, though. The Browns have one of the best young secondaries in the league, featuring Denzel Ward, Greg Newsome, Martin Emerson Jr, Grant Delpit, and newly acquired two-time Super Bowl-winning safety Juan Thornhill. This secondary will be flying around the field, looking to make plays. They have given the offense trouble so far in training camp; expect to see them grow and make even more plays as training camp continues.
Expect Elijah Moore To Continue To Shine
One of the Browns’ biggest needs this off-season was to get a quality wide receiver to complement Amari Cooper and Donovan Peoples-Jones. Cleveland did that in a trade with the New York Jets to acquire Elijah Moore, and he has done nothing but impress. After the trade, there were many questions about who would be the second option behind Amari Cooper. Would it be Peoples-Jones or Moore? While Peoples-Jones has been good during camp, Elijah Moore has shined and is poised to take that wide receiver two spot. We see a highlight video of Moore doing something spectacular in camp almost every day. I don’t see that coming to an end, either. I expect Moore to continue to make huge plays the rest of camp and prove why he should be Watson’s second go-to guy during the regular season.
Look For The Intensity To Keep Up
Intensity is a huge part of the game of football, and we definitely saw that on Sunday, the last day at The Greenbrier. There were multiple scuffles, but the most notable was when Ogbonnia Okoronkwo slapped James Hudson III and ran away. Hudson then chased Okoronkwo down and punched him. Although the Browns had to run sprints at the end of practice because of the scuffles, it reflects heart, emotion, and competition within camp and shows how badly this team wants to win. The Browns have only made the playoffs twice (2002, 2020) since being reinstated in 1999. I have never seen intensity this high this early on in training camp. The front office did its job by assembling the pieces to make a postseason run. The players seem to have gotten the memo and are not playing around. Look for the intensity to ramp up even more as jobs and playing time are on the line as we creep closer to the regular season.
