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Here are four quick takeaways from the Browns’ impressive win over the Giants.
The Cleveland Browns passed their Sunday night test in New York. The Browns defeated the Giants in a methodical 20-6 win in Week 15 to end the Sunday action.
The Browns improve to 10-4 with the win, the team’s first 10-win season since 2007. It was not a blowout but the outcome wasn’t really ever in doubt after halftime.
Here are four quick takeaways from the Browns’ impressive win over the Giants.
Final Browns injury report for Week 12: Denzel Ward, Sheldrick Redwine ruled out and 3 others questionable for game vs. Jaguars
The Cleveland Browns secondary will be depleted when the team heads to Jacksonville to face the Jaguars in Week 12. Starting cornerback Denzel Ward and safety Sheldrick Redwine have been ruled out with injury.
They are the only two Browns who were ruled out on the team’s final injury report of the week. Three other Browns are officially listed as questionable for Sunday’s game. Right guard Wyatt Teller (calf), backup center Nick Harris (ankle) and starting safety Andrew Sendejo (groin) are all questionable.
Teller was also questionable with the same injury in Week 11 but played through it. Sendejo only practiced on Friday as a limited participant after missing the rest of the week. Harris was a fresh addition to the injury report on Friday.
The Browns held out several players as precautionary measures this week due to the COVID-19 threat. None of those players carries any injury designation, and no players tested positive on Friday.
Tretter has been out all summer with a knee issue
The Cleveland Browns convened for the first practice of game prep for Week 1 on Monday with a welcome new presence in the middle of the offense. Starting center JC Tretter was an active participant in the practice session.
It’s the first time since the team returned to action this summer that Tretter has been involved in anything other than mental reps. Tretter has missed the summer workouts and training camp after undergoing a minor procedure to his knee.
It’s still too early to know if Tretter will be ready to roll when the Browns visit Baltimore on Sunday. Fifth-round rookie Nick Harris has been the first-team center in his place and has impressed the coaches and teammates. Undrafted rookie Evan Brown is the other interior OL reserve.
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Joel Bitonio hopeful JC Tretter returns for Week 1 but sees ‘positive signs’ with rookie Nick Harris too
Left guard Joel Bitonio could very well open the 2020 season sandwiched between two rookie starters when the Browns travel to Baltimore in a little over a week. It’s a big responsibility for Bitonio, the greybeard of the Browns team and one of the steadiest performers in the NFL at his position.
Bitonio talked about how he’s hopeful that regular starting center JC Tretter can return in time to face the Ravens. He noted that he’s confident in Tretter being mentally prepared to return to action from his knee injury.
“Mentally he’s been in every meeting,’’ Bitonio said during his Zoom teleconference with reporters on Tuesday. “He’s watching practice on his iPad, and he’s getting focused and ready to roll. I know mentally he’s going to be ready to play, if he’s ready to go physically. That’s not going to be an obstacle.
He’s always been a smart guy, and he knows where we are play-by-play and issue-by-issue. I still talk to him in the meetings and make sure I’m like ‘Hey, this is what we are seeing out there. What would you call in these situations and those type of situations?’”
There is a difference between mental reps and physically going up against the likes of Sheldon Richardson and Larry Ogunjobi in practices, however.
“ I know he has been pushing himself. He’s here every day just trying to get back and get ready for Week 1,” Bitonio concluded on Tretter.
The veteran left guard seems encouraged by what he’s seen from rookie Nick Harris, who has been the first-team center while Tretter has been out for the entire training camp.
“From Nick’s perspective, he is playing center so there is a lot on his plate making calls and things of that nature. He has done a really good job of picking that up. He is an athletic guy. He can move, he is quick and he gets to his position really well. Those are things that are really big positive signs.”
Harris has filled in impressively for injured JC Tretter at the start of Browns training camp
The Cleveland Browns have had quite the upheaval on the offensive line. Everyone expected two new starters at the tackle positions, but the center spot was JC Tretter’s domain. Alas, a minor procedure on his knee has already knocked out the veteran pivot for at least a couple of weeks.
Enter rookie Nick Harris. The fifth-round pick from Washington has stepped right into Tretter’s role and impressed everyone. It’s been a very good first three days of camp for Harris.
The most important eyes on Harris are those of coach Kevin Stefanski. When asked about Harris having the right mentality for the job, Stefanski had kind things to say about his rookie center.
“Yeah, I would hope so,” Stefanski responded. “Unfortunately, injuries are part of this game. It is the oldest cliché in the book, but next man up, and I think Nick is ready to roll.”
Harris himself believes it too. In his Zoom conference with reporters, Harris noted,
“I’m just trying to optimize whatever role I have and whatever that may be. I’m just trying to be a role player for this team and whenever my opportunity comes, I’m ready for it.”
Browns training camp: Observations from ‘Browns Live’ on the 1st day of padded practice
The pads came on for the first time at Cleveland Browns training camp in Berea on Monday. With the pads came another day of rain, with a steady downpour for a good portion of the afternoon practice session.
In part due to the suboptimal field conditions from the rain, WR Jarvis Landry and S Karl Joseph both worked with trainers instead of participating in drills. Landry and Joseph are both coming back from offseason surgeries and the team described their status as precautionary absences, nothing more.
Here’s some things I noted from watching the stream of the “Browns Live” as well as following along with in-person reporters on social media channels:
The biggest development was a pearl-clenching moment midway through practice when Pro Bowl RB Nick Chubb left the field with trainers after being tackled awkwardly up high by LB Mack Wilson.
Preliminary reports from Nathan Zegura and Josh Cribbs on the “Browns Live” stream were that Chubb “looked good” walking off; neither seemed overly concerned.
Shortly after practice, the Browns revealed that Chubb was being evaluated for a concussion.
Denzel Ward also took it easy with the slick track. Interestingly, unheralded Donovan Olumba took over Ward’s first-team reps on the outside opposite Greedy Williams. Near the end of the practice, Olumba made a nice pass deflection in tight coverage.
No. 33 is visibly bigger than any other Browns CB at a listed 6-2 and 205, the latter of which seems to be shorting him a bit. Olumba spent 2019 in Dallas, almost entirely on the Cowboys’ practice squad. The hirsute corner from Portland State is off to a solid start with his new team. He’s in the mix to be the No. 3 outside CB, a role that is wide open.
The No. 2 running back got more work than normal with the starters after Chubb’s departure. He had one run with a sweet cutback and a tough stiff-arm that shed away LB Sione Takitaki. It was a reminder of Hunt’s ability as a runner after the first couple of practice sessions featured him more as a receiver out of the backfield.
Hunt noted after practice that he likes running behind a fullback but has yet to choose which one he prefers, Andy Janovich or Johnny Stanton.
First-round offensive tackle Jedrick Wills looked fine in what we could see from the Browns new starting left tackle.
Second-round safety Grant Delpit took over all first-team reps at strong safety with Joseph out.
Fifth-round center Nick Harris continues to get the first-team reps with JC Tretter out for at least another week. Harris has performed well enough that he earned a Zoom session of his own with the media. He noted he feels like he’s the “ideal size” to play center in coach Kevin Stefanski’s scheme. Harris is 6-1 and 293 pounds by his own admission. The days of the 325-pound center in Cleveland are over.
Sixth-round WR Donovan Peoples-Jones bobbled a punt return attempt and then had to watch as his primary competition, tiny veteran Jojo Natson, expertly fielded the exact same punt from “The Scottish Hammer”, Jamie Gillan. Peoples-Jones has worked with the second-team offense at outside WR and did get some first-team looks with Landry and Damion Ratley out on Monday.
The Browns will play in much-hyped new uniforms in 2020. We got our first real look at the new pants on Monday, as the players had been in shorts in the prior sessions.
#Browns defense gets loose on first day in pads. Also practice pants now have orange stripes. pic.twitter.com/wDK8eo1T17
— Daryl Ruiter (@RuiterWrongFAN) August 17, 2020
Rookie Nick Harris will step up while Tretter misses a week or two
The Cleveland Browns took to the practice fields in Berea for the first day of live training camp on Friday. They did so missing the man in the middle of the offensive line. Center JC Tretter will miss at least the first week of padded practices with a knee issue.
Per a report from Ian Rapoport that was quickly confirmed by several members of the Browns media contingency, Tretter had a minor clean-up procedure on his knee. He is not expected to miss more than a couple of weeks. The Browns open the season on September 13th in Baltimore.
Fifth-round rookie Nick Harris is the next in line to run with the first team at center. It’s also a boon for practice reps for deeper reserves Willie Wright and Evan Brown.
Browns sign 5th round pick Nick Harris to rookie deal, making the center from Washington the 3rd Browns draftee to sign
The Cleveland Browns have reached an agreement with fifth-round draft pick Nick Harris. Per numerous sources, the Browns have signed the center from Washington to his initial NFL contract.
Harris joins the Browns at a position where the team needs some depth. Starter JC Tretter is rock-solid in the pivot but the team has not had a quality reserve center/guard in recent seasons. Harris hopes to fill that hole.
Terms are not yet available, but the standard practice is for rookie deals to be for four years. Harris is the third Browns draft pick to sign, joining TE Harrison Bryant and WR Donovan Peoples-Jones. All three are Day 3 picks under new GM Andrew Berry.
Browns ready to ‘cross-train’ Nick Harris at both center and guard
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Fifth-round pick Nick Harris was one of the best centers in the 2020 NFL Draft. He comes to a Browns team that has a very good veteran center in JC Tretter, one of the best pivots in the league right now.
Browns GM Andrew Berry is excited to get Harris into the Cleveland pipeline behind Tretter, but also left the door open for the rookie from Washington to at least audition at guard, too.
“We view Nick as another good young player that we had the opportunity to acquire at that point in the draft,’’ Berry said. “We do view his skill set as a little bit more focused at center and I think he’s a perfect scheme fit for what we want to do with our offense because of his movement skills, athleticism, and intelligence.”
Berry continued,
“Obviously we love JC, he’s our starter, he’s a proven player, proven veteran at the position for a number of years and Nick will learn a lot from him as well as a number of the veterans that we have in that position group.”
Because Tretter is entrenched as the starter at center, Harris is going to get some work at guard. He played right guard at Washington before sliding into center, so it won’t be unfamiliar at all. The concept of cross-training positions is something Berry is prepared to emphasize with all the interior linemen.
“We do have a number of interior players that we will cross-train. Nick’s primary home has been at the center throughout his college career,” Berry said. “That doesn’t mean that he is not going to take some guard snaps, but we have a couple of young players – whether it’s Nick, Wyatt Teller, Drew Forbes or we signed Evan Brown recently – and a number of guys who have played both center and guard so it should be good competition in that spot.”
Grading the Browns Day 3 draft haul: Andrew Berry earns his A
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Now that the 2020 NFL Draft is complete, it’s time to look back at what the Cleveland Browns did over the final four rounds on Saturday.
GM Andrew Berry and his crew made just three selections in the final rounds,
Rd. 4 Pick 115: Harrison Bryant, TE, FAU
Rd. 5 Pick 160: Nick Harris, OC, Washington
Rd. 6 Pick 187: Donovan Peoples-Jones, WR, Michigan
Bryant was a very good value pick, a receiving-oriented tight end who should be able to immediately contribute to the offense. He was consistently projected in the 75-100 overall range, so landing him in the fourth round is a good value.
Harris is a great schematic fit for the Browns and provides much-needed depth behind center JC Tretter. He can also play at guard. Harris’ style and size aren’t for every team, but they fit what the Browns covet under new head coach Kevin Stefanski.
Peoples-Jones is a worthwhile lottery ticket in the 6th. A highly intelligent man off the field, his incredible athletic potential went untapped at Michigan. If the Browns can coax it out, they’ve found themselves their No. 3 WR and a possible return man as well.
Talent grade: A-minus
Value grade: A
