For Pete's Sake - Episode 9 - Browns Back in the Building

Before heading off for summer vacation, the Cleveland Browns had their coordinators speak to the media to wrap up minicamp, which gave Nicole and I plenty to talk about in terms of what they said.

The Cleveland Browns finished up mandatory minicamp this week with press availabilities from their three coordinators, so Nicole and I gave our reactions.

This at least nominally started out as Nicole (@Browns_Babe) interviewing me about some of the stuff, but would eventually devolve into a disagreement over the backup kicker, Chase McLaughlin.

Alex Van Pelt, the offensive coordinator, was asked in June of 2021 if the Browns were better with Odell Beckham, he gave a pretty good answer. Great players make teams better. 

Given how poor the question was, I talked about how that could've been a better one question and then talked about some of the potential answers to the better questions. In other words, what will allow that combination to work better this year.

The most interesting thing about Van Pelt discussed was about the running backs. Specifically, Demetric Felton, the seventh round rookie and then Kareem Hunt, bringing up the best 11 concept, which could take on a more prominent role this year with more time to prepare the offense.

As Nicole says, this is a Joe Woods stan pod, so we dove into some of the things he talked about. Nicole begrudgingly admitted that Woods had a similar view with rookie Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah than I did in terms of this year.

I talked about why I think Woods is really good in this type of environment, because he really does appear to be trying to give as much info as possible and he lets you in to what is at times a still evolving thought process.

Woods also continued talking about the Dime defense and really talked up Ronnie Harrison coming back this year.

I also noted my biggest criticism from last year with Woods, which did come up in the press conference, which was communication. There were simply an inexcusable amount of coverage breakdowns last year, which has to improve.

Last, but certainly not least, we got into special teams, where Nicole takes a particular interest. Last year's unit was not good except for one area and particularly day three of the draft was really focused on improving that aspect of the team.

Mike Priefer adores Demetric Felton and this is where Nicole and I disagreed. I was fascinated in how much Priefer talked up Chase McLaughlin, who was recently added to the team, while Nicole thought he was just trying to get in the head of Cody Parkey, the incumbent from last year.

As always, we are grateful for those who listen. And for those who are fans of the pod, please tell a friend.

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