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4 Burning Browns Questions, Including What To Make Of Browns Pre-Draft Intererest In QBs
The Browns open up their offseason workouts this week as preparations begin for the 2024 season.
After a long, cold winter the Cleveland Browns will emerge this week for the start of the offseason program as they begin preparations for the 2024 season.
There will be opportunities to hear from several players, coaches and even general manager Andrew Berry, who will discuss the NFL Draft, later this week as we start to get a sense of where this team is at right now. In the meantime, here are this week's 4 burning Browns questions.
What does the offseason program look like?
The offseason program is broken down into three phases:
- Phase One (which begins April 15 for Cleveland) makes up the first two weeks of the program with activities limited to meetings, strength and conditioning, and physical rehabilitation only.
- Phase Two consists of the next three weeks of the program. On-field workouts may include individual or group instruction and drills. This includes “perfect play drills” and drills/plays conducted at a walk-through pace with offensive players lining up across from offensive players and defensive players lining up across from defensive players. No live contact or team offense vs. team defense drills are permitted.
- Finally, Phase Three makes up the last four weeks of the program. Teams may conduct a total of 10 days of organized team practice activity, or “OTAs”. No live contact is permitted, but 7-on-7, 9-on-7, and 11-on-11 drills are permitted.
Cleveland's three OTA sessions will run May 21-23, May 28-30 and June 3-6. Mandatory minicamp will begin after that on June 11th, which will be the final round of practices before the team breaks for summer. Keep in mind, everything prior to minicamp is voluntary for players.
What players will begin spring workouts still working through injuries?
Deshaun Watson obviously headlines the list as he continues to make his way back from shoulder surgery. He's expected to be limited throughout most of the spring so don't expect to see a ton from him until the team opens up training camp at the Greenbrier in July.
Nick Chubb is another big one, returning from that terrible knee injury. After settling his contract situation last week it's not even a foregone conclusion he'll be ready Week 1. The team's top three tackles in Jack Conklin (ACL surgery), Jedrick Wills (MCL surgery) and Dawand Jones (MCL surgery) are all still in recovery mode as well. Of that trio, Jones is the closest to returning and is expected ramp things up later in the program.
DT Maurice Hurst expressed back in January that he should be ready to go for the start of spring workouts after tearing his pec late in the season. A few other players to monitor on the injury front include: DE Ogbo Okoronkwo (pec), S Juan Thornhill (calf) and K Dustin Hopkins (groin).
The Browns have hosted a couple rookie quarterbacks for pre-draft visits this month, how serious are they about taking a QB and what does that mean for Dorian Thompson-Robinson?
I get why seeing Joe Milton out of Tennessee and Michael Pratt out of Tulane make pre-draft visits would raise some questions. The Browns quarterback room is packed the to gills already with the additions of Jameis Winston and Tyler Huntley this offseason.
That said, there's no harm in drafting and trying to develop a QB every year if you can. At the very least a rookie QB is an extra camp arm for the team, which is a smart move with Watson coming back from the shoulder injury. Ultimately, I still believe the organization feels very strongly about Thompson-Robinson but this is the NFL. If a rookie came in and outperformed him in camp though, sure, they could decide to move on from him. Berry is no stranger to trading a quarterback after camp.
There are numerous mock drafts and they all have the Browns going in all different directions with their first pick. What position do you think they'll address at 54?
We'll find out more from Berry when he meets with the media this week to discuss the draft and perhaps get a better sense of where his mind is at. That said, I think it's impossible to go into a draft where you're not picking until 54, knowing exactly what position you'll take.
We know the Browns could use some additional depth on the defensive line. We know wide receiver could still be in play – Berry always drafts at least one. Linebacker is another need. Assuming they stay where they're at, I think any of those positions are in play when they're on the clock. The closer we get to the draft the more I think they'll just take the player at one of those three positions who is highest rated on their board.
