What Did We Learn About Browns Offense Day 2 of Minicamp?

At the second day of minicamp for the Cleveland Browns, Deshaun Watson and the offense continued their momentum and had another productive day. After practice, there was a conversation about the direction of the offense. It didn't yield the results most would have hoped for, so let's try to fill in some of the blanks.

ESPN 850's Tony Grossi spearheaded the attempt to learn more about the offense, asking both Deshaun Watson and Nick Chubb about changes on that side of the ball this year. The questions were often searching for an answer the players weren't eager to provide, which made for some awkward exchanges, but I appreciate what he was trying to do. It led other reporters to follow suit and while players still weren't forthcoming, they offered up a little bit of information.

Starting with Watson, here is how the conversation went.

Can you estimate how much of the offensive playbook is absolutely new to this year?

Watson: "Everything is new. Everything is new."

Grossi's question isn't bad. Maybe there's a better way to ask it, but he's trying to provide an open-ended question that allows Watson to take it where he wants to go. Watson, meanwhile, smiles wryly because he doesn't want to give anything away and he also knows the real answer would be long and most of it would get lost in translation.

Can you elaborate on that when you say everything is new. Is it the same playbook with a completely different spin on it? Is it different terminology?

Watson: "I would just say the foundation and the structure of the offense is the same, but we build and continue to get ready for the season, everything else is new."

Once again, Watson is trying not to give too much away, but with a more specific question, he can give a more specific answer.

The Browns aren't getting rid of their blocking schemes. They're still an outside zone team that uses power concepts to employ pin and pull schemes. As illustrated last year when Watson took over the offense, they will continue introducing inside zone to utilize along with their run pass options.

After that, the Browns are pretty wide open in what they can do. Stefanski and Alex Van Pelt can doodle plays all they want, especially in minicamp, throw them out there and see what works. As Watson points out, moving forward, they will hone in on some concepts they like and work to maximize them as much as possible. Those tweaks could be new.

How different do you think it’ll look stylistically?

Watson: "I’m not sure because Kevin is always involved–and AVP. They’re always working out and watching tapes and trying to do different things and how different teams have different defensive schemes. So it’s kind of hard to really explain that. But all this stuff gets out on social media, so I can’t speak to it."

Watson, feeling the pressure, evades the rush by feigning some ignorance. He may not know 100 percent what his offense is going to look like in December, but he knows far more than he lets on here, deftly hiding behind a block from potentially giving anything away.

Does it feel new to you?

Watson: "It’s in between. I’m still learning. Last year, I missed half the year. So some things that I’m still picking up, some things that I already kind of knew from previously, what I’ve learned when I was in Coach O’Brien’s in the Houston offense. The NFL is kind of similar, as a whole. At the same time, every offensive coordinator and team do kind of different schemes in the way they kind of approach it."

Watson has been careful not to put the cart before the horse every step of the way. Part of this is simply how Watson is wired, but he's also trying to set a tone for the team. There's a ton of excitement and buzz coming from players as well as media. It's already difficult to contain and it's only June.

Watson is focused on today and he wants his teammates to have the same mindset. Additionally, he is keenly aware of how much pressure is on him to deliver and how many people don't want him to succeed, so he's not going to say anything that's going to be construed as a proclamation or bulletin board material. It's useful for Watson, but given the recent past of this team, it's something the whole team should embrace.

Is there a lot of Bill O’Brien?

Watson: "No. This is all Kevin. Kevin and AVP."

Watson shows deference to his coaches in Cleveland. He's excited about what's happening here. Bill O'Brien is in New England. He's not in Cleveland. While there may be some similarities with concepts the Browns employ, particularly ones Watson has had success, there's far too much work that goes into an NFL playbook to say O'Brien has influence.

O'Brien and Stefanski are from two different coaching trees.

Did some of your favorite plays come back?

"Some probably have, but like I said, this league is a pretty much copycat league, in a sense. You kind of learn from different tress, but same kind of ground, but everything is all Kevin."

Continuing to show deference, Watson's right. If every team in the league has a smash concept they like to run, it's impossible to give any one person credit for it. Even from the various clips being shown at minicamps and OTAs, there are some familiar passing concepts that the Browns employed previously. There may be more receivers on the field, but Stefanski has run his offense out of four and five wide sets in the past. They're just looking to expand, come up with the best ways to put Watson in position to succeed. The addition of Bill Musgrave to the offensive coaching staff is an attempt to tap into his experiences running spread offenses both at Cal and with the Philadelphia Eagles with Chip Kelly.

It's been interesting to see Elijah Moore in the backfield for example. Whether that is something that carries over to when the team has pads on is worth monitoring, but they did it last year with Donovan Peoples-Jones for a touchdown. Being able to line up and motion Moore into the backfield can potentially put pressure on defenses as they have to figure out their adjustment.

When Watson was asked questions about the collaboration with coaches or how he feels about the direction of the offense, the length of his answers increase. They're safer and allow him to talk in terms that don't risk giving anything away. Plus, he seems genuinely excited about his situation in Cleveland.

Grossi asked Nick Chubb about the offense. While his questions were still about the structure, the questions took a bizarre turn. It seems like he's afraid the offense is suddenly going to phase out Chubb this year and wanted to make that clear in his conversation that he thinks it's a mistake.

Hey, Nick, you had twelve rushing touchdowns when Jacoby was the quarterback, but none after Deshaun took over. So why did that happen? And how do you see your role now with Deshaun?

"You can’t really look at the numbers. Twelve is the most I’ve ever had since I’ve been here. I don’t think it had much to do with it. I think we did have to figure some things out, get the kinks out on offense and I don’t think I’m hindered by Deshaun at all."

The offense wasn't as effective when Watson was in the lineup. As a result, they didn't score as many points. Unfortunately, Chubb's overall trajectory with touchdowns was going down over the course of the year. He had seven in the first five games. It slowed down when the competition ramped up. It was worse when Watson took over.

Most people on the outside see a new emphasis on the passing game, obviously with what’s going on here? And they wonder, will Nick Chubb get his touches, do you wonder?

"No, I’m not worried at all. I can’t control what I can’t control. When the ball is in my hand, I have full control, so I’m not worried about anything."

It's Nick F. Chubb. They're gonna give him the ball. How they give him the ball might change as illustrated by the finale against the Pittsburgh Steelers. There, he only ran the ball 12 times, but he caught five passes for another 45 yards, the second highest total of the season. That added up to 122 yards on the day with a touchdown. He had 116 yards on 15 touches the previous week against the Washington Commanders. That's 7.4 yards per touch between the two games.

Space is only going to benefit the ways Chubb can attack a defense. The way he compiles the yardage might be slightly different but he could have a career year while being fresh for the playoffs. This past year, he was battling an injured foot at the end of the season and looked like it took a toll on him.

No, we didn't learn a ton about the offense and how it will be different for the Cleveland Browns in these press conferences. That doesn't change the fact it was a worthwhile attempt to get some answers. But hopefully, this helped fill in some of the blanks.