'Greenbrier Part 2': Browns hope extended stay in L.A. will further strengthen their bonds
BEREA — After the Browns began to know each other better on a personal level this past summer at The Greenbrier resort, defensive end Alex Wright considered the team's improved chemistry palpable.
“Not only could you see the bond, you could feel the energy,” Wright told the Beacon Journal on Wednesday at Browns headquarters. “You could feel the energy when you walked into a room.
“Instead of just feeling like, 'Yeah, that's my teammate, or that's my co-worker, it's just like a job,' I'm like, 'No, I'm happy to be here, and I'm happy to be around somebody that I could call more than a teammate, and I could call him my friend, my brother.'”
With the Browns (7-3) positioned for the fifth seed in the AFC playoff picture despite enduring injuries to several key players this season, many members of the team have pointed to spending nine days and eight practices of training camp together at The Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, contributing to their collective success.
Super Bowl-winning quarterback Joe Flacco joined the Browns' practice squad Monday and quickly concluded this about his new teammates: “They seem like a very close group.”
What makes this topic even more relevant now is the Browns are gearing up for a trip Wright has dubbed “Greenbrier Part 2.”
When the Browns depart Denver on Sunday night after facing the Broncos (5-5), they will travel to Los Angeles rather than return to Cleveland. The team will then spend next week practicing on UCLA's campus and preparing for its Week 13 road game against the Los Angeles Rams (4-6).
Browns rookie fifth-round draft pick Dorian Thompson-Robinson, Cleveland's starting quarterback in the aftermath of Deshaun Watson suffering a season-ending shoulder injury, could be a de facto tour guide because he played for UCLA from 2018-22.
“I know guys aren't really looking forward to staying in a hotel for a week again,” Thompson-Robinson said with a smile, “but, no, I think it'd be really cool, really fun. Just getting everybody close in one space at one time, especially for a longer period of time, I think it would be really healthy for the team.
“We got really close throughout that whole time we were [at The Greenbrier], and it's really shown now from the moments where you see guys pushing the pile [on offense] to the defense always celebrating with each other after a play. I think that's kind of what it is. You just come closer as a team when moments get hard, and luckily we've been on the winning side of all those.”
Wright has a valuable perspective because he was a rookie third-round choice last season when a lack of camaraderie among Browns players became obvious en route to the organization's 7-10 finish. In other words, he is qualified to compare the 2022 experience with 2023.
Linebacker Sione Takitaki has a larger sample size to ponder. A third-round pick of the Browns in 2019, Takitaki said this is the tightest team of his Cleveland tenure.
“At Greenbrier, going out there was a smart thing that the team did for us to kind of bond,” Takitaki said. “[It] helps us out later on in the season. But, yeah, man, this team has definitely been close, especially being resilient these last few games, just kind of getting a little closer and pushing each other along.
“Obviously, it's kind of weird that [going to L.A. will be] the first time we're going to do this two-week trip thing [during the season]. But everybody's keeping the main thing the main thing. The main thing is we're there to work and keeping each other locked in.”
Coach Kevin Stefanski essentially shrugged when a reporter asked him whether taking the Browns to The Greenbrier worked. Pressed for an opinion, Stefanski mentioned the Minnesota Vikings leaving their headquarters for training camp when he was an assistant with the franchise and spoke about the value of teammates being “under one roof.”
“It's very organic to come together and hang out,” Stefanski added.
Wright said the atmosphere at The Greenbrier presented Browns players with opportunities to talk about “life, sports, family, goals and morals” during training camp.
“That same person that I had a conversation with, whether it's a DB [defensive back] or a linebacker, just getting to know him or being close to him, I know, at the end of the day, that's my brother, he's got my back behind me 100%,” Wright said. “It's a trust factor. Trust — it really boosts it from like 100 to 1,000.”
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Wright expects to dine at restaurants with teammates and play games and study film with them in the hotel where the Browns will stay in Los Angeles. He said he envisions the belief the Browns have built in one another being boosted “from 1,000 to 100,000” on the West Coast.
“Greenbrier was a big impact,” Wright said. “It gave us a chance to create a chemistry like no other.”
It's why the Browns have high hopes for “Greenbrier Part 2” in the midst of a playoff push.
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Nate Ulrich can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com. On Twitter: @ByNateUlrich.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Browns believe Denver, Los Angeles trip can build chemistry
