'Team building' takes center stage as Browns offseason program winds to conclusion

ROCKY RIVER – New Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson took his offensive teammates to the Bahamas two weeks ago. Myles Garrett took a number of his defensive teammates to Miami last weekend.

One person who didn't make either of those trips: head coach Kevin Stefanski.

"I wasn't invited to this one either, so it might be me," Stefanski said at Monday's Cleveland Browns Foundation Golf Tournament at Westwood Country Club. "I think it's good for Deshaun, good for Myles to get the groups together outside of the building. Now, you don't have to jump on an airplane to do those types of things. It can even be things that you do in and around the city and just sharing a meal together I think is team building. So those are the types of things our guys are doing a nice job at."

Those kinds of things weren't possible for the Browns, or really anyone else, the past couple of years. COVID protocols, both from the government and the NFL, put the clamps down on such excursions.

Whether or not that directly contributed to what was perceived from the outside as a somewhat fractured locker room is debatable. That fissure point centered on what some saw as a conflict between quarterback Baker Mayfield and receiver Odell Beckham Jr.

Cornerback Greg Newsome II and outside linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah spoke of that relationship during an appearance on the Varsity House Podcast last week, labeling it as a distraction of sorts. On Monday, Newsome reinforced his belief that whatever fracture may have been perceived on the outside didn't actually impact the team.

"I don't think it really affected too much, because at the end of the day, you wouldn't be able to know that there was anything wrong within our locker room," Newsome said. "We all gelled; we're all still perfectly fine with each other. You wouldn't be able to tell from the outside perspective. We just still came in every single day and did our job. That's what we're here to do, to play football."

Neither Mayfield nor, obviously, Beckham have been in Northeast Ohio to play football as the Browns reach the final two weeks of their voluntary offseason training program. Beckham was granted his release from the team last November and ended up winning a Super Bowl with the Los Angeles Rams, despite tearing his ACL in the game.

The Browns have been attempting to find a new home for Mayfield since they acquired Watson in March. Mayfield hasn't been required to attend any of the workouts to this point.

That will change next week, when the Browns hold their mandatory minicamp June 14-16. Stefanski declined to say whether or not the team would excuse Mayfield from the minicamp.

"I'm not going to get into that, but I will tell you for minicamp really looking forward to that," Stefanski said. "That's the mandatory piece of this and we've had really good attendance with guys coming in (during OTAs) and getting some work done."

A lot of that work hasn't even been about football. That's where the various trips to exotic locales have come into play.

The Browns return a large percentage of their roster, but there's still plenty of prominent new additions such as Watson, receiver Amari Cooper and the rookie class, to get to know.

"It's been very important, very important," receiver Donovan Peoples-Jones said. "Very important. I believe that'll be a big step for us."

One group that still has to get away is the defensive backs, including Newsome. While several of his defensive teammates were enjoying South Florida, he was in Philadelphia helping out at Eagles receiver DeVonta Smith's charity event.

Newsome joked that this trip would be on the dime of the newly-extended Denzel Ward.

"It's not something that he has to do, but I feel like we're all brothers," Newsome said. "That's something we want to do. We'll definitely be doing something."

So where exactly is the destination? Newsome has a preference, even though he knows it's not likely to be the choice.

"If I had to choose, it's obviously a place that's never going to happen," Newsome said. "I'd chose, like, Dubai or something. But we're not going to Dubai."

Reach Chris at chris.easterling@indeonline.com.

On Twitter: @ceasterlingINDE

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Trips to exotic places just part of Browns' team-building project