Advertisement

Thursday practice recap: Defense gives out awards, Conklin still on track and more

Jared Mueller
·3 min read

The Cleveland Browns completed their Thursday practice before Week 1 of the NFL season in some beautiful weather. While the talk continues to center around Carolina Panthers starting QB Baker Mayfield, the Browns have mostly said the right things.

QB Jacoby Brissett doesn’t care much about the storyline since he wasn’t here last year but, overall, Mayfield’s former teammates have been positive about him. Come Sunday, both sides will be ready for battle.

Thursday we got updates on the injury report with DE Jadeveon Clowney and Chase Winovich at full participation while CB Greedy Williams went from limited on Wednesday to not practicing on Thursday.

A few other key pieces from Thursday’s practice and media time:

WR Amari Cooper Ready To Go

(AP Photo/Ron Schwane)

While Cooper rarely shows much emotion but he talked about loving the game and being excited to get out on the field for the Browns:

Defense Hands Out Awards

[Phil Masturzo/ Beacon Journal]

Earlier this offseason, we heard from John Johnson III about the ‘Alpha Dawgs’ nickname for the defense. Today, we found out that Johnson won the team award while second-year linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah won the Alpha Dawg contest:

While the other two awards were earned from a variety of data collected during training camp, rookie D’Anthony Bell’s “Bone Collector” award was from forcing the most turnovers in camp.

RT Jack Conklin Looks To Be On Track

Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

Seeing Conklin (#78) comfortably jogging onto the field Thursday is a great sign of his availability Sunday:

With DE Brian Burns likely to lineup across from him, Cleveland needs Conklin to play well for Brissett to succeed.

Versatile Linebackers

(AP Photo/Kirk Irwin)

LB Anthony Walker Jr. missed time during training camp which gave LB Jacob Phillips time to impress his coaches and teammates. While Walker will still start, DC Joe Woods has some creative plans as well as the ability to keep this group fresh:

With Owusu-Koramoah, Walker and Phillips, Woods could have all three on the field at the same time and not lose a ton of pass coverage while adding speed to the team. Along with the possibility of three safeties on the field some, Woods has a lot of options on defense.

Video of Njoku

(AP Photo/Justin Berl)

With the regular season rules in place, we will get very little video of most of the important things going on in practice so here’s one of TE David Njoku doing an individual drill:

Nothing fancy about the video but the Browns need Njoku to have a big year after paying him a huge contract this offseason. He could be the team’s #2 receiver behind Cooper.

Winovich Bringing Back the Long Locks?

Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports

When DE Chase Winovich arrived in Cleveland his flowing locks of hair, seen above, did not come with him. The time of short hair may be over for the backup defensive end:

The above style is certainly more of a statement than the hairdo he has rocked so far in Cleveland:

Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

Story originally appeared on Browns Wire