The 2023 training camp for the Cleveland Browns is finally underway as the team held a walkthrough Saturday at the Greenbrier in West Virginia. Once the walkthrough was complete Kevin Stefanski spoke for the first time since the end of mandatory minicamp last month.
Stefanski started by talking about being excited to be back and in a great place for team bonding and working to prepare for the season. He talked about being excited to return to Berea and be in front of the fans for the team’s first open practice on August first.
Here are my three main takeaways from Stefanski’s media availability on the first day of training camp.
Stefanski is optimistic about the health of Marquise Goodwin
“Yeah, I think he can. I mean, it’s an unknown. First of all, it’s very scary. So right away you worry about Marquise and just his health, period. I think all of it remains to be seen from a health standpoint and when he’s ready to go. In the meantime, we’re just supporting him and he’s listening to doctors, but he wants to be here – he wants to be around his teammates. But where this goes, I don’t think that we know yet. I think we’re just going to make sure that we support him and give him everything he needs medically.”
Like Stefanski said it is a scary situation but it sounds like everyone involved is being cautious and listening to medical personnel. It is truly a situation that we currently have no idea how it will play out.
Continuity is important but evolving as a staff is more important
“I think there’s always an advantage to communicating with each other, as a staff especially. But as you know, change happens and you are always evolving. I don’t know if there’s an offense or a defense that year to year stays the exact same. It just doesn’t happen in our league because the coaches on the opposing side are too good and they’ll figure out a way to take something away. So you better be ready to evolve.”
It has been a long time since the Browns have had the same regime in charge for a fourth season. It’s also good to hear that Stefanski doesn’t believe continuity for continuity’s sake is all you need. He has continually spoken this offseason about the offense evolving around Deshaun Watson.
Watson's leadership and hard work is apparent to his teammates and coaches
“You know, we’ve talked about that with you guys and with Deshaun. It’s definitely different knowing that he’s our starter in week one and we have him for the season. It helps as we practice, it helps him get the maximum number of reps that he needs to get ready. He’s in a really good place. I’m thrilled with where he is grasping this system and the kid just works constantly. What he did in this break and getting everybody together really speaks to his leadership, which I think is really apparent to you when you see him interact with his teammates.”
This season truly hinges on the success of Deshaun Watson and with the things he can control at this point in the year he is doing things he should. He has worked with his teammates in their own time several times this season as it’s clear he understands how important it is to be ready for the start of the season.
