The Cleveland Browns have officially kicked off training camp with rookies and quarterbacks already in the building. They will begin practicing on July 22 in Greenbriar, West Virginia. This also means the rankings pieces and others will take a back seat as actual football content will be returning for our consumption.
However, in an NFL top-100 piece completed by Pro Football Network’s Dalton Miller (before we move off of rankings pieces), the Browns saw six of their players make an appearance. Here are the six players, and here is what Miller had to say about them.
93. Wyatt Teller, OG
“Wyatt Teller is a mauler on the interior, but he’s not just a menacing run blocker, either. While his intermittent gaffes in pass protection keep him from improving upon or maintaining his top-60 status from a season ago, he deserved recognition for three straight seasons of impressive interior line play.”
86. Za'Darius Smith, DE
“Smith’s technical prowess and power in his hands should take some of the pressure off of Garrett while also potentially snatching some production from the All-Pro. Smith isn’t one of the smaller, bendier rushers on the list. However, he boasts the ability to consistently win inside, through, or outside of offensive linemen because he is such a well-rounded threat.”
43. Denzel Ward, CB
“Like the rest of the Browns’ secondary, things didn’t go swimmingly for Denzel Ward a season ago. He wasn’t as consistent finishing tackles, allowed more big plays than ever before in his time as a Cleveland Brown, and also gave up a career-high in yards.
But the addition of Jim Schwartz should simplify Cleveland’s defensive backfield, which should help the players involved play as a unit instead of five or six individuals. Ward is a gnat in coverage who plays with a tenacity and physicality that is necessary in an ‘undersized’ player.”
28. Joel Bitonio, OG
“The hype surrounding the left guard position in the NFL (if you can call it that) has been focused on [Quenton] Nelson, but Joel Bitonio has silently been the best left guard in the NFL over the past half-decade.
Pro Bowls aren’t often good indicators of a player’s ability, but their popularity. However, Bitonio boasts five consecutive All-Pro nods, claiming AP2 from 2018-2020 and AP1 in each of the previous two seasons. The Browns’ offensive line is among the best in the NFL, and Bitonio is a big reason for that. He’s one of the best run blockers in the league.”
13. Nick Chubb, RB
“Nick Chubb is special. Nobody in the game since Adrian Peterson has boasted the type of vision, contact balance, and explosiveness of Chubb. Playing behind a Brian Callahan-coached offensive line filled with talent simply makes his production unrivaled. Over his five NFL seasons, he has never averaged fewer than five yards per carry, and he’s done enough to make everyone forget about the knee concerns from Georgia.”
6. Myles Garrett, DE
“Speaking of lab-built entities, we have Browns defensive end Myles Garrett, everybody! Seeing photos of Garrett on the field when he was at Arlington Martin (high school) are some of the most hilarious in history. At 270+ pounds, he shouldn’t be able to bend the way he does. And while we can all argue who is the “best” pass rusher until we’re blue in the face, none can produce the amount of impressive snaps that Garrett does.”
