6:00 p.m.-'ECSTATIC' MYLES GARRETT READY TO WIN WITH CLEVELAND BROWNS
BEREA, Ohio -- There is only one way to go for the Cleveland Browns after posting only the second 0-16 record in NFL history last season, and the players are hungry to get to work with the start of training camp at the team’s Berea headquarters Thursday.
Second-year defensive lineman Myles Garrett is chief among those players ready to get back on the field and put that 0-16 season in the rearview mirror.
“I’m ecstatic,” Garrett said prior to Thursday’s practice. “I know we can definitely turn things around immediately. It’s all about actions, though. I can’t say we’re going to win all types of games and the playoffs and the Super Bowl, but I know things will be a lot different around here.”
PHOTOS: Myles Garrett, Emmanuel Ogbah looked at to anchor Cleveland Browns' defensive line
While Garrett is anxious to get the Browns going in the right direction, he did admit that the 0-16 season provided no shortage of motivation during offseason workouts.
“That’s definitely in the back of my mind,” Garrett said. “It drives me a little bit because I’ll never let something like that happen again. No matter how long I’m here, there will never be a season like that.
“Everybody else has that same mentality. They think we can have a winning record, and I believe we can, too. We have to go out and prove it.”
Despite being limited to 11 games because of ankle injuries and a concussion, Garrett registered 31 total tackles, including 19 solo stops and 12 assists, along with a Browns-best seven sacks and one pass defended during the 2017 season.
Because of that production, Garrett was named to the Pro Football Writers’ Association All-Rookie Team.
Garrett achieved much of that success by playing as a bookend edge rusher to Emmanuel Ogbah.
In 26 regular-season games over two years with the Browns, Ogbah has registered 82 total tackles, including 46 solo stops and 36 assists with 9.5 sacks and nine passes defended. Limited to just 10 games in 2017 because of a broken foot, Ogbah registered 4.0 sacks and a career-best six passes defended last fall.
“I know he’s passionate,” Garrett said of Ogbah. “He was glad we got (cornerback Denzel) Ward to give us more time so we could rush. Once he heard that, he kind of picked up the pace. They’re shining a lot on him. This is his opportunity to show they made the right decision, and I believe they did. We’re going to come out and make a name for ourselves this year.”
With a “different mentality” and “different attitude” then of a season ago, Garrett is focused solely on the goals that positively impact the team.
“To win it all,” Garrett said. “It is a team game. If we go to the playoffs, that means I am doing my job. If we go further than that, then we are doing a wonderful job. I am going to just play my part and do my role.”
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2:00 p.m.-Baker Mayfield committed to betterment of Cleveland Browns in any role he earns in training camp
BEREA, Ohio -- Since acquiring Tyrod Taylor from the Buffalo Bills in early March, the Cleveland Cavaliers have stated that he would be the starting quarterback and while the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, Baker Mayfield, will be the understudy heading into the 2018 regular season.
And despite all of the talk of whether or not Mayfield should be the team’s starting quarterback, the rookie signal-caller is focused on doing what he can to improve the offense in whatever role he earns.
“I’m trying to make this team better and whatever role that is, I’m going to do that,” Mayfield said prior to Thursday’s opening practice of training camp.
“I would never get my mind right to be a backup. That’s the second that I would be complacent. That’s the second that I would stop working. You’ve always got to keep working like you’re going to work to be the best, and that’s the same thing Tyrod has done his whole life. It doesn’t matter the position you’re in. If you’re not going to work hard, then you’re not doing it right.”
Being able to compete for playing time is one of the main reasons why Mayfield wanted to be in training camp on time, which was accomplished when he signed his rookie contract earlier in the week.
“Both parties involved, we had one goal and that was to make sure I was here for Day One, to be a part of this team so we can improve every day,” Mayfield said.
“I’m a team-first guy. I won’t go into details about the contract or anything like that, but I wanted to be here, I’ll say that. First and foremost, that was the main priority for me.”
By being in camp on time, Mayfield is able to continue working to develop chemistry with his teammates.
“You try and get the chemistry down,” Mayfield said. “All that time, you try and get on the right mindset, stay on the right wavelength with those guys, and now, it’s just about ironing all those thing out, and so, I think we’ll have that handled by the end of training camp because that’s the goal, to be ready by the season. We’re not supposed to be at our peak right now, but to get better every day and be ready for that.”
The 6-foot-1, 215-pound Mayfield put together a Heisman Trophy-winning campaign in 2017 where he completed 285 of his 404 throws (70.5 percent) for 4,627 yards and 43 touchdowns against just six interceptions to cap off a four-year career that started at Texas Tech University.
During his three years at Oklahoma and one season with the Texas Tech Red Raiders, Mayfield completed 1,026 of his 1,497 attempts (68.5 percent) for 14,607 yards and 131 touchdowns against only 30 interceptions.
“Every day is an opportunity, so we have until we break camp around the 22nd, that’s about 20 days, a little over 20 days to get better,” Mayfield said. “That’s a lot of opportunities to get better, to focus on a couple things and try and knock those out and improve.
“My place here, why they drafted me was to help turn it around, so if I’m not fighting like crazy to be the best version of myself and to help this team, I’m not doing my job. I’m just going to keep getting better every day. You know, everything happens for a reason. I’ve just got to be ready for my opportunity.”
9:40 a.m.-BROWNS SET TO OPEN TRAINING CAMP
BEREA, Ohio -- Let the games begin!
The Cleveland Browns were lauded for their moves during the offseason, namely trading for quarterback Tyrod Taylor and wide receiver Jarvis Landry, as well as bringing in nearly a dozen free agents despite finishing the 2017 season with only the second 0-16 season in NFL history.
But now, the real work begins, as the Browns are set to open training camp for the 2018 season at their Berea headquarters today.
“I look at it this way. It’s my job to acquire the chess pieces and let him go play the game of chess, and he’ll do a pretty good job with it,” Browns general manager John Dorsey said at a pre-training camp press conference in Berea Wednesday.
Dorsey was hired to turn around the fortunes of a franchise that went 1-31 over the last two seasons and 0-16 in 2017, and proverbially, he came out swinging in his first offseason with the organization.
Just an hour into the new league back in March, the Browns announced four trades, including with the Miami Dolphins for Landry, Buffalo Bills for Taylor, Green Bay Packers for defensive back Damarious Randall and New England Patriots for a third-round pick in the 2019 NFL Draft.
They went on to sign defensive backs T.J. Carrie, Terrance Mitchell and E.J. Gaines, tight end Darren Fells, offensive lineman Chris Hubbard, running back Carlos Hyde and defensive lineman Chris Smith, as well as wide receiver Jeff Janis and quarterback Drew Stanton.
A month after acquiring Landry from the Dolphins, Dorsey reached a five-year contract extension with the Pro Bowl receiver.
“He totally changed our football team,” Jackson said of Dorsey. “We have players in the locker room that I think the other players feel really good about, and they’re excited about playing with them. Now, what they have to do as a group, they’ve got to go practice well. We’ve got to go get better each and every day, just get a little bit better each and every day.
“My goal is to put the identity on this football team that I’ve always wanted to with the coaching staff and the personnel staff together, and I think that’s where we’re headed as a group. I think this is truly what it’s all about, and it starts today, and so, we’re looking forward to it.”
With their New Year’s Eve loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Browns went winless in a 16-game season for the first time in franchise history, and their 17th consecutive loss overall dropped the organization to a league-worst 1-31 since the opening game of 2016.
Additionally, last season, the Browns set the record for the worst 28-game stretch in NFL history, as they “bested” the previous mark of 2-26 set by the expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the 1976-1977 seasons with a 1-27 mark that got four losses worse after Week 13.
Also, with Buffalo clinching a wildcard berth in the AFC last December, the Browns now have the longest-standing playoff drought in the NFL.
But none of that matters now to the Browns, who are fully committed to working for better results in 2018 and beyond.
“As the season goes along, I've always lived by the mantra of ‘1-0,’” Dorsey said. “Each week is 1-0, and you know what? Let's be competitive, week in and week out. Let's be competitive in the AFC North. That's how I look at things. There's talent here. Now, they have to come together and understand the task at hand.”
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