Cleveland Browns OTAs: Latest Player Reports and Analysis

Phases one and two of the Cleveland Browns' offseason workouts have concluded, but there are more OTAs to come. According to NFL.com, the Browns will be gathering for voluntary workouts from the end of May through the first 11 days of June.

Already, there are reports coming out of the Browns' workouts that have wrapped and about those that will commence next week. Here are the very latest.

Rookie NT Danny Shelton Will Not Be Present for Any Browns OTAs

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Round 1 draft pick, nose tackle Danny Shelton, was able to attend the Cleveland Browns' rookie minicamp, which took place from May 8 to May 10, but he won't be available for any of the Browns' 10 OTA practices that are scheduled from the end of the month through June 11. This is because he is completing his collegiate studies and is set to graduate from the University of Washington on June 14 with an anthropology degree, reports Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Shelton said, "It's going to have to be a lot of accountability. I'm going to have to make sure I'm communicating with the coaches, make sure I'm getting in the playbook and make sure that I'm keeping my cardio up at the same time." 

Though both Shelton and defensive coordinator Jim O'Neil have acknowledged that will put the defensive lineman a bit behind in his preparation, Shelton is confident that he can pick up where he left off when he returns to the team for mandatory minicamp in mid-June.

Shelton said, "I'm going to be that guy who outworks people. I'm going to be that guy who breaks stereotypes, breaks negativity, and brings the positive energy. I'm just excited to get in and work with these guys and be a part of the Dawg Pound."

Shelton already seems to have a clear understanding of both his role and where he needs to focus his attention, as far as his game is concerned: 

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It's kind of been my mentality at Washington—we've got to attack violently. That doesn't just mean with your pass-rush moves. It means with your pursuit. I was always taught to just pursue down the field. After you make a play, practice the right habits. You never know what will happen if I miss a tackle and it's a screen and I have to just redirect and make a play down the field.

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Still, the Browns will have to wait another month before they can get their massive run-stopper back on the practice field and see what their defense is capable of with Shelton in the fold. 

When Will Phil Taylor Be Ready?

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Cleveland Browns defensive lineman Phil Taylor suffered a knee injury in October of last season that required a scope to determine the extent of the damage a few days later. He missed four games as a result but was able to return to the field a month later. However, his knee had not fully healed and he further aggravated the injury, forcing him to injured reserve, costing him 11-of-16 games on the season.

Taylor is still in recovery. Though he was able to attend the Cleveland Browns Foundation's annual golf scramble last week, Taylor is still walking with a limp. according to Mary Kay Cabot of the Plain Dealer. It may be until training camp later in the summer before he is able to participate in drills with his teammates.

Taylor said that he won't be participating in OTAs, but he does think he will "be able to do something" at mandatory minicamp next month. He will be limited, though, something that head coach Mike Pettine has already planned for:

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Phil obviously had the injury and we're hopeful to get him back at 100 percent, but there is some uncertainty there. We did adjust a few things schematically but felt that we needed that big guy in the middle. We're also hopeful that Kitch [defensive tackle Ishmaa'ily Kitchen] can step up and be productive for us, as well, and when we get into real obvious run situations that we can put a pretty heavy front out there.

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Taylor would not give details about his second surgery, saying "[It was a] scope. If you guys want to know any more than that you gotta ask [head athletic trainer] Joe Sheehan." It was not, however, the dreaded microfracture surgery, which is done to try to regenerate cartilage in the knee and has a protracted recovery time and no guarantee of succeeding.

Browns general manager Ray Farmer is confident that Taylor will be fully healed and ready to go by training camp, saying, "From what I've been told, the trainers, doctors all seem like things are heading in the right direction and we're looking forward to seeing what that culminates come training camp."

Until that time, Kitchen and then Danny Shelton—once he graduates from college—will be taking the team's nose tackle snaps. 

S Tashaun Gipson Continues to Work out on His Own

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Browns safety Tashaun Gipson is coming off the best season of his career, albeit one that was cut short with a knee injury. A restricted free agent, the Browns gave him a second-round tender this offseason, worth $2.356 million for 2015.

The tender seemed, at the time, an entryway to negotiating a long-term deal with Gipson. But that has yet to materialize, Gipson has yet to sign the tender and the safety has opted instead to workout in Texas instead of with his team.

As Mary Kay Cabot of the Plain Dealer points out, Gipson has so far missed two weeks of conditioning and Phases I and II of the Browns' offseason workouts and is expected to miss the team's upcoming OTAs.

The seriousness of his absence will not be fully known until mandatory minicamp later in June, which, should Gipson miss it, could result in a fine.

Gipson isn't completely shutting the Browns out. Defensive coordinator Jim O'Neil has been in touch with him, and said:

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I have talked to Tashaun. He's asked me some questions. I've given him just my honest input on what I could do. Obviously, everything right now is voluntary. Do I wish he was here? Absolutely. Especially, in the secondary with my experience in this system, and we were pretty good last year in the secondary." O'Neil noted, though, that Gipson is "going to have some catching up to do when he comes back.

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Gipson could command as much as $10 million per year with a new contract. The Browns do have the cash to pay him that amount, but for now, the two sides are far enough apart that Gipson neither wants to sign his tender or workout with the team, so do not expect him for the final Phase of the Browns' OTAs.

No QB Competition During OTAs

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Don't expect second-year quarterback Johnny Manziel to be getting any reps with the first-team offense during the Browns' offseason activities—head coach Mike Pettine has already shot that idea down firmly and clearly.

Pettine said earlier this month that "it's fair to say" that McCown will be the team's No. 1 quarterback through OTAs, minicamp and headed into training camp. There will be no competition: "We're not going to start talking competition. Josh, like I said will more than likely be the starter going into camp and in the foreseeable future I don't see that changing," said Pettine.

The reasoning, according to Pettine?

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I just think it's too early to start expanding what we're asking [Manziel] to do and what we're wanting him to get involved in. It's baby steps here at this point. It's a new system, he's getting used to a new quarterback coach, a new coordinator and there's plenty on his plate and there's plenty of football between now and the start of the season for us to make an evaluation.

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Though Pettine said this has no bearing on what the team decides for Week 1 of the regular season, Manziel will not be working with the first-team offense until at least July.

Head Coach Mike Pettine to Put His Mark on the Offense

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When the Browns hired head coach Mike Pettine last year, he was known around the league as a defensive-minded coach. The offense was solely under control of then-offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan. But now, Shanahan is gone, replaced by John DeFilippo, and now the offense will be more of a collaborative affair.

Pettine, speaking with the Cleveland Plain Dealer's Tom Reed, said about offensive play-calling: "That side of my brain's been sort of asleep for a while."

He's working with the offense, in part, to "be part of the game-planning as well just to give them the defensive perspective of who they are going against." Reed reports that Pettine is studying the offensive playbook extensively and is now sitting in on offensive positional meetings.

The goal is to run the ball to make things easier on the quarterback, whoever he may be:

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We don't want to be in third-and-long and second-and-long, where the quarterback is getting hit a lot. When a quarterback is upright and can get through his reads quick and get the ball out of his hands he's a lot better. When you get hit early, you are kind of seeing ghosts late. You are not as accurate. We want to make his life easier.

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Pettine says that it is possible he will do some offensive play-calling this year. So look to see Pettine becoming more hands-on with his offense this year rather than singularly focusing on his defense.