Cleveland Browns 2010 Training Camp: Observations From 8/5 (Video)
The Cleveland Browns took the field on the afternoon of August 5 in full pads.
Players might have preferred going back to shorts today, because Mother Nature was having her way with Northeast Ohio.
Temperatures felt like Cleveland was located somewhere in the Bahamas with the high humidity and heat.
After finding a tiny bit of shade against a fence, I was able to provide more observations from training camp practice No. 8 with a big focus on the receivers since they are a highly questioned group on the roster by all the so-called NFL experts.
Also, check out a video montage from this practice that is located on the last slide.
1. Backup Centers
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Before the team starting its stretching, I could see the Browns' quarterbacks practicing taking snaps from under center.
Jake Delhomme was practicing with Mack.
Seneca Wallace was practicing with Billy Yates as his center.
And Colt McCoy was practicing with rookie third round pick and offensive guard Shawn Lauvao as his center.
Interesting to see Lauvao taking a few practice reps as a center which really shows his commitment to make this team no matter what coaches ask him to do.
2. A Surprise No. 3 Slot Receiver
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So far through all the practices it has looked like receiver Chansi Stuckey is a lock as the team's No. 3 and slot receiver because he is getting the most time of all the other receivers in that spot.
Surprisingly this afternoon, during a passing drill, Stuckey was swapping with tight end Evan Moore for every other play in the slot.
Moore has been a big highlight of the camp so far, and he has shown great hands which might have moved him into a possibly slot role in various formations this season.
3. Tipped Passes at the Line
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One year ago, former Browns quarterback Derek Anderson always had an issue with battled passes at the line of scrimmage.
Fast forward and Delhomme has had some issues himself in Browns camp with batted passes, and even though I have not been reporting on this earlier, I have seen this happen quite a few times in my four practices.
On the very first play of an 11-on-11 scrimmage, Delhomme threw a pass that was batted up in the air, and defensive end Robaire Smith came up with the interception.
Not a good sign for Delhomme, who is trying to avoid the turnover bug, but he needs to stop throwing into the line is he is to do so.
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4. Syndric Steptoe Update
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At some point during this past offseason, many Browns fans were very surprised to see Steptoe still on the roster list.
After going down with a season-ending injury during training camp last year, Steptoe was an afterthought.
Now in 2010, I can tell you first-hand that Steptoe many not be the tallest receiver on the football field, but he is the fastest.
I do not know what his 40-yard dash time is, but Steptoe has field speed that far out weighs any 40-yard time.
Steptoe has blazing speed and I must say that out of all the receivers who are fighting for their roster lives, Steptoe is a real dark horse and he can return kicks which is an adding plus.
5. Brian Robiskie Update
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Coming into my first practice, I was very worried about Robiskie despite all the positive reports during the offseason program.
I must say that he has solid and all the positive reports really do reflect how much better he looks compared to one year ago.
He catches everything with his hands and away from his body, he is so crisp in running his routes, and he continues to be able to break into open spots due to how crisp his route running is..
Robiskie is looking much more like a receiver who was touted as the most NFL-ready coming out of the 2009 draft.
6. Mohamed Massaquoi Update
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Massaquoi has quietly gone unnoticed in nearly all the Browns camp reports across the Internet, but I'm going to blow the top off of this one by saying that Massaquoi looks like a No. 1 receiver period.
He has scored on passes many times in practices, he runs crisp routes just like Robiskie, and he even has some juke moves while running his routes that have left defenders confused while Massaquoi get open and catches the pass.
7. Carlton Mitchell and Jonathan Haggerty Updates
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Many fans have asked me about Mitchell and how he looks.
All I can say is that he does look a little raw, but he has great size too.
He has been catching many passes with his hands and off of his body, which was a knock against him in college, but he still has a lot of catching up to do especially with the other receivers looking so good at this point in camp.
The same thing goes for Jonathan Haggerty, who shows flashes at time just like Mitchell, but then you can see that both Haggerty and Mitchell are still learning and thinking too much instead of acting naturally.
Josh Cribbs as a Receiver Update
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Cribbs was really in the same boat last year as both Massaquoi and Robiskie since it was his first real season preparing himself to be a true wide receiver.
Yes Cribbs is a weapon of many talents and can play many positions, but I've seen dramatic improvement in him being a receiver too.
He runs routes much better and uses his strength at the line to break out of coverage rather than trying to out-juke a defender, which is highly smart on his part because it has been working.
Plus, it looks like Cribbs improved his hands and he is catching the ball with his hands rather than using his body.
All the receiver have been catching with their hands which may be a testament of the coaching staff working with the players more in the offseason too.
9. Another Delhomme INT
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On top of the battled ball issues that have been plaguing Delhomme, he has thrown some picks too.
Including a pick by Eric Wright this afternoon on a deep ball that was thrown into double-coverage on Robiskie.
Wright didn't even have to fight for it since the pass was behind Robiskie and Wright just ran under it.
10. Cyclone Update
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I have been trying to be very diligent in reporting on the much hyped Cyclone formation with both Seneca Wallace and Cribbs on the field at the same time and this afternoon had more surprises.
On one play, both Wallace and Cribbs were in a dual-shotgun formation and when the ball was snapped, it went to Wallace, who quickly handed in off to Cribbs.
Another play had Cribbs lined up as quarterback with Wallace spread to the left as a receiver from inside the 20-yard line. The ball was snapped to Cribbs and he threw it to Wallace, who took it into the endzone for a touchdown!
Finally...this is what I wanted to see and it was a great play!
11. Haden the Returner?
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Another of this afternoon surprises came with rookie cornerback Joe Haden who returned a kickoff.
Obviously Cribbs is the kick returner, but with Steptoe and cornerback Gerard Lawson also returning kicks, seeing Haden do it was a big surprise.
I do not know how I think about the Browns' $50 million cornerback returning kicks.
12. First Team Reps
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There were several changes in the first team offense and defense.
Most notable on offense was James Davis getting more of the reps over Jerome Harrison.
Also, on defense linebacker Marcus Benard was with the first team more so than he has been in camp yet and defensive lineman Titus Adams saw many reps as well.
This must be a clear cut case of the Browns being fair and giving other players reps with first teamers so all the players can get comfortable playing together.
13. Injury Update
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Starting tight end Ben Watson was the biggest surprise this afternoon and I do not know if he was injured or given the day off because he was wearing his jersey, but no pads and he was not conditioning with the others. He was hanging with the tight ends and offense during scrimmages.
Others who were conditioning were: Peyton Hillis, Coye Francies, C.J. Mosley, and Titus Brown.
I did not see either Shaun Rogers or Montario Hardesty on the field.
Next Practice Update
14 of 14My next update will come from Browns camp on August 6 at 1:30 p.m. EDT.
(Daniel Wolf is exclusively covering the Browns training camp for both Bleacher Report and Blog" href="http://www.dawgscooper.net" target="_blank">Dawg Scooper: THE Cleveland Browns Blog.)
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