Newsletter: Breaking Down Performance and Scheme Details from the Browns Wednesday OTA Session

There were plenty of videos and quotes worth discussing from Berea.

(Photo Courtesy of the Cleveland Browns)

The Browns held their second on-field session of OTAs Wednesday afternoon and it will be the only one where we received full exposure to all the Browns on-field work. The other sessions, including today, will be closed from the media so the only glimpses will be what the team provides us on social media.

Yesterday provided a great glimpse into how the Browns, and largely football across all levels, orchestrate their practices and try to maximize their time. There were some quality clips from individual period that display how those groups work technique to improve their craft daily. Plenty of 7-on-7 (skelly) in various portions of the field, and then some full 11-on-11 drills.

The individual drills had some good clips of the running backs working resistance bands to work on their forward lean when running downhill.

Quarterback and running backs did their daily work on “mesh” drills meant to work that simple handoff technique from the gun and under-center alignments. The more reps of these everyday the cleaner the process is when the game is going full speed. Daily fundamentals, as they say.

In these settings quarterbacks can work on reading a “read key” for option game or RPO concepts and more. Under-center they will hand the ball off and then work the roll direction they would use in play-action, with an assistant flipping them the ball and then throwing on the run. You can layer up these drills to work several angles.

Wide receivers did their work on snapping in and out of breaks to continue to improve at the craft. Again, daily fundamentals. Jerry Jeudy is up here and you can see the work on those “speed turns.”

The defensive line worked on the layers to making jab-step moves that work toward their club/swim and other misdirection movements. It looks like a basketball move in a sense but it is all about selling on direction and being quick off that first foot to get back in the opposite direction.

The group also worked some individual pass rush plans and Ogbo Okoronkwo flashed a nasty “ghost move” when you dip the inside shoulder at the last moment as the offensive tackle punches high.

There were also the “walk through” type periods where the physical movement is light but there is a heavy emphasis on the mental side of knowing where to align pre and then move to post-snap. This one was a blitz look with linebackers walked down into the line of scrimmage to put a unique scheme on the opponent’s pass protection plan. You will notice Jerome Baker (17) punch out late. Again, this is meant to confuse protection, get 1-on-1’s and then create free rushers.

Let’s now have a look at some of the standout work from team periods and what I noticed about the scheme and performances.

The team periods had the most work coming from the veteran quarterbacks with Flacco doing the most downfield work and Kenny Pickett have a few moments of quick decision-making to keep the offense moving forward. Dillon Gabriel had more reps than Shedeur Sanders but both had real moments of promise that show you why the Browns drafted both of them.