Deshaun Watson delivers his sharpest performance yet with five red-zone touchdowns, while a depleted offensive line forces creative rotations at Day 7 of Cleveland Browns training camp
The injuries seem to be piling up for the Cleveland Browns, but the quarterback battle heated up on Thursday for Day 7 of training camp.
Keep tabs on each day of training camp with our daily recaps from Berea.
Day 7 Headlines
Quarterbacks
Day 7 was Deshaun Watson's day, as the veteran QB put together his best performance of camp so far, and frankly, he needed it. He opened the practice with a very strong 11-on-11 session that had him throwing strikes to all three levels of the defense.
He followed it up with an exceptional red-zone, 7-on-7 session, where only two balls hit the ground and he tossed a total of five touchdowns. It's worth noting that some key members of the defense remained sidelined on Wednesday, so the first unit wasn't at full strength, but Watson certainly made the most of his reps.
Shedeur Sanders was back with the twos and had more of an up-and-down day overall. His passes just weren't quite as crisp as recent days and he tossed his second interception of camp, granted on a ball in the red zone 7-on-7 session that was tipped first.
He seemed to be a little better with some of the procedural stuff during the practice, as both he and Watson drew an offside penalty from the defense during one session. For the second consecutive day, Sanders ended practice on a high note, lofting a perfect ball to Gage Larvadain on a wheel route on the final play of practice.
Meanwhile, Dillon Gabriel continued to see an uptick in second-team reps. It's the third straight day where he's earned some reps with the twos. Like Watson he had a really
O-Line Roulette
There may not be a group more ravaged by camp injuries right now than the o-line, which forced Cleveland to get creative with their groupings up front.
That said, the starting unit remained mostly the same with the exception of Luke Wypler playing center, primarily.
Tytus Howard at RT, KT Leveston at RG, Luke Wypler at C, Zion Johnson at LG and Dawand Jones at LT
Things got a little funky on the second unit.
Austin Barber at RT, Kingsley Eguakun at RG, Tyre Phillips at C, Zak Zinter LG and Spencer Fano
Sweep'n
Todd Monken chose Thursday to start working some jet sweep and end-around style plays into the offense. Those tend to be a touchy subject given how often they didn't work out for Kevin Stefanski, but they had some success on the practice field for Monken.
Some assortment of Denzel Boston, KC Concepcion, Isaiah Bond and Malachi Corley all got touches on those plays.
Injuries and Absences
Same story for DT Maliek Collins, who remains on the PUP list, and TE Joe Royer, who is away from the team for personal reasons.
The lengthy list of players not participating from Tuesday persisted as LB Carson Schwesinger, CB Damarri Mathis, CB Myles Bryant, FB Michael Burton, C Kendrick Green, DT Kalia Davis, DT Mike Hall Jr. G Teven Jenkins, DT Mason Graham, DT Sam Kamara were not practicing.
A few others like CB Tyson Campbell and C Elgton Jenkins weren't involved in any team drills. Also rookie C Parker Brailsford wasn't practicing either.
Play of the Day
The Browns got into 11-on-11 work very quickly on Wednesday and Watson got to firing immediately on his day with the first team. One of the best throws he made on the day came during that session on a play action throw to KC Concepcion, where he faked the draw handoff to Quinshon Judkins and then threw an absolute dart to the rookie over the middle of the field.
Player of the Day
It's Deshaun Watson. Objectively, Wednesday was his best day of practice during his tenure with the Browns. He saved his best performance for the perfect time too, because he seemed to be fading in the competition. Suddenly he's right back in it, with one more day of installs to go.
Quote of the Day
Browns wide receiver Jerry Jeudy was asked about his viral video where it appeared he threw up the No. 4 in support of Watson, when someone on TikTok asked him who he wants to win the starting QB job. His full explanation was much lengthier but he ended his commentary on the matter with a zinger.
"It was just me and my daughter catching the trip here and I just got on TikTok live and just to interact with the fans and stuff like that. But that's all it was. If I don't even answer quarterback question here, why would I answer quarterback on TikTok?"
What's Next?
Thursday will be Day 8 of training camp as the team will be back in full pads. It also marks the fifth open session for fans. Gates open around 12:30, with practice commencing around 1:30.
