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Cleveland Browns Training Camp: Day 13 Recap
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- Cleveland Browns Training Camp: Day 13 Recap
(Ken Blaze - IMAGN Images)
Deshaun Watson will start the Cleveland Browns preseason opener against the Chicago Bears on Saturday. But Day 13 brought one final day of work on the practice field before the QB competition gets real.
Keep tabs on each day of training camp with our daily recaps from Berea.
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Day 13 Headlines
Quarterbacks
Shedeur Sanders was back with the first team and looked decisive with the football throughout most of practice, while dropping a few dimes. There were a few times when he got flushed out of the pocket by pressure and threw the ball away to avoid forcing a risky throw. In one of those instances, during red zone 11-on-11 work, he bought himself enough time to make a pinpoint throw to Blake Whiteheart for a touchdown near the front, right pylon.
His best drive came at the very end of practice, where the objective was to execute a game-winning drive, down two with under a minute to play. Sanders pulled it off to a T, completing one of the throws of camp on a go ball to Isaiah Bond to ultimately set up the would-be field goal attempt. Everything was extremely smooth.
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Watson was also able to execute a pretty flawless game-winning drive in that final session, with his best throw coming on a wheel route to Luke Floriea for a big gain. A few plays later, Andre Szmyt was out after another perfectly executed hurry-up situation to try a game-winning kick.
Overall, Sanders finished with more highlight-reel-worthy throws, but Watson was dialed in for certain stretches of practice and seemed a little more consistent at times. His worst drill came during the red zone 11-on-11s, but again, his execution on the final drive was excellent, like Sanders.
Dillon Gabriel saw his roles lessened a bit on Wednesday. He handled one series of 11-on-11s and one series of 7-on-7s and only threw five passes, granted he completed four of them.
O-Line Roulette
With Elgton Jenkins not practicing, Luke Wypler handled the starting center duties, leaving the first-team group consisting of:
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Tytus Howard at RT, Teven Jenkins at RG, Wypler at C, Zion Johnson at LG, Spencer Fano at LT.
The second team was mixed up throughout practice, with Wypler pulling double duty at times at center. Another iteration looked like:
Dawand Jones at RT, Jack Conley at RG, Kingsley Eguakun at C, Jeremiah Byers at LG and Austin Barber at LT
Dropsies
While so many Browns receivers have had exceptional training camps (shoutout KC Concepcion and Denzel Boston) Jerry Jeudy 's camp has been, well, underwhelming. It seems like every day there's another drop.
His latest one came on Wednesday, on a really nice deep shot from Sanders, who dropped the ball into his breadbasket in tight coverage from Tre Avery , but it went right through his arms.
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At this stage, Jeudy is being outperformed by a handful of receivers. He's in line to make the team, but the drops are a concern.
Injuries and Absences
Still no updates on TE Joe Royer, who remains away from the team due to personal reasons.
The list of players not practicing remains long: LB Carson Schwesinger , CB Myles Bryant , WR Cedric Tillman (new), D'Angelo Ross, FB Michael Burton , DT Kalia Davis , DT Mike Hall Jr. , DT Sam Kamara , T Elijah Chatman , C Elgton Jenkins, G Zak Zinter, C Parker Brailsford and TE Jack Stoll .
CB Denzel Ward was back on Wednesday, as was tackle Izavion Miller. DB Tyron Herring also left practice early on and never returned.
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Play of the Day
On the day when we saw one of the best plays of camp it was an easy choice. During the final session of practice with the offense in the hurry-up trying to get into field goal range, down two, Sanders unloaded an absolute bomb to Isaiah Bond, who laid out to make a spectacular catch.
Player of the Day
The nod goes to Bond today. The catch above was incredible enough, but he made a few others over the course of practice, including a nice crossing route earlier in practice that led to a big gain. He got off to a slower start to camp and had some drops early on, but has come on strong over the last week.
Quote of the Day
Moments after Deshaun Watson downplayed that he's not trying to recapture the 2020 version of himself, Monken came to his defense to ask, why can't he be that guy again?
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"Well, first of all, I would never put limitations on a player. I'd hate that he would do that. Why can't he be? Why can't he play like that? I don't know, I haven't seen it yet. I'm not going to say he can't until I see it. I've seen a lot of really good things over the course of the four or five months I've been here. I'm not going to put that on him. If he thinks he can't play like that, that's on him. I think he's done a lot of really good things athletically, making plays that we're going to get a chance to see, because we're not live. We'll see if that comes to play when we get out there and go."
What's Next?
The Browns are off on Thursday and Friday ahead of their preseason opener against the Chicago Bears on Saturday. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. The team returns to practice on Monday. There are no more public practices.
