The Browns, like the other NFL teams without new head coaches, start their offseason program Monday.
It's a voluntary program, but the attendance typically has been high, at least for the Browns. That's even with a recent push by the NFL Players Association, led by former Browns center J.C. Tretter , for players to not participate.
That participation will be much more quantifiable once the Browns start the on-field OTAs. However, those don't start until May 21, phase three of the offseason program.
What's starting Monday is two weeks of entirely off-the-field work. Teams are only permitted to do meetings, strength and conditioning work, along with physical rehab work.
Phase two, which starts the first week of May, allows for the start of on-field work, mostly individual or group drills. That will run four weeks until the start of the final phase, which includes the 10 OTAs before concluding with the one mandatory part of the offseason, minicamp from June 11-13.
What will Browns fans ultimately learn from this program? In all likelihood, very little that translates fully over to the regular season.
That doesn't mean the program has no value in sketching out opinions, especially on some specific players and coaches, starting with exactly who you would expect.
It wouldn't be an offseason list of players to watch for the Browns if it didn't include Deshaun Watson . The first year was all about how he'd acclimate himself to a new organization after the trade, while the second year was all about how Watson was getting more comfortable in his first full offseason with the team.
Now? Well, now it's about how the quarterback is progressing in his recovery from shoulder surgery in November.
"It's been very, very good," Watson told reporters during the opening of his new restaurant on April 4. "The process is day to day and we've just got to take it one step at a time. We can't do anything too crazy. We can't jump the gun and try to do too much. The biggest thing right now through this process is load management and just continue to find ways to just get better and just stay on that course.
"So I'm trusting all the doctors, the P.T., Dr. (Neal) ElAttrache and his team out in ( Los Angeles ) with the Cleveland Browns and we just follow their role and we'll be ready by Week 1."
There figures to be a lot of more words instead of action connected to that recovery until Watson can actually be seen on the field. Once those OTAs start in late May, a better idea should be known about where he stands.
Mystery No. 1 of the offseason has centered on Watson and his shoulder. Mystery No. 2 has revolved around newly hired offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey .
Dorsey has only spoken once since he was hired in late January, and the answers given there were more in generalities since the staff was still coming together. Browns coach Kevin Stefanski has spoken multiple times since then, at both the combine in February and at the owners meetings in March, but also avoided much direct comments about what the offense will look like this season.
"I've been so impressed with Ken and the entire offensive staff," Stefanski told reporters, including the Beacon Journal, at the owners meetings. "Every year, you pull it apart and put it together again. It really is a construction that you're doing year to year. Ken's been at the forefront of it. And so much of it is making sure we're doing everything that fits our guys, so obviously the quarterback fits into that of course. But I think Ken and the entire staff have been working hard, and we're still not there."
Much like Watson's progression, Dorsey's fingerprints on the offense are going to be more about words than what's seen until the end of May. However, there's going to be plenty of words directed at everyone to try to learn whatever can be learned about the scheme until it's actually out on the field.
We don't want this list to be all about the offense, even though the offense is where almost all of the questions reside. So what about the defense will be of interest this spring?
Enter Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah , the fourth-year outside linebacker who may be staring at a massive season in what will also be a contract season. The former 2021 second-round pick certainly has teammates, both new and old, thinking that'll be the case after the performance he had a year ago when he was fourth in the league with 20 tackles for loss.
"He's a special player," now-former Browns linebacker Anthony Walker Jr. said the day after an AFC wild card loss to the Houston Texans . "He understands that. So him taking that next step forward as a leader, as an impact player on his team. I texted him after the game yesterday. I said, if he's not the best linebacker in the NFL next year, that's his fault. Because he has everything that it takes."
Owusu-Koramoah won't be able to showcase that entirely during the offseason. However, being able to showcase even the work he's already done will go a long way to setting the table for training camp in July.
Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Deshaun Watson, Ken Dorsey highlight Browns under offseason spotlight
