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Juan Thornhill teaching Cleveland Browns, fans about the 'Power of Positive Tweeting'
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- Juan Thornhill teaching Cleveland Browns, fans about the 'Power of Positive Tweeting'
BEREA — Juan Thornhill has clearly read Norman Vincent Peale . Or, the Browns safety at least has absorbed enough of the 1950s-era clergyman's work to know all about the "Power of Positive Thinking."
Thornhill signed with the Browns during the first week of free agency in March after a four-year, two-Super Bowl championship run with the Kansas City Chiefs . Since then, it's almost been like he's trying to will success and positivity into both an organization and a fan base that has lacked that for the better part of two-and-a-half decades.
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"Listen, they say if you speak negative, negative things will happen," Thornhill said after Wednesday's voluntary offseason team activity. "That's what I truly believe. So if you sit here and speak positive, those positive things will happen. If you say you're going to win and you step on that field believing you're going to win, more than likely you're going to win. I mean, you're going to play your hardest to get there.
"So I'm definitely that type of guy that wants to be positive and bring everyone to the room and then just enjoy everything together."
Nowhere is that projection of positivity more evident than with Thornhill's social media accounts. Specifically, it's on the 27-year-old's Twitter account, @Juan_Thornhill , where it's showcased the most.
Cleveland Browns safety Juan Thornhill participates in a drill during Wednesday Berea.
That's especially been true the last couple of weeks. Thornhill has almost been preaching to the fans with various tweets talking about being positive.
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Those include:
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May 11: "Change the narrative!!!"
The final one seemed to especially unlock the inner preacher inside Thornhill. It was followed up the same day with two more tweets:
"My tweets are not really anything negative," Thornhill said. "It's just like in Kansas City , I use them because that's where I was before. But in Kansas City, like, those fans there, I would not say too cocky. Like they were just like, 'we're going to win this week,' and the players can feel that. … You don't want to be walking around with fans saying, 'I don't know if you're going to win or not. I hope we win this year.' We don't want to see that as a team. We want them guys to be behind us, pushing us every day and, like, we're going to win."
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The positivity and winning expectations are exactly what the Browns wanted when they signed Thornhill. What he brings to the locker room is two Super Bowl championship rings and another AFC championship ring.
That would make for three Super Bowl appearances — along with an AFC Championship Game loss in overtime — in four years since the Chiefs selected him No. 63 overall in the second round of the 2019 NFL Draft. So it's very easy to see where those positive vibes comes from for Thornhill, who's coming off a season during which he matched his career high in interceptions with three while playing 95% of Kansas City's defensive snaps.
"They brought me here to win," Thornhill said. "So they brought in a great guy to help go get the football, get turnovers, get the ball back to Deshaun (Watson) and the offense. So that's what they brought me here for, just to lock up any receiver that I'm going against."
Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on Twitter at @ceasterlingABJ .
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This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Browns safety Juan Thornhill preaches positivity through Twitter
