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Kevin Stefanski NFL combine quick hits: Browns looking to find Greenbrier magic again
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- Kevin Stefanski NFL combine quick hits: Browns looking to find Greenbrier magic again
INDIANAPOLIS — The Browns turned a week-and-a-half trip to southeastern West Virginia last July into the foundation for their ability to stare down a season full of adversity and reach the playoffs.
The trip to open training camp last season at The Greenbrier was viewed as such a success in establishing team chemistry — by the players themselves — that the Browns are going to do it again .
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"It's all a factor," Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said Wednesday at the NFL combine . "I think that was part of going down there in the first place was getting our guys under one roof. As you know, really bad cell phone service down there, which is a good thing. So just to see our guys spending time together outside of football, I just think all of that adds up."
Browns players work out at The Greenbrier Sports Performance Center in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., on July 22, 2023.
The exact dates won't be established until the Browns officially know their training camp schedule. All that is known is where they will be at the beginning of camp.
What the Browns are hoping is that a few days in the middle of nowhere in July means they can be playing even deeper into January — maybe even February — than they did last season. The 2023 Browns went 11-6 and reached the AFC wild-card round against the Houston Texans .
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Now they hope to build on everything they did last year, starting at the Greenbrier and leading all the way to Houston.
"We all felt really strong that it was a positive experience," Stefanski said. "Now, is it going to manifest itself in wins and those types of things? It's so hard to know coming out of those, but the staff down there was outstanding. Our staff put on a great operation, if you will. We got a lot of work done, so I thought it was important to do it again."
Team building was a major component to the way Stefanski did things with the Browns last season, and that went beyond just the Greenbrier trip.
They also had the majority of a week in Philadelphia for joint practices with the Eagles. They then spent a week in Los Angeles between a Week 12 game at the Denver Broncos and a Week 13 game at the Los Angeles Rams .
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This upcoming season, the joint practices are expected to be at Browns headquarters against the Minnesota Vikings . Although they are scheduled to travel west to face the Las Vegas Raiders and the Broncos this season, Stefanski didn't sound like a coach pushing for those to be played back to back so he could keep the team out west between games.
"We'll get there, not yet on the schedule, necessarily," Stefanski said. "I think our logistics team's going to want to kill me if I keep planning all these trips. I think we'll see how it goes, but not necessarily there yet in terms of requesting trips."
'Tough decisions' behind decision to move on from Alex Van Pelt
Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield meets with offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt, center, and head coach Kevin Stefanski during the first half against the Houston Texans, Sunday, Sept. 19, 2021, in Cleveland.
Stefanski and Alex Van Pelt had worked in lockstep since the two arrived in Cleveland in 2020. That's why it surprised many when Van Pelt was not retained as offensive coordinator in January.
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The Browns have since hired Ken Dorsey as their offensive coordinator. Van Pelt, meanwhile, was hired to fill the same position by first-year New England Patriots head coach Jerrod Mayo .
"Somebody I love as a person, as a coach," Stefanski said. "Just we make decisions that are tough sometimes in this league, but doesn't change how I feel about him."
More pieces of the Browns on Patriots offensive staff in T.C. McCartney, Scott Peters
Cleveland Browns assistant offensive line coach Scott Peters works with center Ethan Pocic during training camp on Aug. 5, 2022, in Berea.
Van Pelt's offensive staff in New England will feature two other former Browns assistants from last season. Scott Peters was hired as the offensive line coach after having been the assistant offensive line coach in Cleveland, and T.C. McCartney went from Browns tight ends coach to Patriots quarterbacks coach.
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Peters was seen by some as the logical replacement for Bill Callahan as offensive line coach after Callahan left to join his son Brian's staff with the Tennessee Titans .
"We were talking about Coach Callahan earlier," Stefanski said. "Scott's played in this league. He's a technician through and through. I think he's somebody that works really hard. I think the players are going to understand, especially in their individual drills, to watch Scott work, watch him instruct in some of those techniques. He's really doing a great job."
The Browns hired former Seattle offensive line coach Andy Dickerson to replace Callahan. They brought on former Alabama offensive coordinator Tommy Rees to be tight ends coach/pass game specialist.
Rees' dad, Bill, was a scout for the Browns under former general manager Phil Savage. During that time, Tommy served as a ball boy for the team.
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Kevin Stefanski still 'spending time' on what happened in playoff loss
The Browns' season ended on Jan. 13 when they were routed 45-14 by the Houston Texans in an AFC wild-card game. After the loss, Stefanski said, "We just didn't play well enough really in any phase. We didn't play well enough. We didn't coach well enough."
A month and a half later, that remains a subject the Browns are trying to get an answer to as they move into the offseason.
"Obviously that was not our best effort as a team," Stefanski said. "So we're looking at that game. We're looking at ... everything right now, the entire season, but that's certainly not the way we wanted it to end. So you really do have to look at all those things and say, 'What could we have done differently?' — certainly from a coaching perspective that we can help our players moving forward."
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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: NFL combine: Stefanski, Browns looking to repeat Greenbrier magic
