Fantasy ideas and nuggets from Colts, Bengals, Browns and Steelers camps
Again at dwelling after this yr’s coaching camp journey, and I assumed I might move alongside some notes from my closing few stops. Final week, I stuffed you in on what I discovered at Vikings, Packers and Bears camps. After that, I hit 4 extra stops in Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania earlier than wrapping up the journey.
Noticed some practices, did some interviews, tried to get a way of what is going on on with the Colts, Bengals, Browns and Steelers as coaching camp rolls alongside. So here is a few of what I picked up alongside the best way:
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Aug. Three-Four in Westfield, Indiana
There was no Andrew Luck at these practices, as I am positive you’ve got heard. However whereas the calf damage that’s maintaining Luck off the sphere is worrisome, the sense across the Colts was that he is aware of what he is doing when it comes to damage restoration and that he was more likely to return in time for the season. Not a positive factor but, however that is the sense.
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Meantime, linebacker Darius Leonard is a enjoyable man to speak to.
“I nonetheless have not reached any targets that I’ve,” final yr’s Defensive Rookie of the Yr informed me, so I requested what these have been.
“For this yr? 200 tackles, 10 sacks, 25 TFLs, 4 interceptions … the listing simply goes on. I need to be a Tremendous Bowl champion, Tremendous Bowl MVP, Defensive Participant of the Yr … I imply, I simply need my title on the high of all lists.”
Do not chortle. There are two causes Leonard thinks he’ll be higher this yr than he was as a rookie.
Darius Leonard had 163 tackles, two interceptions and 7 sacks as a rookie in 2018. (Picture by Rob Carr/Getty Pictures)
1. He was taking part in damage final yr.
“I sprained my ankle in Week 2, Week Three, one thing like that, and I simply had a number of calcification on it, so after the season — earlier than OTAs — I lastly had it cleaned up, so I am feeling an entire lot higher now,” he stated. “I could not transfer round, man. I could not plant on it like I needed to. So I needed to take buggy steps [I think he said ‘buggy’] quite a bit. I could not plant, level and drive. I could not be explosive off of it. However now I be ok with it, I belief it, and I can transfer an entire lot faster.”
2. The Colts added veteran pass-rusher Justin Houston, and Leonard has been selecting his mind.
“Alignments off the tackles, as a result of he is aware of I blitz quite a bit, so simply educating me some keys to have a look at, how they over-set and what to do after they over-set,” Leonard stated. “As a rookie, I used to be simply going by the e-book, as an alternative of going off what they gave me. So now, he is educating me learn offensive linemen’s units and go off of that.”
Final season, every part was new to everybody across the Colts — new teaching workers, new offense, new protection … every part. On the offensive facet, second-year head coach Frank Reich stated issues are quite a bit simpler now that gamers know what they’re doing.
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Victor Cruz sees the Colts’ upcoming season as a “Tremendous Bowl or bust” with a wholesome Andrew Luck on the helm.
“I really feel like, now that everybody is aware of the schemes, we’re stepping into the second and third layer of not simply popping out in probably the most vanilla of formations on a regular basis,” Reich stated. “You already know, final yr, new offense, new defensive scheme, new special-teams scheme; you are inclined to preserve issues very vanilla, very fundamental. And now, we simply really feel like we have sort of found out how we like to make use of our personnel with totally different personnel teams, formations, motions, shifts … so we’re in a position to get to that stuff earlier.”
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There are two new broad receivers in Indy to regulate — veteran Devin Funchess, whose route-running prowess has impressed Reich, and second-round choose Parris Campbell, whom Reich stated can positively assist as a rookie as soon as he returns from his early-camp hamstring damage: “We’re relying on him to have the ability to assist us,” Reich stated of Campbell. “Clearly, it is unhealthy timing with an damage like this. Actually felt like he was having a very good camp, and we have been pondering, ‘Whoa, this may occur a bit faster than regular.’ If he can get wholesome and show it on the sphere — he is nonetheless obtained to show it; he is proven some good issues — then that position would develop because the yr went on.”
Marlon Mack stated he’s targeted on staying wholesome and on the sphere as he enters the season because the beginning working again. He stated he reduce fried meals out of his weight loss program and was in a position to take part in OTAs for the primary time. Clearly, a wholesome Mack can be a fantasy helper in a Frank Reich offense.
Aug. 5 in Cincinnati
Issues are new in a spot the place it at all times felt like nothing would ever change. New coach Zac Taylor, new defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo, new schemes, new playbooks … guys are a bit bit refreshed. Defensive finish Carlos Dunlap lit up once I requested him how the offense regarded.
“That scheme!” Dunlap stated. “What they’re doing proper now seems actually good. And for us to see it day by day and nonetheless be challenged, that claims quite a bit. I personally do not know of an offense that I can say it is like, which is an efficient factor. Plus, I would not say it if I did.”
Joe Mixon rushed for 1,168 yards and averaged Four.9 yards per carry in 2018. Picture by Aaron Doster/USA TODAY Sports activities
I will need to have been there on the fallacious day, then, as a result of the offense regarded completely overwhelmed by the protection within the follow I watched. Taylor admitted as a lot afterward, saying it was a tricky day for the offense and issues should get higher. However this can be a banged-up group already — no A.J. Inexperienced or John Ross at broad receiver, and so they’re a few guys quick on the offensive line as a result of Jonah Williams’ damage and Clint Boling’s retirement. Working again Giovani Bernard did not follow that day. They’re working with a number of backups, although rookie working again Trayveon Williams had his moments.
Taylor held beginning working again Joe Mixon out of most of that follow, and I would not anticipate to see Mixon a lot if in any respect this preseason. Taylor’s mentor, Sean McVay, would not use Todd Gurley II in preseason video games with the Los Angeles Rams, and Mixon (fantasy alert!) is the participant by whom this offense is most certainly to run.
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“All people thinks Zac desires to air it out, however I feel Zac believes in a stability,” Dunlap stated. “Joe would not take a again seat to anybody on this league, and he is hungry for extra. And he can take extra.”
Mixon informed me he likes Taylor’s follow plan and the way it’s geared towards discovering the correct days to work more durable and the correct days to include extra relaxation. Mixon expects to hold an enormous workload this season and believes he’s up for it. He informed me he’s engaged on the “sturdiness” a part of his recreation.
“I feel Coach Taylor does a fantastic job monitoring my workload proper now,” Mixon stated. “However I feel, come recreation time, he will let me free.”
As for the 36-year-old Taylor, who was the Rams’ quarterbacks coach seven months in the past, he would not give off a deer-in-the-headlights vibe. He says being round McVay when McVay was a rookie head coach at 31 was a key to his fast improvement as a coach.
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“I used to be lucky sufficient to be round Sean and was at all times actually impressed with how he handles issues at a younger age,” Taylor stated. “And the profit to working with him was that he was at all times actually open with why he was doing every part. So that you felt like, any person sort of your age going by it and he was actually open with why he was doing every part and that permits you, whenever you get this job, to really feel such as you’ve sort of already been on this as a result of I obtained to observe Sean expertise it for 2 years.”
Aug. 6 in Berea, Ohio
It is just a bit bit more durable to discover a seat within the media workroom right here than it was final spring and summer season, when the Browns have been coming off an Zero-16 season and Baker Mayfield was working with the second-team offense behind starter Tyrod Taylor.
“Very not often, whenever you set your offseason plan into movement, do you anticipate to hit on 90% of your plan,” common supervisor John Dorsey informed me. “However you have a look at it … we sort of hit on some issues you do not anticipate to hit on.”
The large one, after all, was getting Odell Beckham Jr. in a commerce with the New York Giants. Beckham is the largest star in Browns camp, however as was the case in New York, he’s a tough employee in follow who is rarely late and teammates love him.
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Ryan Clark contends that the Browns will dwell as much as the hype this season and Baker Mayfield will enter the dialog concerning the high 10 QBs within the NFL.
“Prime instance of not believing within the notion,” first-year head coach Freddie Kitchens stated.
The story right here is whether or not Kitchens and his workers can mildew the Browns’ gifted group into an actual contending group, and Kitchens is aware of that. He is aware of what he is in search of.
“I need to see what these guys do now, shifting ahead,” Kitchens informed me. “First week’s simple. Second week, you begin hitting the hump a bit bit. I need to see what occurs after they begin not feeling good. That is when we will decide our group.
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“I need to see how they’re speaking on protection. See how they’re coming collectively on offense, what their chemistry is on offense. See what their capability to come back again from a unfavorable play is on offense. Their capability to overlook concerning the final play on protection, simply play the subsequent play.”
The day I used to be there was earlier than they traded working again Duke Johnson Jr. to Houston, however I’m informed that the principle causes they ended up doing that deal have been that (A) they beloved the value (a fourth-round choose that may grow to be a third-rounder if Johnson is lively for at the least 10 video games this season, which is the very best draft-pick haul in a working again commerce for the reason that Trent Richardson deal of 2013), and (B) they’re pleased with the event of Dontrell Hilliard, a second-year working again from Tulane that they assume can do a number of the identical sorts of issues Johnson did. Which may qualify as a fantasy alert, but it surely’s arduous to know for positive how issues will probably be unfold round on this loaded-on-paper offense.
Nick Chubb is the beginning working again, at the least till Kareem Hunt’s eight-game suspension ends. And you may anticipate Beckham and greatest buddy Jarvis Landry to obtain lions’ shares of the passing-game targets. No surprises there. Undecided how way more you may see tight finish David Njoku do than he did a yr in the past. And when you’re in search of a 3rd Browns broad receiver to make use of, I might put my cash on Rashard Higgins earlier than the suspended Antonio Callaway.
Freddie Kitchens earned the Browns’ job after teaching Baker Mayfield down the stretch final season. AP Picture/Ron Schwane
The Browns have a few roster points to type out earlier than the season begins. They should decide on an offensive line: Second-year guard Austin Corbett hasn’t developed as shortly as that they had hoped he would after the Kevin Zeitler commerce, and veteran Eric Kush seems just like the front-runner to begin at proper guard. They should resolve who their kicker will probably be between Greg Joseph and fifth-round rookie Austin Seibert. And it is solely attainable that one or each of their rookie linebackers, Mack Wilson and Sione Takitaki, can win beginning jobs forward of veterans Joe Schobert and Christian Kirksey. There is a lengthy option to go, however these rookies are having sturdy camps, and there is a sense that they is likely to be higher scheme matches. Might Schobert or Kirksey be a shock late-camp roster reduce that would assist out a linebacker-needy group?
Aug. 7 in Latrobe, Pennsylvania
That is the one camp I have been to during which gamers have been allowed to hit and deal with one another to the bottom this a lot. Coach Mike Tomlin believes in practising the best way you play, and up to now he has used a boxing analogy — “You would not get within the ring when you hadn’t carried out some sparring” — to elucidate his reasoning. It is jarring to see it. Form of like strolling right into a restaurant the place they permit smoking nowadays; you are a bit bit shocked that there are nonetheless locations the place this goes on.
However it’s the Steelers approach, and the gamers purchase in. And whereas everyone is locked in on the Browns in Ohio, they’re out right here in Latrobe doing what they at all times do.
“It is calm,” guard Ramon Foster informed me. “Guys are settling in. It is precisely what you need camp to be. It is soiled, dirty and arduous, however what different state of affairs would you slightly be in?”
First-round choose Devin Bush is anticipated to be an vital participant in the midst of the Pittsburgh protection in Yr 1. Keith Srakocic/Related Press
Foster is an efficient man to speak to on these journeys as a result of he helps with the massive image. Ask him who seems good, and he has an inventory. He rattles off broad receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster (“simply as sharp”); working again James Conner (“He is comfy, extra positive of what the hell he is obtained occurring”); rookie linebacker Devin Bush (“I am extremely impressed”); and rookie wideout Diontae Johnson (“very savvy”).
Foster is particularly fired up about linebacker T.J. Watt.
“He is nonetheless wanting like a god and doing the identical precise belongings you anticipate him to,” Foster stated of Watt. “The most important factor he is doing proper now could be chasing his brother. So so long as he is chasing him, I feel we’re in a very good state of affairs. He was telling me a narrative about how he ran up on his brother’s notebooks — how he had stacks and bundles of notebooks and the way he simply sat there and browse by them and was like, ‘Whoa, I’ve obtained to step my recreation up.’ He realized what it really takes to do the issues that he desires to do from one of many biggest to ever do it.”
On protection, the massive add is Bush, the first-round pick of Michigan who the Steelers hope can stabilize the center of their protection. They’re anticipating quite a bit out of Bush in Yr 1, as his place carries a lot duty. However Bush informed me the offensive linemen are serving to him with ideas and that taking part in for Jim Harbaugh whereas with the Wolverines was an enormous assist in getting him prepared for an enormous rookie position within the execs.
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“It was like a professional schedule,” Bush stated. “Clearly having Coach Harbaugh as our coach, every part was sort of pro-style, you recognize, from our special-teams ideas to our defenses to our offenses. So seeing two-back units and seeing three tight ends within the recreation isn’t uncommon to me.”
And at last, I needed to ask Foster concerning the Browns hype. Not surprisingly, he had ideas.
“There’s at all times a group right here and there yearly, escaping damage, escaping a dropping skid,” Foster stated. “The larger the bull’s-eye, the more durable it may be for you as a group when you’re not right-minded. That is the one factor I’ve to say about that. Whenever you assume you might have a group you are presupposed to beat convincingly and so they come out and play you arduous as ever, it is as a result of they assume you are a group that is actually good and you’ll change their season round. In order that’s my solely trace of recommendation for a group that is getting that sort of press. We have seen different groups. We have been that group. We all know there is not any off days. You have got guys asking questions, ‘How did you lose to this group?’ Nicely, it is as a result of you might have the bull’s-eye. So I’ve no issues with it. I am glad it is off of us. It ought to be thrilling. The AFC North goes to be a tough division this yr.”
Extra fantasy notes
Smith-Schuster is the No. 1 broad receiver, however as second-year wideout James Washington informed me, the Steelers anticipate groups to key on Smith-Schuster with Antonio Brown now off in Oakland preventing the league on helmet security. The query is who picks up all these passing-game targets that went to Brown, and whereas some will certainly go to Smith-Schuster, there may be alternative right here for Washington, Johnson and even guys comparable to Donte Moncrief and Ryan Switzer. The sense I obtained was that Moncrief was the front-runner for the nominal No. 2 broad receiver spot, however once more, it will depend on whom you talked to. Conner stated Washington was significantly improved from final season. Foster introduced up Johnson unsolicited. There’s some stuff to type out right here but.