It’s too early to say it, but as of today, football is officially back in Cleveland. Well, kind of.
Tuesday marks the beginning of the Browns’ first set of Organized Team Activities (OTAs). OTAs are really the first time the entire team is together, practicing on the same field at the same time. Rookies are in the mix with the veterans, finally, and this is the first time the veterans are back to work since the end of the season.
Although the majority of Cleveland’s OTAs are closed to the public, there are still some things that we can learn. Here are three of them.
1. Who is in attendance?
OTAs are the first time that a team should be 100 percent together, no questions asked. That likely will not be the case when the team reports tomorrow, as Myles Garrett has been MIA for the voluntary portions of spring camp thus far, and it might be pretty unlikely that he is there.
Myles will certainly steal the show, whether positively or negatively. Cleveland needs to keep an eye on who else isn’t in attendance. Will Denzel Ward be there? How about Grant Delpit? Where will Joel Bitonio be? There is no reason to believe that anyone will be missing, but something to keep your eye on.
2. Quarterback “Competition.”
Todd Monken has expressed several times how badly he wants to have a quarterback named starter as early as possible. Reports are out that he and Deshaun Watson are seeing eye to eye and that it is basically Watson’s job to lose.
Whatever reports we get back from practice in terms of the rep allocation will tell us a very detailed story of what to expect when the Browns take the field in the fall.
3. How do the Browns solve secondary depth?
If Denzel Ward and Tyson Campbell are getting limited reps during camp, then this will open the door for someone or two to emerge from the roster. If Cleveland has one major issue on defensive it is truly that the backup secondary is virtually non-existent. After Ward and Campbell, the dropoff is steep, and it is days like Tuesday when the players begin to separate themselves.
It is very unlikely that Cleveland will get a ton of genuine looks at guys playing in coverage. However, the things that we hear from Coach Monken will tell us everything that we need to know about the competition.
This article originally appeared on Browns Wire: Three things to learn from Browns’ OTA’s this week
Reporting by Anthony Moeglin, Browns Wire / Browns Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
