Cleveland Browns: Rookie minicamp starts, Ward banged up

The Cleveland Browns started their rookie minicamp on Friday, which was a great chance to see the new guys in action. Unfortunately, Denzel Ward was banged up some.

Football is almost back and as the Cleveland Browns got their rookie minicamp underway Friday. It’s not like they’re out there playing full games, but teams are able to use this time to get acquainted with their new guys — while also allowing them to get used to their new place of work.

Still, the team does get some football work in and whenever that happens, there are risks of inures. That happened on Friday as reports surfaced that No. 4 overall pick Denzel Ward was held out of the end of practice.

Head coach Hue Jackson said it was pretty much a precaution and wasn’t specific about what exactly happened to the speedy defensive back. Mary Kay Cabot shared a short clip on Twitter of the coach talking about Ward’s status.

Ward was also beat on a play that made it’s way to Twitter as Pat Chiesa shared a clip of Baker Mayfield delivering a clean pass deep. 

https://twitter.com/PatChiesa/status/992524056808312833

Ward will be checked again Saturday to see if everything is fine, and maybe the team will release more of what happened. Even with his hiccup it was nice to see clips of some Browns players making football plays after the long layoff.

Another key things to notice about the practice was the fact rookie offensive lineman Austin Corbett was lined up at left tackle — which currently has a huge hole in it after Joe Thomas retired.

Next: Tyrod Taylor is the starter, but for how long?

Should Corbett line up there it could keep the rest of the line intact, which could go a long way towards building continuity.