From June 6 through June 8, the Cleveland Browns will be in Berea for a short mandatory minicamp. This will be their final offseason program before the start of Training Camp, which begins on July 22 and will take place in West Virginia this season.
Training camp is where the majority of the work is done in preparation of the regular season but minicamps can be very important as well — especially for a team installing a new defensive scheme while also working with a new special team's coordinator.
With that being the case, here's a look at three things to try and learn from the Browns during their 2023 mandatory minicamp.
3. How fast will the Browns WRs look?
Cleveland wanted to get faster at wide receiver and during the 2023 offseason, they did exactly that.
General manager Andrew Berry brought in Elijah Moore from the New York Jets in a trade and also signed Marquise Goodwin — a former Olympic track star. They join a corps that includes Amari Cooper and Donovan Peoples-Jones, who can both run in their own right — but Moore and Goodwin are the ones who can take the top off a defense.
So far, they've all been working with Watson during OTAs, outside of Amari Cooper who is recovering from core muscle surgery. His absence is never a positive thing during games but not having him doing team drills during OTAs might have been a blessing in disguise since it gave Deshaun Watson time to mesh with Moore and Goodwin.
Now in minicamp, one of the most exciting things to watch will continue to be this receiver corps, especially how they open up the offense with their deep speed.
2. The defensive line rotation
Last season, the Browns defensive line was a mess. Myles Garrett was the lone player standing out, finishing with 60 tackles and 16 sacks — tying the franchise record he set in 2022. After Garrett, the second-most sacks on the team came courtesy of Taven Bryan, who had just three.
As if the lack of pass rush outside of Garrett wasn't bad enough, Cleveland's defensive line was even worse against the run. They were gouged for 2,295 yards on the ground and surrendered 4.7 yards per attempt.
Now in 2023, Garrett should have a lot of help not only with getting after the quarterback, but also slowing down the pass rush.
Cleveland signed Dalvin Tomlinson, Trysten Hill, and Maurice Hurst to bolster the interior of the line. They also drafted Siaki Ika, giving them a massive nose tackle. On the edge, they signed Ogbo Okoronkwo, drafted Isaiah McGuire, and then traded for Za'Darius Smith.
Clearly, they wanted to overhaul the line and they did exactly that. While these camps don't typically tell us a lot about the line, it could be interesting to see if we can learn anything about how they will be rotated.
Defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz likes to attack in waves and he's surely going to move players around to find the best possible combinations. This week will be his first chance to get to work on this.
1. Deshaun Watson without a lingering suspension
When the Browns added Deshaun Watson in 2022, they knew he would miss most of the season. In all honesty, they probably thought he would miss the entire campaign as he faced a league suspension for more than 20 accusations of sexual misconduct.
In the end, Watson settled the majority of his cases and then settled with the NFL. Originally suspended six games by an outside arbitrator, the NFL appealed the decision and with the threat of a year-long ban (or indefinite suspension), Watson and the league agreed upon 11 games.
He played in the final six of the season, leading Cleveland to a record of 3-3 in that span. Overall, his play was shaky but we saw flashes of the star player he was in Houston.
Fast forward to now and Watson should be much more focused. He no longer has to worry about a league suspension and can put all his energy into the game. He's also going to have plenty of weapons on offense with Elijah Moore, Marquise Goodwin, and Jordan Akins added in the offseason.
Watson will continue to work with each of them but they could be joined by Amari Cooper and David Njoku as well. Cooper has been recovering from surgery so that might be optimistic but Njoku wasn't at OTAs so this will be the first chance he and Watson get to work together this offseason.
Cleveland mortgaged their future for Watson and mandatory minicamps will be another chance for him to prove he's the leader this offense needs.