BEREA, Ohio — Browns defensive coordinator Jim O’Neil spent some time with the media before the team’s second minicamp practice.
Among the highlights:
O’Neil said the coaching staff did a thorough study of the team’s run defense and concluded that the team gave up too many big runs. Of the 500 runs against the Browns — the second-highest total carries in the league — 87 gained eight yards or more. We’ll take a deeper look at the team’s run defense soon.
O’Neil: “We want to be a bully on defense. To be a bully on defense, you have to stop the run. To win in the AFC North, you have to stop the run.”
First-round pick Danny Shelton is a guy who forces double-teams and can collapse the pocket from the interior. In O’Neil speak, he requires “four hands” and “two bodies.”
O’Neil has spoken with free safety Tashaun Gipson, who is not attending offseason work until he signs his contract. Gipson did not like the second-round tender the Browns gave him — to save $1 million — and though he hasn't commented on the situation, it's evident he is waiting to work out a long-term deal before he reports. O’Neil said Gipson will have to catch up because the secondary usually takes a big jump from the first year to the second year in the defensive system.”The guys that are here are getting a lot better,” O’Neil said. “Those guys are growing.”
The defensive coordinator personally met and worked out the team’s top three defensive draftees: Shelton, linebacker Nate Orchard and defensive lineman Xavier Cooper. O’Neil said Orchard screwed up a lot of offensive line evaluations for Browns coaches with his play, and said Cooper’s “first-step quickness is unbelievable.” He added of Cooper: “We were shocked he was there at the bottom of the third round.”
O’Neil started by saying he is “cautiously optimistic" that he sees a new focus from cornerback Justin Gilbert, who had such a troubled rookie season. Then he changed to say he is flat-out optimistic. Time will tell.
O'Neil then indirectly highlighted what Gilbert did not do last season when he praised the defense for its effort in the season finale against Baltimore. While Gilbert was suspended for being late for a meeting on the road, Joe Haden played with the flu and a shoulder injury that prevented him from lifting his arm, Ish’maaily Kitchen played with a hairline fracture in his leg and John Hughes fought back from a knee injury just to play in the finale.
That’s right, Kitchen finished the game after suffering a hairline fracture in his leg. The same game when Connor Shaw played quarterback with a cracked rib and dislocated finger on his left hand. "That's huge," O'Neil said.