BEREA: The Browns won’t strap on the pads and start hitting until later this summer, but coach Hue Jackson has already thrown his weight around.
Jackson revealed Tuesday he received backlash from some in the organization who are leading its sports science movement when they discovered he scheduled “quite a few” padded practices for training camp, which will begin in late July.
“Honestly, they got kind of mad at me,” Jackson said after the first practice of mandatory minicamp. “I’ll be very honest with you. We had a very candid conversation where they said, ‘Hue, you might want to double-check your padded-days schedule.’ I told them, ‘No.’
“I know how to take care of a football team. I get a feel for when we’re pushing [the players] a little too far and we need to reel it in. We’re only going to build our football through playing football, and good football teams play football — real football. They line up and they go after each other, and they come out and they do it again the next day.
“Somewhere in there, Coach Jackson’s got to be smart enough to say, ‘OK, that might be enough. We need to pull off.’ That’s part of being the head coach as well, and it’s part of having a sports science team. I’m sure they’ll give me all the statistical data that you can to forewarn me, but I’m going to trust my instincts on that one.”
In an effort to prevent injuries, several of Jackson’s predecessors severely limited live tackling during training camp. The last time the Browns practiced real tackling on a regular basis was under Eric Mangini, their coach from 2009-10.
Jackson, though, promised genuine hitting.
“There will be a siren at practice,” he said. “The siren is not for the health ward to come. It’s just for, we’re going to put the ball down, and it’s kind of everything goes.”
Slimming down
Nose tackle Danny Shelton admitted his weight got “out of hand” late last year, but he has lost about 30 pounds this offseason to drop down to 335.
In February, the strength and conditioning staff set a goal for Shelton to lose the weight by July. He hit his target about three weeks ago.
“Everybody has a fresh start with these new coaches, but I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity and start the change around the team with myself,” Shelton said.
Defensive coordinator Ray Horton has said he wants to give Shelton more playing time than he received as a rookie. The first-round pick rarely played all three downs.
“Playing at this weight will be better for me as far as being on the field more, getting more playing time and then for my lifestyle,” Shelton said.
Time to lead
Defensive end Desmond Bryant knows the time for him to lead has arrived.
“I want to work on being more of a leader,” Bryant, 30, said. “This is the first time in my career I am the elder statesman in the D-line room, so with that, I get a little bit more responsibility. So on and off the field, I just want to be more vocal, let them know what I’m thinking, which I really haven’t done in the past.”
No longer gassed
Rookie wide receiver Corey Coleman insisted he’s in shape now. Last month, Jackson called out Coleman and challenged him to get into better shape after the first rookie minicamp practice.
“I’m fine. I’m good now,” Coleman said. “The first day was hard, but I got used to it real quick. I think it was [a motivator], but I was gassed the first day. I really didn’t know what to expect coming in and once the first day went by I was pretty good. I changed my diet up a little bit, too. Stopped eating whatever I wanted, started eating a little bit healthier and now I’m fine, feeling great.”
The ink is dry
The Browns signed offensive lineman Shon Coleman to his rookie contract. Coleman, a third-round pick from Auburn, received a four-year deal, which is worth about $3.13 million and includes a signing bonus of $787,536, per OverTheCap.com.