Browns Digest

Joe Thomas writes about media, makes a larger point about OTAs

Joe Thomas posted an explanation for why people like Tony Grossi do what they are doing when it comes to Odell Beckham and why he feels they are incorrect on their argument. He makes some incredibly valuable points about OTAs, but takes kid gloves to a type of journalism that is what it is; lazy, easy, dreck.

Pete Smith

© Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

Joe Thomas comes at this far more respectfully than it probably deserves, but he opts for the diplomatic approach, trying to give credence to the job of a writer and what they have to do on a daily basis. Plus, Joe is an ambassador for the Cleveland Browns and a really nice guy, so as much as he could crush Grossi, he made the more pragmatic move.

There's a few things here. First, Tony Grossi isn't a writer anymore. He's a talking head for ESPN 850 that still gets media access. Grossi gets paid to talk on radio segments. There's no reporting. It's just opining. He's basically a columnist with less work.

And more power to him. If ESPN 850 wants to pay him for that, they are certainly within their power to do so. But he's not making a deadline anymore. He's just getting enough information to talk.

The issue is that this bit has been the same one he's been doing since he was a writer. It's easy. It's really, really easy. Grossi probably believes what he's saying, but it's really about just how little effort this requires to do.

It's the offseason. Take a pointed stance where the star player has to live up to your contrived expectations on what a superstar should be. Sell it as he's not living up to your blue collar standards as a city. Let's let the myth about Northeast Ohio and being a blue collar city sit there. NFL players, especially superstar players are so far removed from that idea that suggesting they need to be makes no sense.

Work hard and all of that, but being paid over $10M per season, there's no collar involved.

Grossi's been doing this for years. Baker Mayfield is Johnny Manziel. That required zero work and he got exposed for it. Everything the Browns do is bad until they prove otherwise. Grossi wasn't wrong on this one, but it's not as if he was going into deep dives about players and understanding why they aren't going to work. It's just easier to say they're bad. And for the better part of two decades, the Cleveland Browns didn't force him to change that living down to his expectations.

In a lot of ways, this is the fault of the Cleveland Browns. They enabled this type of coverage to persist by being so bad for so long.

The fact anyone pays attention to Grossi, even if it's negative, means it's working. Evidently it's generating enough buzz and ratings for ESPN 850 that they feel comfortable keeping him employed. Again, that is their choice.

This is where Joe Thomas really makes some important points. OTAs aren't about installs and everything else. As if the Browns would not go back and catch a guy up like say, Gerald McCoy, who wouldn't be signed until after them.

The point of OTAs is to give players one very useful outlet to prepare them for the season. Learn a new playbook, perhaps. Get to know a new coaching staff. Get a sense of techniques they want to teach and start working on them.

More than anything, it's about working out, getting in shape and staying in shape with the notable advantage of organizational supervision, which is why teams love it.

The note about the playbook for receivers being simple is true. Remember when Josh Gordon (remember Josh Gordon?) came back from his training routine (or whatever) in Florida and Hard Knocks showed him take one look at a tablet with the playbook and he basically said nothing had changed. He was there for five minutes.

Odell Beckham will have minicamp as well as training camp to get the plays down and timing down with Baker Mayfield. His new wide receiver coach is his old wide receiver coach. Adam Henry worked with him both at LSU and with the New York Giants, so that's not a new dynamic. Beckham has a great relationship with him, knows what he teaches.

This goes back to what OTAs are really for. It's an option. An option teams prefer, but nevertheless an option. A player like Odell Beckham never been great every time he's stepped onto the field. The entire issue is keeping him healthy. And if he's training to do  that while putting himself in a position to be mentally focused, wonderful.

His teammates are more than happy with Beckham. They aren't worried about it. They don't get why this is an obsession. It's not to them.

Thomas brings inherent credibility to this discussion as a player that no one questions when it comes to his work ethic, professionalism or accomplishment. He's also making a career for himself in the media, so he's got a foot in both camps. 

The unfortunate effect about this discussion with Beckham is that it leads people to believe he isn't a hard worker. That couldn't be further from the truth. There are perfectly reasonable criticisms to be had with Beckham, but his work ethic isn't one of them. Anyone that has ever been associated with him has said he works as hard as anyone.

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Pete Smith
PETE SMITH

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