BEREA — Training camp is fast approaching for the Browns.
Rookies are scheduled to report on July 22, with the veterans coming in the next day. The Browns will then head to the Greenbrier in West Virginia on July 25 for the first of seven practices over nine days there before returning to Berea for the remainder of camp.
Leading up to the start of camp, each Browns position group is getting its moment in the spotlight. Today, the defensive ends take center stage.
For the previous position group previews, look here:
∙ Quarterbacks
∙ Running backs
∙ Tight ends
∙ Wide receivers
∙ Offensive tackles
∙ Guards
∙ Center
Here's a look at the Browns defensive ends heading into training camp.
On the Cleveland Browns roster: Defensive ends
Myles Garrett, Za'Darius Smith, Ogbo Okoronkwo, Alex Wright, Isaiah McGuire, Isaiah Thomas, Sam Kamara
Projected starters: Myles Garrett (right) and Za'Darius Smith (left)
The Browns, in defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz's scheme, could even go with a third defensive end, which would be Okoronkwo, in certain packages. However, at its base, all Schwartz is working with is the reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year in Garrett and a player in Smith who has recorded double-digit sacks three times in the last five seasons. After back-to-back franchise-record 16-sack seasons, Garrett merely had 14 sacks a year ago. He was still a havoc-wreaker in so many other ways as he finished, according to Pro Football Focus, with a career-best 89 pressures. Smith, meanwhile, is coming off his lowest sack season — in a year in which he at least played double-digit games — since 2017 with just 5.5 sacks. The veteran still made an impact with 40 hurries and 15 quarterback hits, all while adjusting to playing with his hand on the ground in an even front for the first time in his pro career.
One to watch: Ogbo Okoronkwo
This could've been the third-year pro Alex Wright, who came on in the second half of last season to really make an impact. The opening for Wright was created when Okoronkwo suffered a torn pectoral muscle in a Week 14 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars that cost him just three games after initial fears that it would be season-ending. That injury shorted what had been a season in which Okoronkwo was starting to come into his own as an edge rusher. He finished with 33 total pressures, which was just three shy of his career high from the previous year, despite playing nearly 60 fewer snaps. The opportunity to see him in a second season with Schwartz, as well as playing alongside Garrett and Smith, can only add to the intrigue of what may await him in terms of performance.
Potential training camp battle: Isaiah McGuire, Isaiah Thomas and Sam Kamara for fifth defensive end
Similar to the wide receivers, it seems the Browns have a good idea of what their top four defensive ends will look like going into camp. It seems unfathomable that they would only carry four into the season, although it could happen. Assuming they don't and add a fifth, the other three on the roster all have reason to think they could push for that spot. McGuire was a fifth-round pick a year ago out of the University of Missouri who had a sack in four games played as a rookie, but a preseason injury prevented Thomas from building off a 2022 rookie season in which he played in 10 games. Kamara has appeared in two games since signing with the Browns in 2022. The guess here is it comes down to a battle between the Isaiahs.
Impact of injuries entering training camp
Garrett appeared to tweak his hamstring on the final day of minicamp, but never had it wrapped with an ice pack as he watched the remainder of that day's workout. While he'll no doubt have his workload managed during training camp, that injury wouldn't seem like one that's going to create sleepless nights for either the Browns or him.
Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ
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