4 takeaways from Day 8 of Browns training camp, including Quinshon Judkins
BEREA ― There’s days where there’s just a mountain of things to take away from training camp. Then there are days where the biggesrt takeaway is that it’s another day closer to camp being over.
Day 8 of the Browns training camp on Aug. 6 was one of the latter days.
The big news over the two-and-a-half hours of practice was backup guard Zak Zinter leaving the field on a cart with a member of the training staff. Zinter is just the latest lineman, both offensive and defensive, to deal with an injury.
Otherwise, it was a fairly uneventful practice. So much so that it would be hard to even work up much of a take on the thing everyone must have a take on every day of camp, which is the quarterbacks.
Don’t worry, we’ll find a way to have a takeaway on them, as well as other things that happened in practice No. 8. In fact, we’ve found a way to have multiple takeaways, which we’ll dive into right now.
There will be a different feel to practice No. 9 of training camp because it will be part of a different phase of camp. The eighth day of camp marked the end of the installation phase of camp.
That means the Browns should have their entire repertoire in place. Now, the focus turns from installation to, in coach Todd Monken’s own words, identity.
“It’ll change a little bit in terms of what we drill down into who we think we are at this point, obviously subject to change but that’s really it, and then you’ll get into more situational football,” Monken said before practce. “You’ll get to your premier plays. You’ll try to work it in now that everything’s installed, then you’ll also have to start working in terms of on what we don’t see from our defense, if you’re talking offensively.”
The last day of install was a whole lot of running plays. Quinshon Judkins got a lot of run over the course of the day, while they flashed some of the various jet sweeps and other plays to get wide receivers like KC Concepcion involved in the run game.
The injury Judkins suffered last December seems like it was years ago. It’s not just because it was months ago, either.
Judkins has carried forward the strong OTA and minicamp he had in the spring into a strong training camp in the summer. A day like this one, though, allows the second-year pro to showcase just why he provides so much hope for that part of the Browns offense.
The key for Judkins is to be able to pace himself through training camp, something he didn’t go through in 2025 as a rookie. In fact, that’s going to be something to monitor even as the regular season gets going next month since he missed the opener as well as the final three-and-a-half games.
Monken is no stranger to having a bell-cow running back, having coached Derrick Henry with the Baltimore Ravens the last two seasons. So if anyone knows how to get the most out of Judkins, it’s him.
The injury list includes the top five or six defensive tackles and the reigning Defensive Rookie of the Year. And yet, the Browns defense continues to clearly be the side of the football that is clearly ahead eight days into training camp.
Of course, that’s not a complete surprise. Defenses, even ones dealing with the sidelined players, typically have the early edge on offenses in camp.
The thing that makes what the Browns defense is doing is just how active and quick they look comparative to the offense. That’s especially true along the line of scrimmage.
There was one play in particular that summed it all up, and of course it involved defensive end Jared Verse. Verse almost seemed to anticipate the snap count, getting past left tackle Spencer Fano with ease to nearly take the handoff from quarterback Shedeur Sanders, who did at least get the ball to Judkins.
The focus of pratice was, according to Monken, “insert play actions and insert runs.” That meant a whole lot of running on the day.
It also meant neither Sanders, who was working with the No. 1 offense, nor Deshaun Watson had a particularly memorable day. Sanders a few nice throws, including a crossing pattern in the short red zone that Concepcion went up to grab for a touchdown.
Both Sanders and Watson, who worked with the No. 2 offense, had an interception. Sanders pick came in the end zone, when Grant Delpit punched the ball out of the hands of Denzel Boston in the end zone and into the hands of Myles Harden.
Watson was picked off by Tyson Campbell during a 7-on-7. He was throwing a crossing route to Isaiah Bond and Campbell undercut the route.
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. Sign up for Browns Insider newsletter at https://profile.beaconjournal.com/newsletters/browns-insider/
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