This was a "Building the Browns" truly like none that preceded it.
Episode 2 of the 2020 season, entitled "Working From Home," follows the team's coaches, player personnel and more as they adjust to being away from the team facility for an indefinite period of time. The 2020 NFL Draft looms, of course, and the job still needs to get done. How the Browns are doing just that serves as a major focus of the episode.
Here were the three biggest things we learned from the must-watch episode.
1. Weeks of preparation went into Browns being able to work from home
There are a number of faces not typically seen in this episode because BTB talked to the employees behind the scenes who helped the team prepare to work from home.
Browns Chief Human Resources Officer Mike Nikolaus said the organization's first meetings about a potential shift to work-from-home occurred multiple weeks before the facility officially closed to most employees March 13. With an array of laptops in front of him, assistant video director Ricky Palmer explains how he loaded up each one with cut-ups requested by coaches so they could do everything they'd normally do in the office from their homes.
"It's a collaboration of all of us," said Callie Brownson, the Browns' chief of staff. "Video, IT, all of us coming together and merging together to make sure our coaches have everything they need so it's like we're still here."
2. What Browns pro scouts liked about their top free agent signings
The stats and accolades looked great on paper, but this week's BTB helps us learn even more about why the Browns made strong pushes to sign the players they did in free agency.
Browns scouting assistant Branden Francis, who focuses on the Falcons and seven other teams to aid the team's pro scouting department, said Pro Bowl tight end Austin Hooper was one of the top players available at his position.
"We really feel like he's going to be a really good addition to our team and make our room better," Francis said. "He's a really good fit in our offense."
Browns director of pro scouting Dan Saganey called Case Keenum the "ideal backup quarterback for the Browns" and said Jack Conklin is "exactly what you're looking for in a right tackle."
"He's a big, tough, physical player who is a very good run blocker," Saganey said. "He's also very balanced for a right tackle in the fact we view him as a really good pass blocker. It's the perfect fit for what we're looking for at right tackle moving forward."
3. More insight into the uniform unveil process
Browns Executive Vice President and Owner JW Johnson provides an in-depth breakdown into the process that led to last week's unveiling of the team's new uniforms.
Included in the footage is a clip from 2019 showing Baker Mayfield and Jarvis Landry getting an early look at the uniforms. There's also footage from the impromptu photoshoot that took place in a marketing department employee's garage because of all of the logistics issues caused by the COVID-19 outbreak. It's revealed that Darrell Taylor, the team's Director of Youth Football, was the man behind the visor in all of the photos that hit the Internet last week.
"We feel these uniforms will be part of the fabric for the Browns for a long time," Johnson said.
