Kevin Stefanski is doing a lot of pushups these days.
In the Browns' coach's mind, no matter which side of the ball gets the best of a particular drill or period, he's dropping down and giving 20 alongside his players.
"Whenever we have a competition for push-ups, I am losing no matter what," Stefanski said. "Whether the offense wins or the defense wins, I lose."
On Tuesday, Stefanski was with the offense more often than not. On Wednesday, it was much more down the middle, as Baker Mayfield, Donovan Peoples-Jones and the rest of Cleveland's playmakers found plenty of success through the air on a warm Wednesday at the CrossCountry Mortgage Campus.
Here's what happened:
— The biggest play of the day — and, perhaps, all of training camp thus far — came midway through the practice when Mayfield found Peoples-Jones racing down the sidelines for a 70-yard touchdown pass. Peoples-Jones created plenty of separation between himself and his defender, and Mayfield put it right where it needed to be.
This was merely the latest big play from Peoples-Jones, who has been one of the brightest spots on offense since camp began last week. He's drawn rave reviews from coaches and players alike, and he's been impossible to ignore.
"Anytime a player is a second-year player, there should be a jump," wide receivers coach Chad O'Shea said. "It is his second lap around the track. He has done an outstanding job of putting himself in position to have the opportunity to contribute here because of his work ethic.
"I would say thus far in camp, like some other guys in the receiving group, he has made the most of his opportunities."
— Another fun offensive play happened at the end of practice, when the team went through a "move the ball" period. Mayfield rolled to his right, stopped in his tracks and lofted a pass to the other side of the field to RB Kareem Hunt, who was all alone with yards of grass in front of him. He sprinted down the sidelines for a big gain on the best offensive play of the period.
— The defense got involved with a couple of big plays at the end. CB M.J. Stewart burst into the backfield on a blitz for what would have been a sack and S Jovante Moffatt capped the practice with an interception on a pass across the middle.
— Along with TE Austin Hooper (illness) and WR Anthony Schwartz (hamstring), a number of players on defense did not participate in Wednesday's practice, including S John Johnson III (illness), DE Jadeveon Clowney (rest), S Ronnie Harrison (hamstring), LB Anthony Walker (knee), LB Mack Wilson (personal), S Grant Delpit (rest) and S Sheldrick Redwine (ankle).
— The rest day was the first of camp for Clowney, who talked earlier in the day about how much fun he's having in his first training camp with the Browns. That fun has translated into production, too, as he earned the defense's daily "Bone Collector" award for the non-stop disruption and stress he put on the offense in Tuesday's practice.
"When you are healthy, you have a lot of fun," Clowney said. "When you have been playing for seven years and I have been dealing with injuries seven years, it is kind of not fun being out there, but when you are taking care of your body, you are in good health and you know what you love, I think it is fun and exciting to be out there moving around and feeling good."
— In his second practice of training camp, rookie LB Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah got involved in some team drills. It wasn't an extensive amount of work, but it was all part of the process to get him ramped up and ready in the safest possible way.
Owusu-Koramoah, the second-round pick out of Notre Dame, is confident he'll be back up to speed in no time.
"It does not really put you behind as long as you do the walkthroughs in the house and you make sure that you get extra studying," Owusu-Koramoah said. "It was actually a time that I took advantage of being able to open up the playbook even more and watch a lot of the practices and watch a lot of the games. It was not a time where I had a setback or anything."
— Jacob Phillips continued to man the middle linebacker spot with the first-team defense with Walker sidelined. Earlier in the day, LBs coach Jason Tarver explained why he liked the second-year player out of LSU at that commanding spot in the defense.
"Jacob has done some stuff this camp where he looks at the entire defense and just yells, 'Hey, you are supposed to be over here.' Love that. Love that," Tarver said. "He has that personality where he wants to be right and wants to run it. Smart. Wants to know all of the rules. We like Jacob at all positions, but he is doing a nice job of being that guy who can communicate and run the defense."
— The Browns are off Thursday before returning to the practice fields Friday for their first of three consecutive days of practice.
