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Training Camp

On-Field Observations: Antonio Callaway's heavy workload vs. Giants no accident

Antonio Callaway labored through Sunday's practice with a minor injury. The rookie wide receiver was active during the early portion of team drills but ultimately sat out the final few series.

Browns coach Hue Jackson didn't seem surprised. After all, there were few players on either side of the field in Thursday's preseason opener who saw the field more than Callaway.

"He tried to fight through," Jackson said. "I am glad that he is out there trying and competing and going and catching. He has got to learn that sometimes you have to play with those things a little bit. We will get through it."

Callaway played Thursday from start to finish, the consequence, Jackson said, of his actions earlier in the week. The rookie wide receiver was cited for multiple infractions early Sunday when he was pulled over in Strongsville. He's since met with Jackson and general manager John Dorsey and addressed the entire team, apologizing for his actions and vowing he'd have their backs moving forward.

So, on Thursday, a night in which the rest of the first-team offense played eight snaps, Callaway played. And played. And played.

"That was part of the consequence of what he has been through, and he knows it," Jackson said. "That is what it was. Either you sit him or make him play. I thought it was better to make him play. Make him play as long as he could. There were a couple of times he kept waving to come out, and we said 'no, stay in.'"

Callaway was, perhaps, at his best when the exhaustion was hitting hardest. He caught three passes for 87 yards, the last of which going for 54 yards and a touchdown early in the fourth quarter.

"He worked through it," Jackson said. "There were times he had his hands -- he had his hands on his head like this, and he was ready to go to the sideline. We said 'uh-uh, you are back in there.' So he fought through it, and came out the other side of it and made some plays. So that was good."

-- Undrafted rookie Desmond Harrison appeared in his first practice of training camp Sunday after missing the first two weeks with a toe injury. Harrison worked as the third-team left tackle behind Joel Bitonio and Greg Robinson.

"He just has to get back into practicing, playing football and just learning the system," Jackson said. "Hopefully, we can get him up and ready so that he can go compete this weekend. We need to evaluate him in a game setting, but he is out there practicing. We will see how the day went. We will see if he is sore or whatever and then kind of go from there. I anticipate him being up this week and having an opportunity to play."

-- TE Julian Allen (abdomen), DL Trevon Coley (ankle), DL Daniel Ekuale (calf), DL Marcell Frazier (concussion), DB Montreal Meander (concussion), FB Danny Vitale (calf) and OL Kevin Zeitler (calf) did not practice.

Jackson said he expects Zeitler to be ready for the start of the season. Until then, Spencer Drango will continue to fill his spot at right guard.

-- Jackson stopped Sunday's practice, the team's first in five days, a handful of times because of his dissatisfaction with the overall tempo. Ultimately, though, he viewed it as a "good first day back."

"We have to go faster. We have to play faster. I think when the offense plays fast, it makes the defense plays fast," Jackson said. "I think our defense has to get down in their stance and beat the offense to their stance, and I think the offense has to go push the defense. There is a time when you play methodical, when you are going line up and smash the other team and you are a little bit better than they are. That is not who we are yet so we have to play with a tempo at all times. We have to continue to find our tempo. It is normally the quarterback's tempo. We play the way our quarterback likes to play, and that is how you go about it."

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