BEREA, Ohio -- The Cleveland Browns' first day of work in full pads led to three players finding the sidelines.
Defensive lineman Billy Winn was carted off with a knee injury. Winn appeared to hurt the knee during the inside run drill, which is not supposed to result in any players going to the ground.
Coach Mike Pettine deferred comment until Winn was examined, but Winn posted what seemed like positive news on Twitter Saturday afternoon:
https://twitter.com/Billy_Boi_90/status/627542408914436097
Rookie running back Duke Johnson watched a good portion of practice with his left leg wrapped. Johnson said he felt something in his hamstring, so trainers had him watch as a precaution.
Running back Terrance West also left with what appeared to be a calf issue.
Pettine did not comment on the running back injuries, but owner Jimmy Haslam said the backs "may be out a little bit."
Highlight: It was Joe Haden day, as the Browns cornerback made several plays for the secondary. Haden's day included a lovely near interception of a Josh McCown deep throw to Taylor Gabriel. Haden didn't hang on, which led him to kick the ball. But that was about the only thing he didn't do right.
This and that: It was predictable. One day after the offense had a good practice with several impressive completions, the defense bounced back and controlled the first day with full pads.
"That's what you want to see," quarterback Josh McCown said. "If you're an offense, you don't necessarily want to go out and beat the defense very single day. Then we're in for a long year. If we can have some back and forth, then that’s a good thing."
McCown and the crowd reacted loudly to a lovely Johnny Manziel throw to fullback Malcolm Johnson down the seam. Manziel missed some throws, but that was as good a pass as he’s thrown in camp. "Just a good quarterback play," McCown said.
Dwayne Bowe said Friday that McCown was on his way to being a top-five quarterback in the NFL. McCown’s comment: "Whatever makes us win games, that’s all I care about." ... Practice ended the day when a long pass from McCown sailed through Bowe’s hands.
Roster move: LB Darius Eubanks was activated off the non-football injury list.
Not participating: RB Glenn Winston (knee), CB Ifo Ekpre-Olomu (knee), TE Randall Telfer (foot) and Joe Thomas (rest). CB Charles Gaines (hamstring) returned to practice.
Camp tidbit: Thomas was given his regular day off, and in a bit of a surprise Andrew McDonald got the first-team reps at left tackle (Cameron Erving got second-team reps). McDonald has been with practice squads in Miami and Carolina and spent part of 2014 with Seattle and the Colts.
"He's another guy, very quiet, doesn't say a lot but he just goes out and works," Pettine said. "He's had a really productive offseason for us, and we were very quietly optimistic about him coming into camp and very anxious to see how he'll be with pads on."
From Pettine on a brief scuffle during team drills: "We want to be good teammates and that certainly falls outside of that. To me that's very quickly forgetting that you're a part of a team when you're looking to settle an individual score."
From Haslam: "We are clearly putting together a team that is not totally reliant on great play out of the quarterback. We think we are going to be very competitive this year. Despite what everybody reads and says, we haven't given up on Johnny [Manziel]. We think he has potential to be a good football player. Having the potential to do it and doing it are two different things. I think we have said numerous times that you are not going to win consistently in this league without a good quarterback. We are trying to make that happen."
Sunday: The last practice before a players' day off starts at 9:30 a.m. ET and continues through noon.