BEREA, Ohio — The Cleveland Browns held the first of two joint practices with the New York Giants on Thursday afternoon in Berea.
The two teams will practice together again on Friday leading up to their preseason matchup on Sunday at FirstEnergy Stadium at 1:00 p.m.
Unfortunately, some key Browns' players continue to watch from sidelines and are relegated to being on the bikes. Myles Garrett, Jadeveon Clowney, DenzelWard, Grant Delpit and Odell Beckham Jr. were all idle due to injuries on Thursday.
However, a familiar face is back in Berea this week. Former Browns head coach Freddie Kitchens is now a senior offensive assistant for Giants head coach Joe Judge.
As for Judge, he is a fan of practicing with the Browns and seeing his old friend Kevin Stefanski.
Judge and Stefanski were teammates in Philadelphia and Stefanski played high school football with Judge's brother, Jim.
"To me the trust factor's huge, which is part of the reason early on me and Kevin (Stefanski) talked way back in the offseason about the possibility of doing this," Judge said. "Part of it is because of our relationship and our experience together. That helps because then you can work together.
After this Sunday's game against the Giants, the Browns will wrap up their preseason schedule on Sunday, August 29th in Atlanta against the Falcons.
The regular season kicks off for the Browns on Sunday, September 12th when they take on the Chiefs in Kansas City at 4:25 p.m. The game will be a rematch of their AFC Divisional Playoff showdown that saw the Chiefs edge the Browns 22-17.