BEREA, Ohio — Just when it looked like a play was about to go sideways during practice on Day 10 of Cleveland Browns training camp, quarterback Baker Mayfield combined with wide receiver Derrick Willies on a memorable touchdown.
During an 11-on-11 drill, Mayfield stood in against intense pressure from the defense and lofted a pass deep down the field toward Willies, who was working in single coverage against cornerback T.J. Carrie. Willies laid out to make the catch in the end zone, and held possession of the ball throughout the fall to the ground for the touchdown.
“He threw it a little late, so it ended up being a little improvisation,” Browns coach Freddie Kitchens said. “Derrick made a great play on the ball. It was just two good players making a good play.”
Following the play, Willies stood up and punted the ball into the sideline as a way of seemingly letting go of some frustration from struggles early in Monday’s practice.
“That was a competitive period, and when you have success, I want to show emotion,” Kitchens said. “If you can’t be passionate about the game, you don’t need to be playing it. Now, as long as it was in the end zone because if he would’ve punted from the one, we would’ve had a different conversation.”
One of the camp officials threw a flag on the celebration, but Kitchens was not overly concerned.
“I wouldn’t go off of that too much,” Kitchens said.
Penalty call aside, Kitchens was happy to see the way Willies responded after having a costly miscue late in the Orange and Brown Scrimmage at FirstEnergy Stadium Saturday.
“The thing with Derrick is he had a pretty good day at the stadium,” Kitchens said. “It may not have shown up, stat-wise, but he had a pretty good day as far as route-running, exploding off the ball, vertical speed and things like that.
“The one little mishap he had in the two-minute drive overshadowed everything he did good, which it overshadows the team because you lose games like that. Derrick’s going to continue to work and move forward. I have total confidence in him and was glad to see he made a tough catch at the end of practice.”