CLEVELAND, Ohio — Browns receiver Jarvis Landry insists that running back Duke Johnson’s ramped-up efforts to be traded won’t detract from the start of training camp Thursday.
“It will not be a distraction," Landry said Friday at his Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Sports Challenge at James F. Rhodes High School in Cleveland. “Our focus is pretty clear. We want to win a championship and the guys that are here, that’s going to help us do that. We start on Thursday. Let’s get it done."
Johnson recently fired his agent Kristin Campbell and hired super-agent Drew Rosenhaus to help get him traded.
Landry, Odell Beckham Jr., Baker Mayfield and others spent the week before Mayfield’s early-July wedding in Malibu, Calif., working out at UCLA. Others on hand were receiver Rashard Higgins and tight ends David Njoku and Seth DeValve.
"We ran routes pretty much the whole week leading up until Mayfield's wedding,’’ said Landry. “We had the whole group there." He indicated fans will get a sneak preview of the sessions soon.
“We might have something coming right before training camp,’’ he said. “A couple of videos. Yeah. Dawgs gotta eat, right?"
The biggest benefit of the week, Landry said, was the camaraderie developed.
“I think obviously it’s getting a little bit of timing down, but for the most part, it’s being around each other, catching up, talking," he said. “Obviously, we text and stuff like that, but it’s always good when you can physically touch the person you’re talking to and have a relationship with. For us, that’s kind of the biggest thing about going out to L.A. and doing that whole deal.”
Was Mayfield distracted by his wedding to Emily Wilkinson?
"I'm sure in his mind he was definitely thinking about it, but we kind of gave him a little bit of relief about the nerves and everything that goes into a wedding by just going out there for two hours and catching balls from him for that week,’’ he said.
He said Mayfield was as in command at the wedding as he is on the football field.
“It was beautiful," he said. “Emily was beautiful. Baker, he’s QB1 up there. He wasn’t nervous. He had the confidence you know Baker has. It was beautiful. It was a beautiful turnout. A lot of people showed up. The food was great. Everything was great."
This camp is more special for Landry than any of his previous five because Beckham is here. It’s something the two have dreamed about since high school in Louisiana before they starred at LSU together.
“Again it’ll hit me more once we’re in the building together and spending a lot more time together, spending a lot more time with the guys in the receiver room and all that," Landry said. “So it’ll hit me a little bit more, but I know the energy and the competition level is going to be real high and that’s what I’m looking forward to the most."
Beckham has said they always talked about living next door to each other in the pros. So is he trying to buy a house near Landry?
“He’s trying to," said Landry. “For now, couch, basement, hotel, but he’s always welcome and honestly if he wants to, I’ll build him a house in my backyard and we could just do it like that.’’
Landry, who started running routes for the first time in 2 1/2 months at UCLA, said he’ll be 100 percent for training camp next week.
“Physically I’m well,’’ he said. “Excited, ready to go. Obviously I’m a football player. I’m excited to see the guys get back into the locker room, back into the routine.’’
After sitting out all of OTAs and minicamp, he was grateful to be on the run again.
“It was great, and it was good for me again mentally," he said. “Kind of just being on the outside looking in, that’s what I felt like for a little bit. But to be able to go back out there and run routes and catch balls and do all the things that I love to do was definitely a good feeling after not having done anything for what felt like forever."
He said it wasn’t any one specific injury that was nagging him.
“It’s just full body," he said. “Just trying to make sure my whole body is ready to go for the grind and for all the impact. The team, myself felt like it was in the best benefit of all of us to kind of sit OTAs out, minicamp out and come back now in training camp and be ready to go.”
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