“I feel like I have to earn my respect every day. Earn my respect every week. Earn my respect every game. It’s not always pretty — that’s the nature of what we do, the nature of special teams. When you go out there it’s a fight. You have to just claw your way into position to make a play.”
Johnson Bademosi is a defensive back, but you probably know him better for his special teams play. Among other things, Johnson is a gunner, one of those dudes who goes flying down the field to cover punts. It's a job that requires a little bit of crazy — there are no rules for blocking a gunner, or at least none that are usually enforced. It's a street fight. Anything goes.
Johnson learned how to grapple playing another sport; he was one of the best high school rugby players in the country. But with a scholarship to Stanford, it was an easy choice to pursue football instead. Things got harder once he graduated and arrived in Cleveland. An undrafted free agent, Johnson hadn't even been invited to the 2012 combine. But he knew he could play in the NFL. And he knew his best chance to catch the coaches' eye was to excel on special teams. Many who watched him that first training camp say they have never seen a rookie play harder.
Four years later, Johnson was just voted as a special teams alternate to the Pro Bowl.
His effort also extends far beyond the field. Johnson is the Browns' player representative, a liaison between his teammates and the league. And as you'll hear in this week's episode, he brings just as much passion to that job as he does to covering punts.
“My dad would always tell me, ‘Joel, give everything you can. I’ll carry you off the field if I need to. Just give me everything you’ve got.’ That’s how I want to play the game. It’s how I was brought up.”
Last month marked the 20th anniversary of one of the most memorable fights in MMA history: Bart Vale vs. Mike Bitonio. The match, which has been watched more than two million times on YouTube, is famous not because of who won or lost. What people remember is the superhuman courage of Bitonio, who weighed 50 pounds less than his opponent. For nearly 8 minutes, despite taking a beating so brutal that it would lead to several rule changes, despite the announcers begging for the fight to stop, Bitonio refused to tap out.
Mike's son Joel was just 4 years old when his dad fought Bart Vale. But the lessons he learned from that night gave him an edge. Under-recruited out of high school, underestimated in college, Joel willed himself to become a second round pick for the Browns and one of the top young lineman in the NFL.
As you'll hear, Joel makes the most of his time off the field as well.
“Our goal is to get the player feeling the best that he can. If they don’t feel good, if they don’t feel like they look good, it has an effect on them on game day. And I don’t want that.”
The Browns facility in Berea has a pretty open feel. The offices are all glass, the locker room is right in the middle of things, everyone eats in the same cafeteria. But down at the end of a hallway on the first floor, there's a door that is almost always closed. It has no sign. Just a doorbell.
For this week's episode, Max rang the doorbell. And what he found was Brad Melland, the Browns equipment manager, and his byzantine world of helmets, shoulder pads, jerseys, and everything else it takes to outfit an NFL team every week.
Listen to learn about how Brad and his crew get 17,000 pounds of gear to road games, the special requests players make about their uniforms, and what an equipment manager thought of Deflategate.
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Andrew Hawkins wasn't supposed to make the NFL. When he played his final game at the University of Toledo, he was 5'6" and 160 lbs. Not even his coaches thought he had a chance in the pros. But Andrew disagreed. And over the course of several years, he did everything he could — trying out for a reality show, sleeping on couches, even creating a fake identity — to make his dream a reality. Last season, he led the Browns in receptions.
“I’m one in a million. At 5’6”, I’m probably more like one in 20 million. ... But I was also desperate. And I wanted to make sure I gave myself every opportunity to make it.”
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Welcome to Brownscast! For our first episode, Max talked to veteran left tackle Joe Thomas. This is Joe's ninth season on the Browns, he's made the Pro Bowl every year, but every game is still stressful. Because as Joe explains, despite all his success, it still feels like he only gets noticed when he makes a mistake.
“As lineman, we’re judged not by the number of good plays we have but by the number of bad plays. We get all blame and no credit. But that’s why there’s such a close brotherhood among offensive lineman across the league. We go out there, we do everything we possibly we can, and the best thing we can do is help our team win the game.”
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There's a whole new way to learn about the Clevleand Browns this season. In-depth, candid conversations with players, coaches, front office personnel and Browns legends. Coming Week 1.