When healthy, the fourth-year Cleveland Browns tight end has shown an ability to make highlight-reel catches over the middle of the field or be a top target of quarterbacks in the red zone because of his 6-foot-6 frame. Moore missed nearly 10 days of training camp because of an offseason injury, but was back in pads Monday with his teammates.
After completing Tuesday’s practice, Moore felt he had made progress.
“It was much better today than it was yesterday,” Moore said. “Yesterday, I felt kind of like a fish out of water, but it’s kind of the way it is when it’s your first day back and in pads. It felt good to get one day under my belt yesterday and coming back out today, I felt a little better.
“I feel fine. I came into camp in pretty good shape. I just had to put it on pause for five or six days, but I don’t feel like I lost too much, so I’m fine.”
On Monday, the Browns released their first depth chart prior to the start of the preseason. The Browns open the schedule Friday night against a 2011 playoff team in the Detroit Lions at Ford Field.
Moore was listed as the fourth tight end, behind
“I’m not concerned about that,” Moore said. “At this point, with this camp, the only thing I’m worried about is using each and every practice to get better each and every day. That doesn’t even cross my mind.”
One thing that crossed Moore’s mind was his need to improve.
“(I want to) get better with every opportunity that’s given to me, make the play,” Moore said. “I don’t know if I can point to one particular thing, but it’s just be as consistent as possible and continue to get better.
“In every facet of my game, I want to get better, period.”
Second-year Browns coach Pat Shurmur is hoping for the same thing as Moore.
Shurmur wants all of his tight ends and wide receivers to work on their route-running, run-blocking and all of the other facets of the game that do not involve catching the football.
“Evan Moore, he flashes out here, of course, because he’s tall and he can catch the football, but I think Evan’s like every player,” Shurmur said. “They’ve just got to improve their total game and I think Evan would answer the question the same way. He played a lot last year, played a heck of a lot last year. He’s out here working on his total game.”
Moore is competing with Watson, Cameron, Smith and
“All those guys are really good players,” Moore said. “We’ve obviously seen Ben, for years, do a lot of good things. Jordan’s coming on and playing well here in camp. Alex is, obviously, very consistent, as is Dan. We have a good group, but that’s a good thing. That’s never a bad thing to have a lot of good players in one position.
“We’ve got a lot of different guys that can do a lot of different things. As this team continues to take shape as we head into the regular season, you’re going to see some really good things.”
