Throughout his first NFL training camp, Browns wide receiver Jordan Payton will regularly chronicle his thoughts and insights in a recurring journal on ClevelandBrowns.com. These are Payton's original thoughts relayed to senior writer Andrew Gribble in periodic interviews before and after practice.
After a week of training camp, I feel great. It's a blessing to be able to come out here every day and come to work.
I've always liked the full-contact practices in pads. At 6-foot-1 and about 210 pounds, I'm a bigger receiver that likes to get physical with corners and block. I really like in football when the contact comes and it's live and you get to actually make moves and get physical with corners and block. That part of the game when real football comes in, it's something I really do like.
I'm in the NFL now, so the live periods are a little bit more intense than college. Coach Mora did a good job of doing a lot of live sessions, but here it's to a whole another level with Coach Jackson and how hard they push us. The intensity is to another level.
Wednesday was our first off day of training camp. I still logged some time in the facility, though, going in the cold tub and hot tub, but otherwise my day was just chilling, hanging out and going out to dinner. The day goes by so fast. Just have to get your feet up and get ready for the next day.
Our wide receiver room is as deep as any position group on the team with 12 guys. Even though we're all competing with each other for a spot on the roster, the positivity and support in there has been great. We're all helping each other out. We all want each other to be the best they can. Everyone in the room has been amazing. They're all great dudes and obviously it's a big competition like everyone knows. It's still a humble room, there's no egos in the room really. We all want to see each other be successful and ultimately be the best they can.
I've really gravitated toward Andrew Hawkins, the vet in the room. He helps me a lot. Even today during the walkthrough he was helping me. Every day he helps me with some part of the game and he's just been a tremendous mentor here. I look forward to developing that and continuing to learn from him. For all of us, not just me, he's been there for the rookies.
Saturday will mark my first trip to Columbus for the Orange and Brown Scrimmage. I was able to play at a lot of college football's biggest stadium during my time at UCLA, but I never made it to the Horseshoe. More importantly, the practice is another opportunity to showcase everything we're doing here at the Browns and the change we're trying to have and the wins we're trying to bring to this city and this organization.
