CLEVELAND — Browns rookie running back Dylan Sampson made waves on social media earlier this week, but it wasn’t for a spectacular run, score, or hurdle.
Instead, it was for being body-slammed to the ground by his own teammate, Browns star edge rusher and 2023 NFL Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett, during a live-tackling team drill.
On the play during Monday’s practice, the 6-4, 272-pound Garrett burst through the line and grabbed the 5-8, 200=pound Sampson by the waist, lifting him up and throwing him to the turf.
It’s the kind of “Welcome to the NFL” moment most rookies experience in their careers.
But instead of letting it impact his confidence, Sampson took the play with a good attitude.
He just had one small gripe.
“Y’all ain’t had to post that on there (X), man,” he said while laughing and flashing a megawatt smile after the Browns’ second joint practice against the Philadelphia Eagles on Thursday.
Sampson hasn’t been in Cleveland long, but already he knows sequences like that are par for the course when one of the league’s best defenders is on your team.
“That’s Myles Garrett,” Sampson continued. “I mean, look at him. I’m pretty sure he could do that to a lot of people.”
He can, and did in two joint practices against the Eagles, coming away with at least 4.5 would-be sacks from those practices on Wednesday and Thursday. Garrett even left Eagles second-team All-Pro left tackle Jordan Mailata “giggling” over how to even stop him.
Point being, Garrett can make even the best grasping for answers. That he got the best of Sampson, a rookie who has yet to play a real game, isn’t that surprising.
But more than anything, the play showed Sampson’s stellar personality and attitude, key intangibles in any NFL locker room.
In fact, Sampson, Cleveland’s fourth-round pick who was the SEC offensive player of the year in 2024 after rushing a league-leading 258 times for 1,491 yards last season for the Tennessee Volunteers, still couldn’t resist poking at Garrett a bit during his interview three days later.
“I think he was just a little mad,” he said. “We was really on them that day. He ain’t want to let us score. But I mean, it is great work. Obviously it is the reality of the league. I went up to him, I was like, ‘Bro, you ain’t have to do that.’ He’s like, ‘I ain’t know it was you man.’ But no, it’s all love and just get back up and you play ball again. That’s all you can do.”
Sampson has gotten plenty of quality work this training camp in a running back room that is still uncertain.
That’s in large part because the team’s No. 36 overall pick, Quinshon Judkins, remains unsigned after he was arrested with a battery/domestic violence charge last month.
On Thursday, prosecutors in South Florida declined to formally charge him with misdemeanor battery, but the NFL continues to review his case. He has yet to sign his contract and hasn’t been with the team all training camp.
It’s left Sampson and veterans Jerome Ford and Pierre Strong Jr. to do the bulk of the work in the run game.
Over the last two days, it was another big learning experience for the rookie as he went against one of the best interior lines in the game led by Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis.
During the first practice on Wednesday, the Browns struggled to get much of anything going on offense with drops and missed assignments.
Thursday was at least a moderate improvement. Sampson ended the day on a high note too with success on a trick play.
In the final team period after a touchdown from David Njoku, Joe Flacco threw a screen pass to rookie tight end Harold Fannin Jr., who pitched it to Sampson. The rookie ran the ball into the end zone on the left side to get the 2-point conversion.
“It’s always good to go against another team,” Sampson said of the joint practices. “Obviously our practices are very competitive and our D-line gets after it, but it’s like another heightened urgency when you go against another front. It’s another look, another feel, more time we get to just get on the same page. You can’t take more advantage of those.”
Sampson has taken advantage of every opportunity in front of him these last few weeks, the last couple of days being just one great example.
And while much remains in flux with the running back room, unsurprisingly, Sampson has had the same good attitude he had after his run-in with Garrett.
“Every day you just try to get better in every little thing,” Sampson said of what he’s learned. “There’s an area of focus, whether it’s pass pro, whether it’s taking a small chunks, not always looking for the big plays, just doing my job and I think I’m getting more comfortable in and out the huddle, playing at different positions, and my teammates are helping me so much. But those are reps that are so valuable and I don’t take them lightly.”
Even if they come at his expense on social media, it’s all about the learning experience.
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