Travis Benjamin continues to improve

BEREA - Browns rookie receiver Travis Benjamin continues to show signs of progress as the first week of training camp nears an end.

Benjamin looks shorter than his listed height (5-foot-10) and lighter than his listed weight (175 pounds). Although he hasn't taken a direct hit, he's shown no fear of going across the middle.

Another positive sign for the fourth-round draft pick out of Miami (Fla.) has been his ability to beat press coverage. He uses quickness more than strength to get by cornerbacks that are determined to disrupt and delay his release into his route.

"I don't know (if he's done) more than I expected," coach Pat Shurmur said. "I anticipated with his natural size he might get banged around. He's done a great job. He handles the traffic pretty well, and you could see today he caught the ball in contested situations extremely well. We knew he has the skill and ability to play in this league. At least to this point he's doing a good job of improving his game."

Benjamin takes the crafty approach to beating a physical cornerback at the line of scrimmage.

"You have to know your defender," he said. "Playing against Joe Haden, Buster Skrine and D. (Dimitri) Patterson, it's all about who's going to be physical and who's going to try to speed with you. You have to know the game."


(tribtoday.com)