Chris Brown night practice notes....

In addition to all the information Matt provided from camp, Chris Brown had some other little nuggets to be aware of...

As of Tuesday evening Wood was in Orchard Park waiting for his deal to be finalized so he could sign it and report to camp.

Just as we've heard, the deal isn't done, but isn't darn close.

When the offensive linemen took on the defensive linemen there were a few spirited battles. The most notable were between Chris Kelsay and Brad Butler as they went toe-to-toe for a while. On one rep Butler stood Kelsay up and held him at bay. On another rep Kelsay drove Butler back into the pocket.

Uh-oh!!

In addition to Leodis McKelvin and Fred Jackson as two of the primary kick returners, April is also making use of running backs Bruce Hall and Dominic Rhodes.

For punt return the four aforementioned players are also being used along with top man Roscoe Parrish.

Nothing really groundbreaking there, just good to know what all the options have been.  No mention of Terrence McGee though, like Matt said.

The most noteworthy lineup change came at nickel cornerback. Reggie Corner has been the first nickel since camp began, but on Tuesday veteran Drayton Florence was bumped up to the top spot and fared well.

It was a matter of time before Florence was getting some first team reps.  I think we're going to end up seeing all three get a fair share of first team reps, in practice and preseason games, with whoever plays best winning the job.  All three should play during the season though, too.

At tight end Derek Fine is usually the first tight end through in the rotation, but Derek Schouman is usually getting reps a couple of plays after. The snaps for the top two tight ends remains pretty even thus far. Fine has turned in a few more plays in the pass game through six practices.

Hmmm, I thought we were hearing Schouman getting more of the first team reps and getting them first.  I guess Fine is slightly ahead at this point.

Edwards threw a dart to Owens on a deep out along the far sideline for a big gainer.

There seems to be a lot more deep out passes being thrown this year.  I hope we utilize these during the season instead of just using them in practice.

On the very next play Ellis Lankster made a high leaping interception that he tipped to himself before pulling it in. It was his second pick of camp.

I guess Lankster is still making a name for himself.  If he keeps this up, he just might win a spot as the 6th CB.  He definitely seems well ahead of Cary Harris at this point.

"I knew it was something," said Johnson of the injury when he first felt it during practice Sunday. "I’ve been in pain before, but then when I got up and I ran like two or three more routes, I was like, ‘OK, this thing is really bugging me so it must be serious.’ So I couldn’t go for the rest of the practice and then the next thing you know they were talking about it was a separation in the cartilage."

Johnson said he’s day-to-day.

I bet this is something he could play with during the season.  It reminds of the injury Marion Barber suffered in week 1 last year.  He separated some cartilage but was back the following week.  Thankfully, this isn't serious for Steve Johnson.