BEREA, Ohio — While some players who made the Browns' initial 53-man roster learned at the deadline on Tuesday, defensive lineman Adin Huntington found out a few days earlier.
After Saturday's final preseason game against the Los Angeles Rams, Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski shared the news at his postgame press conference.
"He's on our football team. AB [general manager Andrew Berry] said I could share that with you guys, so he made the football team," Stefanski said.
Huntington's body of work was highlighted in the final preseason game. He started at fullback, worked on special teams and was a standout at defensive tackle with 1.5 sacks and a forced fumble.
That, on top of all the plays he made in the preseason and training camp practices, secured him a spot on the Browns' roster. He learned of the good news after seeing Stefanski's announcement on social media.
"Actually, a lot of people told me I really didn't know. After the game, people sent me the screenshot. I really didn't know if it was real or not. And then I called my mom. My mom was hysterical, she was crying and then I really wasn't even on social media. Then I got on Twitter right after the game and then I saw the video and I just had to hit my knees and just thank God. Just thank God for the blessing," Huntington said.
Huntington originally signed with the Browns as an undrafted free agent out of Tulane this spring, but started his collegiate career at Kent State University. From his journey in college to entering the NFL undrafted, Huntington understood that he'd have to impress in camp to make the team. He made it his mission.
"I think a big thing for me is just playing with a relentless effort. That's what stands out. I mean, I'm 290 pounds, I ran a 4.6, but just the ability to showcase that I just can't do that one play. I’ve got to do that every play," he said.
So that's what Huntington did—through the offseason, training camp and the preseason, even leaning on a Browns star to get the most out of his game.
After minicamp, Huntington received an invitation to continue working out with a teammate. It was none other than Myles Garrett.
Myles, it was the end of practice, he said, 'Look, I’m going to be in Dallas for five weeks. I’m going to send my address, I’m going to send where we’re working out, pull up, pull up if you want to,'" Huntington said. "So me stepping out of my comfort zone, it gave myself a mental check to be like, 'Okay, you stack up. Okay, this is where you are at. Myles is a different breed, but it doesn’t matter; you have to compete every day.' And for myself, I went in there every morning to compete to get better, and I feel like me just going there for those three weeks, it allowed me to just— it changed my body physically, mentally, and I was able to showcase that during his training camp."
Huntington reached his goal and made the 53, but the Browns rookie—who showed ahead of the upcoming season that he might just be a Swiss Army knife—knows the work has just begun.
"My approach was just take it one day at a time. Just get better one day at a time and just trust God. I didn't want to overthink it, I didn't want to put too much on myself. I just wanted to, like I said, just take one day at a time and that's all I did... and then every day I came out here before I touched the grass, I just thank God I prayed and I just was super grateful just to be out here. I know a lot of my friends I played with in college, they didn't get the opportunity, so I told myself the moment I'm not grateful for this opportunity, God’s going to take that away from me," Huntington said.
