Browns guard Wyatt Teller on Bill Callahan's mind games: OL coach could be 'merciless'

you know having meetings with Bill and uh Scotty Peterson or Scotty Peters Peters not Peterson Peters um who I absolutely love great coach technician stud and he's with the uh Patriots now and I remember him being like hey what are your goals and everything like that and we just kind of gotten on a tangent and he's he's kind of wired similar to me just I mean maybe I'm a little bit more talkative than him but he's just you know kind of that MMA wired guy and I just remember him being like you know saying all same stuff and I get to the point where I'm like you know coaches coaches had a lot of right guards that have been all Pros Pro Bowl guys and who says I can't and it really started with that confidence and that thought and then I start practicing you know I don't think you know coach thought I was going to be very good I remember you know kind of going into the game him like him like sitting next to me the night before the game and he was just like look man you know whatever happens to tomorrow it's going to be okay if I have to take you out in the second quarter or third quarter like it you know it's going to be okay and you know I'm just thinking like I've started a 16 games in the NFL coach like i' I've been here not week one but I've been here coach and I just remember coming out we get up absolutely obliterated by the Ravens and I ended up having a good game and it was just like Bill started being like wait who the [ __ ] is this guy you know what I mean and maybe that's started his confidence with me a little bit more um I mean I don't know I don't think he ever had confidence in me but you know it did kind of start with that uh you know a little bit maybe a minor bit of respect um but yeah he's hard he's hard on guys he he's very hard on guys and you know he also came into a room where you have Jack Conlin you know Joel bonio um we get our first round draft pick with Jed um you know starting center JC treder who's been what year uh 10 nine or 10 at that point um who's a great player you know and who's the who's the little pinky who doesn't know who the hell he is or where the hell he's been so like I think that coach like really like focused on me because I had to make the most of game you know Jed had to make a lot of game because he was a rookie but Jed was a first-rounder I was a fifth round draft pick who had been traded so like they didn't really trust my I don't know I think that he thinks I'm I was a good player but he was like how good can he be and how hard can I push him to see how far he can go so I'll say this I'm thankful for Bill Callahan but he was he was a very difficult coach yeah I remember talking to you about him back in 2021 and man got got the sense back then it's a different I mean there all offensive line coaches got something to them right you can go right down the list yeah yeah um even off the field there may be one out there with the 49ers who has done a thing or two and yeah right people can Google that themselves and you know even even the bills have one of the best offensive line coaches Aaron chromer and there was the incident with the beach chairs a few years back but I mean see he's one of the best right I mean there's a reason these guys are offensive line coaches and they keep getting jobs right like in a way it's almost like NHL coaches like an NHL coach gets gets fired but he's going to get hired right away and he might even win a Stanley Cup the next year I also feel like as often you said it like offensive line coaches you you want someone who no offense is a little little gritty you know what I mean like that's the offensive line and Bill while he's one of the most intelligent men I've ever met you know he's got he's got some hardness to him you know but he's also very kind I I will also say that there's times where Bill is unbelievably kind you know when we're talking about family unbelievably kind knows knows my son's name has has reached out multiple times it's just you know it's also like hey when I was at my lowest coach I think you kept on pushing you know when I was barely barely float um when was that like when was he really hard on you I mean he's been hard on me my entire career and I'm thankful for it but I remember four five days after five days after my son was born you know sleeping in a in a hospital bed and this might have been 2022 so i' had been going through injuries like a madman after playing every snap in 2021 so like it was weird very weird year I think i' just been paid in 2021 or 2022 or something like that and this was post that or whatever and we were playing on Christmas uh my son's born uh December 19th we're playing on the 24th so five days later I might have gotten one good night of sleep that entire week you know one I I want to be there for my wife because that's when football's all said and done that's the person that I am still going to you know F be focused on no offense football is going to be done I'm not going to be worried about who the Mike linebacker is and what his tips and tells are what the three technique does with his backside foot to see where how much weight he has on his hand and what that means I'm not going to be thinking about that anymore I me thinking about how I can keep my wife happy and not spending all our money no I'm kidding um but you know what I mean it's just like hey how can I how can I's the Starbucks order for Carly yeah exactly black black ice coffee with extra ice easy oh she's a keeper she's a keeper she's a keeper easy but um no and I just remember like you know being up every couple hours you know maybe getting three to four hours of sleep at night and I mean I missed I didn't miss any days but I mean Bill knew this he knew this very well um we go out uh Christmas Eve 18° right wrong or indifferent we can't run the ball so we start passing the ball we start passing the ball Inga 18 degrees Amari Cooper unbelievable receiver has absolute just stick of hands he's dropping the ball his hands are like his hands are frozen it's impossible and plus we're trying to pass block when no fense defensive lineman have to use their forearms which is a little bit of a bigger piece of meat than your fingers trying to grab so it's just getting into the problem and I remember going into that meeting and this was after even I think two weeks three weeks prior you know my calf my achilles healed um you know my calf uh I think I minor strain or something like that so I'm coming back off that and um I just remember him just being merciless just just tearing me down and being like you're not giving any effort you're not running after the plays you're not doing this you look soft and it was just like like coach Coach man it it I I'm with you man I I want to play better too and I wish that we ran for 455 yards and you would have been happy we would have won by 21 points but that wasn't the case so like why are we even pushing it more when you know I I do nothing but work hard for you coach I do everything I can I do everything I can for this team so I'm getting confused I'm like like do I suck like am I literally that lazy like because I take coaching as very serious if coach says hey you're talking too much shut the hell up hey Wyatt you're not running hard enough all right run harder hey Wyatt you're not getting length or your hips through the block I'm gonna I'm gonna do that right that's the coaching and I think that it just it was very tough and I think that you know after that season you know Bill in our exit interviews was basically saying that I'm not a very good player and I'm like thank you coach I appreciate you yes sir I mean even after last year I played 100% of the snaps actually say I didn't game 17 I was able to uh I was able to sit out for the first time in my career for a good reason which was just an amazing feeling so I played 98% of snaps some my time and I played more more snaps than any other offensive lineman or I think guard in the league I think we were averaging like 75 80 plays a game and I played every game so it's naturally going to happen and it was just like going into that meeting I'm like all right you know bill and I have come to a conversation we're going to communicate well and it was just like you know why we have and I know why he does this I he's he's playing chess we're playing checkers but I will say this bill wanted me to work extremely hard in the offseason and if he comes in saying you're the goat you're the greatest of all time you're the man he's afraid that I'm not gonna work hard