Dylan Sampson never lost confidence.
Not when his playing time dwindled and his touches nearly disappeared. Not when he finished three games with negative rushing totals. Not when some observers questioned whether the undersized rookie running back had a future in the NFL, despite playing barely half a season.
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“No. No, because I have utmost faith in my abilities and the things that I do,” he said this week. “A lot of things were circumstantial, a lot of things were out of my control. But obviously when you’re sitting there kind of like that, you just want to be able to affect the game positively in any way.
“So when I started getting more kick returns, I wanted to affect the game positively in that aspect. So whatever it’s like going forward, I just want to continue to fight for more opportunities and more ways to just impact this team in the best way possible.”
Sampson (5-foot-8, 200 pounds) had a huge impact on the Browns’ 24-10 win over the Raiders on Sunday in quarterback Shedeur Sanders’ first NFL start. He caught a swing pass from Sanders, took advantage of the good blocking and open space and streaked for a 66-yard touchdown. He added a 26-yard run.
“It felt great to come up in a big moment,” Sampson said. “Kind of put some closing finishes to the dub we got.
“This season kind of been long for me just staying down, staying the course, working every single day at practice, doing what I can. But this is the moment you work for. You work for opportunities like this and you’ve got to take advantage of it.”
Sampson, a fourth-round pick out of Tennessee, got his most extensive playing time in the opener while fellow rookie Quinshon Judkins, the No. 36 pick, was out after a contract dispute. Sampson rushed 12 times for 29 yards and caught eight passes for 64 in the 17-16 loss to the Bengals.
After Judkins debuted in Week 2, Sampson’s playing time dropped. In limited opportunities, he failed to make an impression. He also failed to break tackles, leading to questions about whether he was strong enough to excel at this level. The storyline was easy after he had been thrown around a couple of times during training camp.
Despite the struggles, coach Kevin Stefanski continued to say Sampson, 21, wasn’t getting the necessary help when he got the ball and that they wanted to get him more involved. The playing time increased over the last couple of weeks, as have the long plays. His only carry vs. the Ravens on Nov. 16 went for 19 yards and then he helped raise the record to 3-8 vs. the Raiders.
“There’s been opportunities to get him involved. It hasn’t exactly worked out,” Stefanski said Wednesday. “I think he’s kind of got the short end of the stick. It feels like a few of his runs over the last few weeks, there’s an unblocked player or whatever, and that’s part of playing. When you don’t get as much exposure, you don’t get to get the next run and that type of thing.
“But I’ve seen him work, I’ve seen him out on the practice field since the spring. I know what type of player he is. He gives a different element to our attack when he’s out there. So he’s somebody that we feel really strong about.”
Sampson said he didn’t hear the support from the coaches in the media but heard them in meetings and on the practice field and kept plugging away.
“All I know is what they tell me day in, day out, and the way I go to work,” he said. “And all I could do is put my best foot forward and trust that they see that. And obviously in this league, you need to make plays on Sundays for that to keep coming. So I was glad I was able to make some plays (Sunday) for this team and we’re going to continue to make it happen.”
The numbers still leave lots of room for improvement. In 11 games, he’s rushed 38 times for 89 yards, a 2.3 average. He’s caught 23 passes for 195 yards, an 8.5 average and two touchdowns.
The Bengals game was a solid start, but over the next eight games Sampson’s best rushing day was three carries for 12 yards in a loss to Pittsburgh. He had one rush for minus-2 yards vs. the Lions, one rush for minus-4 yards vs. Minnesota and two for minus-4 against the Jets.
He didn’t get down.
“The main thing for me was stacking just consistent good days at practice, whether it was dialed into the playbook, showing that I knew everything about the playbook, about the game plan, day in, day out,” he said. “And I think the main thing was just continue to work my craft and just be patient. That’s what this league is about, and when the opportunity comes, you have to make the play. So that’s just my mindset.”
The negative plays come with the position but stand out when the carries are so limited.
“So when I do get a negative, having to make sure I stay mentally strong, knowing that if I do get another opportunity, all I’m worried about is that next play,” he said. “And it is hard, but you got to put it out your mind to put the team forward and continue to just do as best you can for the team.”
The season-best run and touchdown catch-and-run vs. the Raiders were the reward.
“I know Samp, I hang out with him outside of football, so I see all the work he put in and how consistent he is and it’s obviously a nice thing for him to just kind of jump up and still have that same consistency he did at the beginning of the year,” rookie tight end Harold Fannin Jr. told The Chronicle-Telegram. “So obviously I’m proud of him. I’m happy for him.”
Judkins is the clear workhorse, carrying 173 times for 667 yards and seven touchdowns. But the coaches envision a one-two punch with Sampson, who led the Southeastern Conference with 258 carries, 1,491 rushing yards and 22 rushing touchdowns in 2024, his only year as the starter. He averaged 5.8 yards a carry.
“Over these past couple weeks, coaches have been trying to figure out a rotation pattern,” he said. “And it’s different skill sets we have. I think we’re both getting a feel for this game. The more games we play in, the more confidence we get.
“I think the sky’s the limit just with the way both of us play. I think we both play hard. I think we both have unique things that we both could bring to this offense and to this league. I’m going to work for it to be that every single day.”
