Oben spurns Steelers.... does it really matter

Former Brown Roman Oben resigned with the Tampa Bay Bucs today. Oben was previously part of some woeful offensive lines for the Browns, and was a pretty good performer for the Super Bowl champs last year. I don't want to comment on that.... but of very minor interest to Browns fans is the fact that Oben was last week negotiating a contract with the Steelers and wound up returning to his current team. The way our offseason has gone so far I am not shameful about rooting against anything that makes our division foes any better.

QB debate may stretch into training camp

Butch Davis says a QB decision may not happen for a while. He insists that he won't let it become a distraction for the team, but we'll see if that is how it plays out. We know the media is going to be swarming all over this story until it is resolved. Who knows, maybe it will allow the rebuilt defense to go through training camp under the radar.... Whatever the case, it now seems very unlikely Couch will be restructuring his contract.

Lerner Talks

Randy Lerner gives an interview to the Plain Dealer and is moderately revealing -- the overall impression he gives is that he hasn't yet gotten over the death of his father, Al Lerner. I can understand that completely. The good thing is that it sounds like the team's affairs are being managed well, and Randy will make a good owner who will be supportive, involved at a high level, and hands-off on a low level. He is setting a good tone for the organization. Like everything else, however, the team's success is dependent on Butch Davis and Carmen Policy being the right guys for the job. It's clear from the interview that Randy Lerner trusts them a great deal.

Nothing doing with Sehorn so far...

No word on a contract offer to Sehorn, or even that the visit went well. I definitely get the impression that Sehorn is merely shopping himself to a broad number of suitors and awaiting a big contract. You'd think that lessens the likeliehood of the Browns wasting dumptrucks of money on him. The Rams seem to be the most interested team out there, and there are rumors the Rams expect to sign him this week. That'd be good, though if the Browns are going to sign any free agent DBs they may be best served by doing it soon; there are few quality players to be had, and there may not be many bargains.

This morning my fiance informed me that our wedding shower is on the same day as the NFL draft. Krikey!!! Oh well...

Sehorn visits with team

I really don't understand this. There are about 6 teams looking at Sehorn, and someone will pay him decent money to be a safety or backup corner. Despite being in need of a couple good cornerbacks, there is just no point in pursuing a guy like Sehorn. He'll cost too much, he'll play too little, and he's not known for his off-the-field leadership. And most importantly, he's not as good as the guy he'd replace! Perhaps this is meant as a PR gesture to Browns fans -- "See, we really are trying to field a good team and we aren't all capped out!! See, we are even trying to sign a two-time pro-bowler!!" I'm just not buying it.

The Dayton Flyers fell last night to a Tulsa team that just shot the lights out. The Flyers did tie the game late but kind of got rooked at the end on a no-call and a bogus interference violation. I could complain, but the bottom line is they didn't play a particularly good game and got beat. Still, what a season.

Earl Holmes may sign with Seattle. Holmes is a good football player and seems like a good guy. Seattle has been kind of a graveyard for former Steeler linebackers. Hopefully Holmes has some good seasons wherever he winds up.

Jets sign Conway, KJ-to-Jets deal is dead now

In case you didn't believe everyone's denials, the Jets' motivation for this deal is now gone.

Policy, Jets squelch trade rumors, other stuff

The Jets say no KJ deal is gonna happen, that they are "moving in a different direction." Policy suggests the same, and KJ expresses his desire to stay. It's good too see KJ apparently developing thick skin about this sort of thing. The bottom line is that the team is probably well served by keeping it's most reliable receiver. Let's move on now...

Apparently the team has some interest in Sehorn. I'm not sure why he'd fit into the team's plans -- he's never been the same after that injury years back, and he's sure to command a hefty salary. If the team doesn't go with a young guy, they better at least pick up someone as good as Fuller.

Policy is also quoted as saying the team is committed to resigning Jamel White, but that it probably would not happen until after the draft. I'm not sure this is the wisest way to go, but perhaps this allows the team some flexibitlity to trade White for the right offer on draft day. Nevertheless, it would seem likely that White will stay a Brown.

In other news, the Steelers signed Riemersma. He's a decent tight end, but the real significance is what this may say about Mark Bruener, who went down last season and had knee surgery. Perhaps the injury is worse than initially thought? Every team needs a couple good tight ends but most don't want to pay them more than a million per.

White's Future

It's been somewhat overlooked this offseason, but we're slowly getting closer to decision time regarding Jamel White. Will another team make him and offer and give a 1st round pick to sign him? It's unlikely, but the Browns are also unlikely to pay him at the level of the one-year qualifying offer. That means a trade is a possibility. The good news: no cap hit for the team. The bad news: Jamel is a great player for this team and would be sorely missed. The longer the situation remains unresolved, the more it affects the other offseason moves. Personally, I think the best thing that can happen is signing White to a long-term deal now, before making decisions on the draft, free agency or any rumored trades. In fact, I'd venture tha a deal with White may even make the KJ-to-Jets deal a little more likely...

KJ deal would hit Browns' cap hard

Tony Grossi reports on the KJ-to-Jets rumors, verifying that the Jets have inquired. Besides the obvious impact of losing a very good player, such a trade would result in a 2.8 million dollar cap hit this season. Ouch. Policy is on the record as saying that a trade is extremely unlikely, but that could merely be a move to push the Jets for a better deal than the 2nd roudn pick they are reportedly offereing. There's a chance the Jets could ante up a first round pick for KJ as they hold two selections, the 13th and 22nd. In recent years Johnson's rumored trade value was no more than a 2nd or 3rd round pick.

If the Jets sweeten the deal --- and it's debatable that they would -- I think the team must seriously consider it. In fact, if not for the salray cap ramifications the team would probably do it in a heartbeat. Although the cap hit would be painful, it is not THAT bad -- by definition the cap hit is all in one year, meaning the team frees up money for the 2004. So it depends on if the coaches think they've got enough other worthy coontributors on the team. A trade of KJ probably means Robert Griffith's departure, meaning Little and Jameson are the likely starting safeties, and another receiver plays in 4-wide sets. Frisman Jackson, Andre King, and Dimitrius Breedlove (gotta love that name) would be the current candidates.

Considering the turnover so far this offseason, I'd rate the chances of a KJ trade a lot higher than what we're hearing right now from Policy.

Another KJ trade rumor

This time to the Jets for a 2nd round pick. Whatever. Maybe it happens, I don't know, but we'll be okay either way. I like KJ and he's very valuable to the team, but he's not going to be our number 1 and maybe not even number 2 this season.

Dayton Flyers pick up a 4th seed -- awesome! Who knows what happens next, but I'm ecstatic and enjoying every bit of it. They also finish ranked #16 in the AP poll and #18 in the coaches poll. They'll take on Tulsa Thursday night and it should be a tough game.

More on resigning Earl Little. I think this makes Robert Griffith a target to be cut. The team supposedly likes Michael Jameson, and depending on how he performs we may see Griffith hit the street in a salary cap move. That probably makes good sense, though it would be just one more thing that makes fans questions the free agent signings of the Davis regime.

Flyers -- Hell Yeah

Big wins over St. Joe's and Temple to capture conference championship. This is not a Flyers' weblog, but c'mon, you gotta like it. I'm expecting the selection committee to still work over the Flyers and give them a 6 seed instead of a possible 4 or 5. And that probably means playing a pretty good opening round opponent. But they finish the regular season likely to be in the top 20, with a championship, and with some momentum. I've gotta enjoy that for what it is -- pretty sweet.

White: On the way out?

Tony Grossi speculates that Jamel White is likely to get traded. I can't really argue with his logic -- White's price is only going to rise because he clearly is a very valuable player for the right team -- he's freaking fast, he's a very good receiver, and can rush for big yards when he's got some daylight. The Browns are considering trading him now, though how much another team would be willing to give up is debatable. The team previous gave White that first-round tender of $1.318 million, ensuring no one else could sign him without giving up a 1st round pick. Assuming that price is too high, I think White is well worth a 2nd or 3rd round pick. But even at that price I'd hate to see him go. The Bears or the Patriots seem the most possible trading partners.

Nice Q + A with Policy, with some interesting comments:

Policy thinks Gerard Warren is motivated now and the team is keeping him from being too hard on himself for last season's regression. Whatever -- there's no excuse for a player at this level to be out of shape, as Warren certainly appeared to be. The Browns absolutely can not afford a poor season out of the guy.

Regarding C Brown, Policy thinks "injuries played a major part physiologically and we believe emotionally." Also Policy spins this as if it's a positive, it's not -- it is a bad thing. When a player can't play aggressively while dealing with injuries it is a bad sign. Especially when you play defensive line and are likely to take hundreds of big hits throughout the season. And especially when that play just had major surgery and is likely to play with pain next season. This is potentially a big problem if the team must carry C Brown's cap number this season and he can't play effectively. It also will prevent the team from making an informed decision on Brown's future playing abilities, making a contract restructuring a pretty big risk. Normally I'm fairly optimistic regarding C Brown, but no longer.... I hope I am very wrong!

The most revealing part -- Question: "What will make the Browns a Super Bowl contender in 2003?" Policy's answer: "Luck."

Browns pick up Gardner

Browns make a modest free agent signing in picking up Barry Gardner from the Eagles. He's an able linebacker with 4 years experience and plenty of football ahead of him. He's also considered a very good special teams player. The knock on him, however, is that he's not very quick. While he fits most of what you'd expect the Browns to be looking for in a free agent, it's hard to say this is a particularly good or bead signing -- Gardner is likely to be as good as the system allows him to be. I think he's most likely to play in the middle or as a run stopper. Our best 3 signed linebackers are now Gardner, Boyer, and Bentley. The team could perhaps be competitive with these guys, but I think they're really going to need to resign Miller or find another LB who can blitz effectively.

Jackson goes to Arizona instead of Pittsburgh

Well, even if the Browns can't sign anybody we can be happy when the Steelers get spurned. Granted, Jackson may be the next Larry Brown but the fact remains that, so far, the Steeler secondary hasn't improved. I can already see Holcomb, er, Couch, or whoever, tearing it up.

Go Flyers

Yeah, yeah the Browns are important but at this very moment the Dayton Flyers are the team to watch. With a nice win over Rhode Island last night in the A-10 tourney, they're poised to cap off their best season in over 25 years. While Cleveland is ignorant to college basketball,. in the city of Dayton college hoops reigns supreme. Screw Ohio State, Cincinnati is shady, Xavier is, well, from Cincinnati. And in Dayton 65% of the football fans root for the Browns depsite the fact the Bengals play less than an hour a way.

Little resigns; Adkins goes to Patriots

Earl Little signed a 5-year deal, while Chris Adkins goes to the Patriots. Little is a nice player, and as long as the team payed a reasonable price this is a good move. Adkins is pretty good too but for whatever reason the team didn't make an effort to retain him. I'm in no position to argue with them either; Adkins name came up on special teams quite a bit, but frankly we've already got a team full of potentially great special teamers... we really need some starters.

Oh yeah, it was noted in a few places that C Brown's 1 million bonus would be paid by the team next week. They really still need to do a full renegotiation with him, but in the short term the team gets some cap room since the bonus can be prorated over the remaining years on the contract. And even more than that, we need C Brown to be healthy and play well or else it's a mess no matter what they do contract-wise.

Policy indicates "quiet offseason"

I guess it depends on what quiet means to you. If it means dismantling the defense, then you can hear a pin drop. But Policy did have a few insights into what the team is pursuing:

1. there probably won't be a big name free agent signing; the team would consider spending such money only for a player who would be around for a while
   
2. C Brown will likely restructure, though the Browns have not yet pursued it. Maybe they are waiting to see how he recoups from surgery? If so, I'd think they'd be waiting a while...
   
3. Policy is vague on Couch -- they aren't ready to restructure (which is convenient, since Couch has said he won't), and they expect the situation to clear up after the mini-camps.
   
4. despite what Miller has said in the media, the team is trying to resign him. It sure seems that Policy likes Miller a lot more than Butch does...
   
5. they are trying to resign Earl Little. I'm all for this.
   
6. they'll pursue a long-term deal with Jamel White, but probably not until after the draft.
   
7. the team has 1.5 Mil cap room, and needs are least 2 Mil more to sign draft choices. Plus they need to clear room for ANY free agents (including their own, like Miller, Little and White).
   
8. oh yeah, Policy is close to a deal with Randy Lerner to remain president and CEO.
   

One reason for hope

Yes we've released our best 3 linebasckers. Yes we've let our best cornerback go. And yes our 1st rounders on the defensive line are hurt (Brown), fat (Warren), or overpaid (Lang). But there is hope in the one positive acquisition the team has made this offseason: new defensive coordinator Dave Campo. Although his tenure as head coach of the Cowboys was not very impressive overall, he did field a competitive defense. And he inherits a Browns unit with some young talent at LB, and a smattering of talent at other positions. After the team's defensive performance last season when expectations were high, Campo has a chance to surprise us. If you're not buying this, consider the following:

Could the run defense be much worse than last year? -- A little, but not by too much. Bringing back last year's linebacker core doesn't make much sense from this angle.

Could the pass rush be much worse than last year? -- Nope. We had virtually no pass rush from the linebackers, and scant production from the DL outside of Mark Word.

Can the offense be better next season? -- It's reasonable to expect William Green to be a strong performer, and it's reasonable that the franchise improves on the OL, or at least maintains the status quo. A little offensive consistentcy may take some of the burden off the defense.

These things considered, I'm willing to at least give Campo the benefit of the doubt and let him try and round this unit into a respectable defense. The draft will shed much light on the direction of the team, and what young backups are likely to be thrust into starting roles. Maybe they'll be a few free agent pickups, but for now the the #1 thing to watch leading up to the draft is cap space. Does Griffith renegotiate? He played poorly most of last season but he could still make some good things happen in the right situation. Does Brown renegotiate? It depends on how badly the team needs the cap space (badly so far) and whether the team truly thinks he's worth committing to for a couple more years. We all know Butch isn't exactly enamored with him anyway. And of course just from a cap standpoint Couch's situation is huge. If the Browns can free up even a modicum of cap space they've got a good shot at filling some holes. Beyond that, all we can really do is hope Campo is one heck of a coach.

I'd also add that resigning a guy like Earl Little wouldn't hurt. He's everything we should want: young, competitive, affordable, and he knows the system. He may not be a worldbeater but he's good enough to start, and certainly better than keeping Adkins or Bush. Other guys worth keeping at the right price: Lewis Sanders (at least he's got some size) and Darren Hambrick (yeah I know he's not the greatest, but there's no way we start three 2nd-year players at linebacker).

Couch and his Contract

Word is that Couch is now refusing to renegotiate his contract after "not getting answers" from Davis about his future. Holy crap is this bad. This not only sours Couch's future even more, it also erodes his trade value in the unlikely event the Browns can work a deal. So while the Browns are scrounging for cap room to rebuild the dismantled defense, their biggest cap liability will remain on the books. Maybe they can rework Courtney Brown's deal now.

It's clear that the Browns now have a big quarterback problem. And frankly Butch Davis is sounding a lot like the President on Iraq these days -- I really want to believe him, but the longer this goes on and the more resistance the team meets, the more I wonder if Davis isn't doing something wrong to cause this. There's no denying Davis has lit a fire under this team, but it's becoming clear that there are some negative things brought into the fray as well. Granted Couch is not the best example of this -- he's clearly got some other issues that most players don't deal with -- but when the team's longsnapper bolts cause he is worried about the direction of the team.... you have to wonder.

What is up with the Bengals? The Bengals have signed 4 starter-quality defensive players, now including linebacker Kevin Hardy and defensive tackle John Thornton. It's enough to make a Browns fan wonder if Cincinnati is a place players suddenly want to go, but it's a little premature to say the "dark years" are over. The team's best player, Takeo Spikes, is about to bolt to the Bills. Most of the roster is still full of the same malcontents who lost 14 games last season. Marvin Lewis wil likely field a tough team with a good defense, but there won't be many people betting on a winning season. Sure, if the team could merely equal the sum of its parts then anything is possible. But we've been saying that for years. Let's wait and see on the Bengals Renaisaance.

Still, the contrast between the offseasons of the Browns and Bengals is disconserting to this Browns fan. Let's face it -- the Browns are not going to make any bold moves to replace Rudd, Miller, Fuller, Holmes, and Wolabaugh. Next year's starts will likely come from within, from the draft, or in the form of a modest free agent pickup later in the spring or after the draft. A free agent solution won't happen because the team is capped out and hasn't even begun renogotiating with Couch or Courtney.

One free agent of note: Luchey signs with the Packers. Whatever, that guy is a loser. It's gotten very old when everytime a former Miami player becomes a free agent his name is automatically linked with the Browns. There are hundreds of Division I colleges and lots of very good football players. Just because Davis recruited a kid at Miami does not mean there were not better players who played for other colleges. I don't know if the "Miami Free Agent" syndrom is the fault of the media or of the Browns coaching staff, but if that is really the way Davis operates we're in some trouble because there are now no former-Miami fullbacks available...

BTW, the "first post" below was originally posted almost a week earlier, but I had some difficulty getting Blogger going, and thus is had today's date. Ooops.

It's the offseason and the Browns have recently released Rudd, Miller, Fuller, Holmes, and Wolabaugh. You know, I was not bothered by the prospect of some players hitting the street this offseason. But I'm really surprised by the cold attitude the team seems to be taking, and I thought they'd make more of an effort to resign guys like Miller, Holmes and even Fuller. Perhaps these players are not worldbeaters but they are all better than other options at their position. I sure hope Davis has a master plan here, cause I'm pretty sure we need 3 new starting linebackers next season. Kevin Bentley could be one...
who else?

I think this week has marked the end of Cleveland fans giving Butch the benefit of the doubt. Afterall, Rudd and Holmes are "Butch guys" and now we're taking a salary cap hit for turning around and releasing them. And listening to talk radio in Cleveland it's clear that fans are frustrated now, specifically about Davis' evasive posturing when it comes to such roster moves. The draft and next season are going to be crucial to this regime's future in Cleveland. Mistakes have been made... it's time for things to come together. The players are now feeling that way, even the ones not playing for the Browns.

This being the first post on this blog, I'll state my intentions for it -- basically to record a running commentary on the Browns and various events surrounding the team. Also, other related NFL news, Cleveland news, and regional sports may get coveredhere as well. So the Cavs (ha!), Lebron (whatever), Tribe (let's see what happens), Dayton Flyers (heck yeah -- it's not my fault people in Cleveland don't care about them), and whatever else comes along. Hope it's worth reading.