Phil Simms on Winslow

Via Peter King: "Kellen Winslow's the best rookie I've seen come in the league in a while"

Phil, I hope you are right. Please let it be true.

Browns Cutt a Deal

Dennis Northcutt remains a Brown. This is great news on multiple fronts. First and foremost, Northcutt is a good player and the type of guy the Browns would otherwise be lacking. He'll be the team's key 3rd receiver providing matchup headaches for opposing defenses. And if he can resume being a threat returning punts the team will benefit greatly. I think field position will be a big deal for this team; we've improved the offense to get better at moving the ball in smaller chunks. If that translates into longer drives and a few more first down each game, it ought to really help the defense have more good days than bad (and they weren't bad in 2004, despite the team's struggles). Northcutt is, to me, a guy who's an important piece of the puzzle.

If you assume there has been an air of, um, uncertainty recently over what is going in front office and in the minds of players (and that is a safe assumption) the postive resolution of the Northcutt saga is reassuring. Maybe we can't quite tell who is running the ship in Berea, but it's very nice to see this situation pan out. The media may not come to the same conclusion, but there is some light at the end of the tunnel now.

Finally, the Browns got maximum value out of their position. Got that? That's right, the Browns really don't have any woulda-shoulda's. Here was a player who was basically gone -- it was extremely unlikely Northcutt was going to resign with the Browns in free agency. And if that did somehow happen, it would have cost the Browns much more than 3 years/9 million. But after fortune smiled upon the Browns (a rarity in itself), the Browns unassaiable bargaining position resulting in 1) keeping their most valuable free agent to-be, and 2) at a price slightly less than market. I am very happy about that.

C'mon Sean Jones

Robert Griffith, whose attendance record at voluntary practice in previous years has been poor, also was among the missing.

When does this dude get released? I mean, he's supposedly a veteran leader but the only thing he seems to be leading the team in is missed tackles. Shouldn't he be in Berea helping Sean Jones and other rookie DBs get acclimated? Shouldn't he be setting the tone for the whole defense by working out and getting in reps? Shouldn't he be worried about keeping his lucrative job as an overpaid and overrated NFL safety?

The only bad thing about not getting Sean Taylor in the draft is that the Browns are now likely to be subjected to another season of Robert Griffith circa 2003 at safety. C'mon Griffith, get it going.

The Quick and the Humbled

(Northcutt) says he could live with something in the three-year, $10 million range. Sign him. This has been a long and painful experience for all involved. But the fact is that if Northcutt will take a reasonable deal it will be a very good deal for the Browns. Andre Davis, Morgan, and Jackson are all swift, tall receivers, but Northcutt is the only guy who is going to make people miss. His punt returning ability is both valuable and a team need, and in a 3 WR set he will always make a defense pay when he's left unaccounted for. And this offseason the Browns should have the cap space to front a decent bonus and the 2005 + 2006 cap number pretty low. The guy finally has a sense of what his real market value really is. Let him save a little face and let us have a good football player.

Lack-of-Power Rankings

This pretty much sucks. #29? I wouldn't predict a playoff appearence just yet, but I think the local and especially national media is taking too dim a view of personnel related moves this offseason. The front office shake ups have been befuddling, though, and in the NFL it's rare for teams with so much administrative turnover to make huge leaps forward. We'll see.

One thing I am sure about though -- there might be chaos in the front office but the opening day team should be noticably better than the team that finished the 2003 season. Here are the roster-related issues that seem to be facing the team prior to training camp:

• We still are crying out for another veteran on the offensive line (guard or tackle, doesn't matter, cause there will be injuries). Even if the team blows 5 million on a talent who's on the downside of his career it will be money well spent.
  
• C Brown/Ekuban has to be a presence at DE. Both of these guys have injury concerns. We need a good season from one or both. Not sure there's much left to do in the offseason though. If Ekuban truly has a serious injury it could be an area where we see a June 1st guy get signed.
  
• Backup QB. Is Holcomb going to be ready to go? Is he going to be effective enough to justify keeping? Will he be a good fit for the evolving offense? It's likely Garcia will have his share of injuries so the #2 will get some starts. I'd be pretty happy with a long rumored Mike McMahon trade. On football terms Couch would be a fine backup, but that would probably be an untenable situation.
  
• A punter. This might be more important that people think, especially since the offense is getting a bit more grind-it-out in style.
  
• A punt returner. If not Northcutt, then who?

At the moment, there isn't anything else. We're going to go with the horses in the stable. There's decent talent and depth at LB and DB. The DL is fine and, for now, only has vague injury concerns.

The starting WRs and RBs aren't going to strike fear into defenses just yet, but there's lots of young talent there too. The OL is justifiably scaring people but the reality is it will come down to health and depth like so many seasons past. And there is an upgrade at QB, a big plus at FB, and a very big addition at TE. Don't expect soo many things to change in the next 3 months.

Ravens/Felons

Jeez, Ray Lewis murders someone. Jamal Lewis is trying to buy huge quantities of cocaine. Corey Fuller has his own offseason legal entanglements. And this, news to me, that Terrell Suggs has been awaiting resolution of a felony charge in Arizona. And to think Clevelanders had a hard time rooting for Mike Sellers. We must be soft compared to Raven fans.

Absolutely F**king Ridiculous

As citizens of a city funneling tax money to pay for stadiums, we should be outraged about this.

Henegan

Henegan is gone. I'm not sure what there is intelligent to say on this; it's merely a continuation of an offseason trend where Butch Davis has swallowed up everything in Berea. I share others sense of amazement at this. And what is concerning about this move, like past moves, is that Henegan was highly-thought of around the NFL. And if you hear a bit of the back story on the street about how he had a screaming match with Davis over whether or not to raise the team's offer to Jeff Garcia, you got the feeling that he was a smart and fairly forceful guy. But with or without him in the front office the Browns are fully the team of Butch Davis in 2004 and probably 2005. And either Butch succeeds and the team wins over its doubters around the NFL, or Butch fails and the team faces a major rebuilding project within the front-office.

Wolstein

The passing of Bert Wolstein is too bad for Cleveland. Not to be cold or anything, but he seemed kind of like a jerk. But that's often the way a good businessman is going to come off so let's not hold that against him too much. What really sucks is that this probably shelves the plan for an MLS team in Cleveland. It's been a while since I've written anything about that -- but nothing has really happened anyway. In fact, the city of Cleveland has all but ignored Wolstein's overtures for help in financing a stadium (the current budget woes make that mostly understandable, but still you'd think at least the county would be all over this). Last I heard Wolstein had been quoted as saying he was just going to wait things out until either something happened to help build a stadium or MLS pulled the plug. Anyhow... So long Mr. Wolstein, and thanks for giving us some entertainment over the years with the Cavs, a bid for the Browns, and especially with soccer in Cleveland.

McMahon

I've been kind of wondering what, if anything, will happen regarding the rumors of the Browns trading for Mike McMahon. In hindsight, in fact, I wonder if his name came up when the draft-day deal swapping #6 and #7 was consumated. Regardless, I really like the guy. He and David Garrard of the Jaguars are the two most promising young backup QBs currently in the league IMO. Both are mobile and can make plays. I'd be pretty happy with a backup like that.

Replacing Holcomb with McMahon would be fantastic for the way this Browns team is coming together. A little QB mobility will be a necessity behind this O-line, and having a #2 guy who plays a similar style seems like a fine plan. Moreover, a triumverate of Garcia/McMahon/McCown would be a near ideal mix of veteran savvy, burgenoning promise, and long-term development. In other words, there's a chance that all three of those guys would see time as the starter at soome point. And in the meantime, each guy is both competing. It would seem to be a very healthy situation.

The only problem is what price to pay. Nobody is going to be crazy about giving up much again to the Lions. And the Browns probably can not afford a draft next year where they are short a significant pick. If the price stays under a 4th rounder, I think it'll happen. Especially should the Browns ever net something out of Couch. But we've been waiting too long to count on that, haven't we?

Nice to see

About 40 Browns alumni attended practice and had lunch with the players. Among them were Hall of Famer Dante Lavelli, Gene Hickerson, Mike Pruitt, Greg Pruitt and Reggie Langhorne.

Actually, it's very nice. Here's hoping these guys are a regular presene and build some relationships with the current players.