KWII Rejects Browns Offer; First Look at CB.com Editorial Freedoms

It's not shocking that the Postons have rejected a contract offer from the Browns, and it's not really that surprising that the Browns offered to match the contract of #5 pick Sean Taylor since the Browns wanted to select Winslow in that spot anyway. But what is most interesting for the moment is Pat McManamon's story on the Browns web site, as this is the first test of whether or not CB.com is going to be a reasonably objective news source -- and this story doesn't make any bold journalistic statements.

Is the offer fair?

“Absolutely,’’ said one agent who has negotiated deals for several first-round picks. “If Winslow is asking for more, it’s hard to justify.’’

And that's about as hard hitting as it gets. While so far the Browns appear to be the "good guys" in the KWII negotiations, there isn't even an obligatory quote on or paraphrasing of the Postons position.

And this article on ESPN.com brought up the somewhat valid criticm that the Browns have gone back on their promise not to use the media in negotiations. That, it seems, is par for the course for Butchie and I'll be waiting for McManamon to address the long-standing and growing creditbility problem there. That is the kind of thing I'd still like to see from Pat McManamon (and I think it would, believe it or not, benefit the Browns organization financially).

One additional point -- kudos to the Browns on getting everyone else into camp, and for getting 5-year deals. This year there were a few articles about how the team was making enemies by doing this, but frankly I don't see that happening so much. Getting all those guys in on time would seem to refute that criticism.

Would you not have, uh, said something?

This would have been the perfect time to, say, get Boozewr riled up and have air marshalls waiting to restrain him upon landing. I guess Paxson is being classy, but this isn't going to help his reputation of being a pushover.

Plax

I'm not sure why I find this amusing, but it is.

Eli's Coming

Actually, he is signed and although this couldbe a good thing for the Winslow negotiations, I wonder if Manning's gigantic 20 mil bonus will be a detrminent. No way the Browns relent to the Poston's position that Winslow be compensated akin to a first overall pick, but it doesn't mean the Poston's won't hold that stance in an effort to purloin a couple million more dollars.

The Negativity

Amongst what is becoming a deluge of negative national opinion regarding Butch Davis and the Browns, Butch expressed his usual burst of optimism on the eve of training camp. I guess that is no surprise. But the comments about how the Browns are in for a miserable season, from Dr. Z of SI fame to the lowliest homeade website, seem to be almost universally overlooking something: the Browns are likely to field a more talented football team in 2004. And you may remember last season how the Browns were generally to be an asverage team, and that was considering a raging quarterback controversy. Fast-forward to this year: No QB controversy, at least 3 significant additions to the roster, clarity in the front-office (for better or worse), and (so far) no running backs being suspended. 2003 was sheer chaos, probably moreso behind closed doors than even on the field. Can 2004 really be worse? While a part of me subscribes to the Kenny Roda "Butch Must Go" rants, I think there's quite a bit more to the situation, such as the fact that Butch is actually a pretty good coach at times. My bet is that the national media's perception that the sky is falling in Berea is overblown. It's more likely the sky already fell some time last season and we're seeing things get sorted out now. That might not translate into a lot of wins on the field, but my bet is this team is, at this moment, somewhat better than it is getting credit for.

Gallery Signs

Another day, another top draft pick has signed, this time the highly coveted Robert Gallery. We now have the #2 and the #5 picks in the draft signed, and in a normal year that would probably be enough to set the benchmark for getting the #6 pick signed. The deal reportedly included 18-19 mil in guaranteed money, and I'd imagine the Browns would not even consider surpassing that kind of dough in signing Winslow.

I never commented on it cause I hadn't heard it until recently, but Winslow's comments to Roda a couple weeks back are pretty annoying -- how he was excited after the draft when he said he'd sign for #6-pick money, and that now he wants his "market value," which he believes is top-pick money. That is just absurd and, one hopes, purely posturing. Nevertheless it is this sort of crap that makes for contentious negotiations and a general foul atmosphere between clubs and agents. It's amazing anything ever gets done. It's dissappointing to hear a player say something like that too since it encourages making him out to be a pariah before the dude ever steps on the field. If I was his agent I would have told him to respond to questions like that with, "You know, I'm just gonna let me agent speak on those matters and you'll have to refer to what he says." That would at least allow the player to retain some goodwill from fans. And allow fans to keep believing (falsely) that players are good guys who care about cities like Cleveland (maybe they are good guys, but they are otherwise forced to live here).

Anyhow, it seems like there is at least a reasonable possibility that Winslow could be signed before next week. Certainly the more top picks who sign, the more the pressure is shifted to Winslow and the Postons to agree to a reasonable deal.

Sean Taylor Signs

Well one player who could have been a Brown signs, #5 pick Sean Taylor. The deal is reportedly 7 years/18 Mil, with a 7+Mil signing bonus. Ok. Let's see if Winslow gets more than that. I would think that anything better than that and the Postons can rightfully say they are winners in the negotiation.

Anyway, the fact that the #5 pick has signed suggests there is a chance our #7 pick could make it to camp sooner than later, even if he is the Lebron James of the Cleveland Browns.

What I'm Looking At During Camp

My key training camp issues that will most affect the outcome of the 2004 season:

- Punter. As many others, I'm skeptical that Scott Frost is ready to be the full-time punter and holder on kicks. I'd go so far to say that subpar performances from Frost could completely undermine a team that should be able to fair well when it comes to field position battles. Unless Frost surprises everyone or the team brings in a proven veteran, this will be an undeniable weakness for this team.

- Offensive line health. I could care less if the Browns fail to run the ball effectively throughout the entire preseason. Just stay healthy. Please. 4/5 positions should be pretty solid if everyone is healthy, and that IF is more important that just about anything else because there just isn't good depth beyond that. Even though it's unclear who will start at left guard, I think the team will be fine there with Demar or one of the other young undrafted guys. As long as Verba, Faine, Tucker and Garmon can play the bulk of the season. The team would be very well served by investing in a veteran, and I'm holding out hope somebody decent gets cut.

- Who plays safety. I'm really concerned with Griffth, cause he has played so poorly and is now pretty old, and Little, cause of his offseason blustering. We can hope Griffth is the Browns' Matt Lawton but that is probably a stretch. We can hope Little plays with as big a ship on his shoulder as he has had this offseason, and that is more likely. Still, unless someone among Crocker, Jameson, David Gibson, or Kentrell Curry makes a push to start there could be trouble in the secondary. Especially because the Browns don't have the kind of shut-down corner(s) that enable them to "hide" a poor performer.

- How will Morgan/Davis/Northcutt get along with Garcia. I think the key here is what types of patterns these three guys are asked to run. Morgan has been rightfully abused for his constant inability to hang on to the ball, but it seems the majority of his drops are on shorter and crosssing-type routes. While any starting WR has to run these, Morgans best skill is in catching balls downfield. Can Garcia get him the ball this way? Will Robiskie's offense put Morgan in this type of situation often enough? Andre Davis, on the other hand, is probably the team's most promising and versatile performer because he can do everything well, including making tough catches on post and crossing routes. Northcutt, on the other hand, really cleans up underneath and is good going deep when the right opportunity presents itself. With a new QB and offensive coordinator it will be very interesting to see what types of sets the team runs in the preseason and what types of throws Garcia can make. We need to see some promise and have confidence the good-but-not-great skills of these WRs can be used in an efective way.

- Winslow. Of course, all eyes will be upon the first round pick the Browns gave up so much to select. I am banking on a reasonably quick signing; if a holdout ensues it will obviously stunt Winslows growth in his fiest season. Personally, I'm hoping for a relatively quiet training camp with a few flashes of promise. While I'm excited about his downfield receiving ability, it's probably most important that Winslow spends camp becoming an efficient short yardage receiver and effective blocker. Being proficient at these fundamentals will really allow Winslow to be an excellent all-around player instead of merely a "receiving tight end" (which would still be a welcome asset).

TD Run

Ran in the Browns Touchdown Run on Saturday. It was a a nice event, as usual, and probably better than in years past since they changed the start location to the West side of the stadium where there is more room and parking. The race was billed as "Finish On the Field" and that was true, but it probably should have been called "Finish in the West End Zone" since the rest of the field was off limits. Still, it was a bit of a thrill to run through the corridor underneath the stadium and come out of the tunnel onto the field, however brief that moment of glory was.

Formatting

I have no idea what the deal is with the crazy formatting of this page at present. Although I'm a web programmer by profession, I haven't had time to really dig into what is causing this. I think it's something wacky with Blogger, but maybe not.

Browns are following the NFL Network...

Or maybe it is Collins simply pursuing the same stuff he was working on at the league level. Whatever the case, Peter King is right on this count: I think the NFL Network is talking to a few really good people about coming on board. No one can see it, but that thing could be a force pretty soon.
If I could buy stock in the NFL and NFL teams presenting their own news and features directly, I would. I know there are obvious conflict-of-interest issues that may prevent this from being considered good journalism, but 1) the world of the NFL has been getting sufficiently big enough to fit enough varying viewpoints that perhaps it's not a huge problem, 2) the league (along with many other people) has probably recognized that negative stories are not net negatives when it comes to publicity and money-making potential -- for instance, why shouldn't the NFL and even the Dolphins somehow make money off of the news that Ricky Williams is retiring? 3) it speaks to the generally lame quality of major news organizations that there is a demand for news directly from the newsmakers -- we'd prefer news from an admittedly biased source over a source that falsely claims to be unbiased. It may be hard to believe considering some of the crap that the Browns organization has shoveled to us these past few years, but I'm bullish on this trend.

Reynolds

Hey, we DID get something for Couch.

I'm not optimistic of Reynolds bringing much to the table after reading for months how the Packers were trying, and failing, to get something out of him (checking up on all those Couch rumors was worthwhile afterall). But hell, it's worth a shot and it don't cost nothing to see if the dude can make the team. Given his draft position I'd have to think he's got the physical talent to be on the field.

More On Changes

I mostly like what I'm hearing, but this is scary: "new policies for viewing training camp."

Maybe it's just me, but I'm sensing that Grossi is not a fan of these changes. It's understandable he'd be skeptical since these changes may undercut his perceived special-insider status.

On McManamon: The Browns say, "He will give an objective look at the state of the team, and provide analysis, opinion and insights to fans. " That is encouraging. And he's an Ignatius guy from Lakewood. I knew I liked him. Learn something everyday.

Major Changes in Browns Media Approach

Wow, some very interesting changes within the Browns organization that will really change the type of information coming out of Berea, hopefully for the better. And, given the nature of the changes, it's worth raising an eyebrow at how the Plain Dealer and Toni Grossi are burying what is perhaps the big story -- that lead ABJ Browns reporter Pat McManamon will join the Browns as lead writer for its official Web site. And NFL.com's Vic Carucci will oversee a remake of the team web site. And, oh yeah, Todd Stewart has been fired and his position of executive director of communications and media relations will be filled by Julia Payne, former White House PR exec and Clinton spokesperson. In other words, it sure looks like new CEO John Collins is aggressively remaking the Browns media personnel and aiming to make the organization much more media friendly. You could also read between the lines to presume the team aspires to become the primary source of news about itself, ala the NFL and it's new cable network.

Is this welcome news or an ominous sign? Will this signal a new era of great Browns reporting and openess or a draconian lockdown on "real news" in favor of gl0rified PR spin? I'm not certain but the fact that the excellent Pat McManamon has signed on suggests to me that it's positive. He's been the best Browns reporter for several years now, both in breaking stories and in covering the team's ups and downs with the right balance of straight reporting and occasional commentary.

To be honest, I haven't really gotten into the stories that have been posted to the official web site because they tend to be either fluff pieces ("the offensive line is really coming together," that sort of thing) or player profiles. As a fan, I am far more interested in evaluating how the team stacks up against the competition or discussing potential personnell adjustments. And the official mouthpiece of the team is just not the place to do that, it would seem. That said, I will be very interesting in seeing how a real reporter like McManamon is used when working for the organization he will now apparently be reporting on. It would seem to be an obvious conflict of interest - unless John Collins is enlightened enough to truly believe that ANY news about the team is potentially good news, even if McManamon is, say, reporting negative things about Butch Davis. Heck, this potentially untenable situation might be more entertaining than some of the action on the field this season. And it might just payoff in the sense that the Browns could stand to gain in both getting more newsworthy items out and postion the organization to benefit greatly if fans actually look to them for news on the team. I'm sure other teams are going to be watching how this develops very closely.

The addition of Vic Carducci is also very interesting as the NFL.com site has grown into a very good website. In fact, it's likely NFL.com is the template for what ClevelandBrowns.com now aspires to be. Over the past year I've been very pleasantly surprised to see actual news and high quality commentary on NFL.com -- from the Terrell Owens trade fiasco, to pre-draft rumors, to offseason articles that have been genuinely critical. It's really exceeded my expectations and if Carducci helps translate that to the Browns it will be very interesting.

On a broader note, I think this type of business move is both inevitable and savvy for any large company or corporation. It has taken 8 or 9 years, but we see this sort of thing more and more often where companies invest in their media and online presence in a way that was unthinkable 15 years ago. And that fact that the Browns are (I think) the first NFL team to seriously pursue this type of endeavor is a sign that the team is actually in good hands, at least from a business standpoint. Today I am pretty darn impressed.

Lastly, the hiring of Julia Payne I'm less sure of cause I don't know much about her. I can say that I sincerely hope the Browns don't respond to media inquiries in the same way a political organization might, but it is nonetheless encouraging how seriously the Browns are treating PR and getting the right messages out. It is, afterall, an important thing and I can't blame them for trusting only guys like Grossi and Triv to essentially be the mouthpieces people see talking about the team. I'm encouraged that she is apparently highly thought of even while I'm skeptical of her coming from politics and Daniel Snyder's strange Redskin's organization. I guess we'll see how things change once the first few major injuries or controversial things come down. It can't be much worse than hearing Policy blow smoke.

*** NOTE: I will forever be lenient on Policy for his correct response immediately following the "bottle-throwing" incident, even if he retracted it all the next day. It suggested to me that, deep down, he was a good dude who knew in his heart what it was like to be an irrational fan.

I don't know if today's news is the big announcement that was intended to help the team be more popular with local fans. All of the changes announced today, as major as they will ultimately be, are probably not going to have an immediately noticeable effect on fan's perceptions. But today's news is a big deal regardless.

New Guy in FO

Here's we go.. as the season gets closer the real news kicks up, as will this little web log. From the Tip Sheet:

Look for the Cleveland Browns to announce a significant front office addition next week. The hire won't be involved in football operations but it will reinforce that Browns ownership is very aware of how the franchise is perceived and that the club must do a better job of marketing itself locally.

I'm thinking it has to be a former player, but probably not Bernie even though that wouldn't be shocking since it always seemed it was Policy that had an aversion to Kosar for some reason.

Still Funny, But Really Pissing Me Off

Hehe. What a loser. 

Not as Funny, But Funny

Hehe. Or depressing.

This is funny

Hehe. I guess. 

Football

Interesting article about the "socialism" of American major sports compared to the "capitalism" of European soccer. I'd have to agree with the description, though I'm not sure one is necessarily better than the other when it comes to the quality of product on the field.

BTW, it's a bummer that Greece topped the Czech Republic in the Euro semifinal. Not only cause I was rooting for the Czechs, but because a Greece/Portugal final seems, well, boring. In Europe maybe everyone feels differently. And in America, well, everyone probably agrees with me regardless of who was playing.

Walker

What's the deal with the Bucs and Kenyatta Walker? I'm still hoping he gets cut, but I guess if he hasn't by now he probably won't be.