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March 2010
Will they really use all those picks?
What’s good about stockpiling draft picks, as the Browns have done, is that they can be used as currency. Don’t expect the team to vault into the first-round stratosphere and take Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford, but do expect some subtle manipulations by General Manager Tom Heckert during the three-day draft process beginning April 22.
As it stands, the Browns have 12 picks, including five of the first 92, 10 in the first five rounds and four in the fifth round.
The draft consists of seven rounds. The Browns have their own pick in each round except the seventh. Here’s the breakdown and how they accrued so many additional picks:
Round one (1 pick): Their own, No. 7 overall.
Round two (1): Their own, No. 38 overall.
Round three (3): Their own, No. 71 overall, plus the No. 85 overall pick acquired from New England through Oakland in the Kamerion Wimbley trade, and the No. 92 overall pick from the New York Jets as part of the Braylon Edwards trade.
Round four (1): Their own, No. 105 overall.
Round five (4): They have the No. 134 overall pick from Tampa Bay as part of the Kellen Winslow trade; their own, No. 137 overall; the No. 146 from Denver through Detroit as part of the Corey Williams trade; and the No. 160 from the Jets from the Edwards deal.
Round six (2): Their own, No. 177 overall, plus No. 186, obtained from Carolina for DT Louis Leonard.
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Delhomme: ‘I’m here to compete’
New quarterback Jake Delhomme answered questions from the Cleveland media for the first time Wednesday. He made no excuses for his lousy 2009 season with the Carolina Panthers and insisted the Browns have not promised him a starting job.
“I’m here to compete,” he said. “That’s the honest-to-God truth.”
Here’s some of the give-and-take with the 35-year-old who chose this opportunity over a backup job with his hometown New Orleans Saints even though he knew that organization well, having spent six seasons there at the beginning of his career:
Q: Why didn’t you take your scheduled visit to New Orleans before signing here?
A: We set up two visits basically. There were two areas that I wanted to go to, one was here and one was New Orleans. We had a bunch of other teams call and what not. I waited a little bit to make my trip because I wanted to let the, I guess, sting of the release (from Carolina) get out and let the emotion kind of get out of it and try to write down all of the different scenarios. What might work, what might not work. I came here on my visit, I had a great time. Actually, I was at the airport headed to New Orleans, but the weather was bad in Atlanta, that’s where I was connecting through. It kept getting delayed, delayed, delayed so I ended up getting a flight back to Charlotte that afternoon.
Q: What happened last year?
A: I didn’t play good football. I’m not going to blame anybody else or anything. I didn’t play good football, very simple. For whatever reason, I can sit here and blame this, blame that, but ultimately that doesn’t do anybody any good. I didn’t play good football from Week 1 on. The 2009 year football-wise wasn’t fun. … I probably tried to press too much. I don’t think there’s any doubt I probably tried to do too much and it didn’t work. I wasn’t just being me and that’s something for six out of the seven years that I started there, I was just me. I maybe tried to do a little too much last year and it didn’t work obviously.
Q: Why the Browns and not the Saints?
A: I had an opportunity to compete over here. I kind of knew what my role would be in New Orleans. I didn’t think there’s any doubt. I’m good friends with Drew (Brees). I’ve known Sean (Payton) for many years. I’m very comfortable with that organization, naturally, playing there for six years. It’s two hours from my home. I had to decide if I still wanted to still try to compete or if I wanted to hold a clipboard. I wasn’t ready for that. I just wasn’t ready for that plan and simple. I wanted to have a chance to come in to compete and play.
Q: Why will you be better in 2010, at age 35?
A: I think for one, I’m optimistic, I’m a glass half full guy. Two, it’s a fresh start for me. That’s what I’m excited about. It’s a fresh start, learning a new system, new players and that’s what’s great. That’s been the most refreshing part about being here so far.
Q: You get emotional over leaving Carolina. Why was that?
A: I’m a guy, I wear my emotions on my sleeve. I get to know people. I develop relationships with people. Those seven years there were great. We did some very good things and I became close to a lot of people. Not just football players, front office staff, equipment managers, trainers and things like that. You develop all those relationships with people and those are important to me.
Q: How does Cleveland’s offensive system compare to New Orleans’?
A: I’m not exactly sure. We ran the west coast offense with Coach (Mike) McCarthy down in New Orleans when Jim Haslett took over. Over here, we are still going to be running a lot of the same things that were run last year by Brian (Daboll). Who’s to say there’s not some new things that will be added? I haven’t got that far yet, I’ll be honest with you. M
Q: What had you heard about the Browns?
A: Jeff Davidson was my coordinator in Carolina for three years and Jeff was here for four years, I believe. Rip Scherer was my quarterback coach last year. Rip was here for four years, I believe. I guess I kind of had an understanding of the organization, somewhat. Everything they always said was the organization is trying to do things the right way, great people, it’s a great football town and things like that.
A big thing for me was over last weekend and early last week kind of researching. This team started 1-11. You find a lot of teams that started 1-11 and those bags are packed in December. Guys are ready to get out. This team won the last four games. I am telling you, that’s something. Something was happening. Something was going in the right direction.
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Revamping of tight end position continues
Nothing to rival the quarterback fireworks of the past week, but the team made a couple of moves today, re-signing tight end Greg Estandia and defensive back Ray Ventrone.
Estandia, picked up off waivers from Jacksonville last September, played in four games with four catches for 45 yards. He’s 6-foot-8, 266 pounds, similar to Jake Ballard from Ohio State, who is coming out this year.
Quietly, the Browns are revamping the tight end position. Last week they dumped Steve Heiden and signed Ben Watson.
They also have holdover Robert Royal and the intriguing Evan Moore, who popped off the practice squad last season to average 13 yards per reception over the last five games. Eight of his 12 grabs went for first downs.
Is there a Kellen Winslow Jr. in this bunch? Assuredly not. But Moore at least helps make up for the fourth-round bust that was Martin Rucker. You know, the tight end Phil Savage drafted and Eric Mangini took one look at and cut.
Ventrone signed with the Browns as a free agent last September and had 12 special teams tackles, third on the team.
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Quinn sacrificed in the name of progress
So Brady Quinn is gone.
Raise your hand if you’re surprised.
That’s what happens when you turn over the front office and the coaching staff every couple of years. One talent evaluator’s treasure is another’s trash and suddenly a 35-year-old, interception-prone Jake Delhomme starts to look like the answer.
Well, if Delhomme is the answer, I’m really not sure what the question would be. Certainly it can’t be something to the effect of, “Who’s best suited to lead the Browns to the promised land?”
It’s all too reminiscent of when Trent Dilfer was brought in, ostensibly to keep the position warm for Charlie Frye, until Derek Anderson got in the way and started throwing touchdown passes, Dilfer evaporated, Frye was peddled to Seattle and the process of finding the right quarterback continued in perpetuity.
What a week. First Anderson is released, calls the fans “ruthless” on his way out, says they don’t deserve a winner. Then, with the help of a fired Browns media relations director, he crafts an apology lest anyone remember him as a bad guy in addition to being a bad quarterback (which I don’t think he is, by the way, on either count).
With Anderson run out of town, this might have been a good time to throw some organizational support behind Quinn, but apparently Mike Holmgren had watched too much tape of Quinn’s passes fluttering waywardly for that to happen.
So Quinn, the Golden Domer, the player then-GM Phil Savage moved mountains to obtain in the 2007 draft, was traded Sunday to the Denver Broncos for the hard-running fullback Peyton Hills (you’ll like him, he’s a tough kid) and a couple of draft picks.
Fine, but let’s not pretend we know for sure whether Quinn is capable of quarterbacking an NFL team to victory on a regular basis or even a somewhat-regular basis.
In three seasons, Quinn appeared in 14 games for the team he grew up cheering. He started 12 of those, winning three.
I’m not a math/statistics major, but that hardly seems like a representative sampling.
But sometimes a new start is best for all concerned, you say? Well, often just the opposite is true. Sometimes cleaning house isn’t the right move.
The Browns’ luck being what it is, expect to see Quinn guide the Broncos to the Super Bowl one day soon.
By then, one can only hope the Browns will have succeeded in finding a franchise quarterback of their own.
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Anderson doesn’t go quietly
Derek Anderson never had all that much to say when he quarterbacked the Cleveland Browns. Teammates liked him and he had a devilish sense of humor, but being in front of cameras and microphones did not come naturally. He often mumbled.
So when he lashed out at the fans after being released on Tuesday, I wasn’t all that surprised he chose an e-mail note in which to do his lashing.
“The fans are ruthless and don’t deserve a winner,” Anderson wrote to the Lake County News-Herald, a suburban Cleveland newspaper that covers the team regularly. “I will never forget getting cheered when I was injured.”
He was referring to how fans treated him when he suffered a season-ending knee injury on Nov. 30, 2008. They behaved despicably that day, much as many had when Tim Couch suffered a concussion against the Baltimore Ravens a few years earlier and had to be helped from the field.
“I know at times I wasn’t great,” Anderson said in his e-mail. “I hope and pray I’m playing when my team comes to town and [we] roll them.”
Anderson is teamless at the moment, but the Seattle Seahawks and Arizona Cardinals are thought to be possible landing spots.
Given the Browns’ luck, he will take one of those teams to the Super Bowl, of course, and win it. Probably next season.
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Anderson gone but not forgotten
Quarterback Derek Anderson, released this afternoon, forever will occupy a place in team lore if only for how he played in the 2007 season when he came out of nowhere to throw 29 touchdown passes and make the Pro Bowl.
The Browns went 10-6 that season, their best since rejoining the NFL as an expansion franchise in 1999. Of course it was a fluke, but it was also a hopeful sign that brighter days lay ahead. Or at least it should have been. Then came 2008 and a reminder that this was still a bumbling organization in dire need of an overhaul.
But I’ll always remember Anderson as a guy who liked to sling the ball downfield and challenge defenses rather than take the safe route. Some would say that’s because he couldn’t throw short accurately, and that’s probably true, but with Kellen Winslow Jr. catching everything and Braylon Edwards in the midst of his best season, it seemed like the Browns’ offense had arrived and that the team would embark on a successful run.
Alas, it was all a mirage, but now at least quarterback Brady Quinn, who will be entering his fourth season, should get the chance to show for sure whether or not he can play in this league.
At least I hope that’s the plan and that Seneca Wallace, the veteran acquired from the Seahawks, is viewed strictly as a backup.
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Fujita, Pashos: Two solid signings
The orange helmets jumped into the free-agent market on Sunday and came out with Scott Fujita, an inside linebacker they desperately needed, and Tony Pashos, the offensive right tackle they have been looking for since Ryan Tucker’s gradual erosion began a couple of years back.
Pashos, 29, has played for Baltimore, Jacksonville and most recently San Francisco. The deal is three years, $10.3 million, ESPN reported.
Fujita, 30, just won a Super Bowl with the New Orleans Saints. He’s also been with the Chiefs and Cowboys. This guy’s a stud on the field and apparently a prince off it. He recently donated half of his $82,000 playoff earnings to charities in Louisiana.
Then again, Fujita can afford it because his new deal is for three years and $14 million, with $8 million guaranteed, The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer reported.
“We are extremely happy that we were able to get Scott and Tony signed so quickly,” General Manager Tom Heckert said in a release. “They are two players we had targeted from the start of free agency. Both are smart, tough and physical — the type of players that the Browns are looking for.”
The plan for Fujita?
“Scott possesses tremendous size (6-5, 250) for a linebacker, and this will allow him to play inside or outside in our 3-4 defense,” Heckert said. “He has been a starter throughout his career, has been exposed to several different defensive schemes and has been successful in all of them.
“He is a great leader and played a big part in the success that the Saints achieved last year.”
Pashos, 6-6 and 325 pounds, missed the last 10 games last season with a broken left shoulder blade, but that obviously did not dissuade the Browns, who, with the exception of some good work by Tucker, have generally been in the market for a right tackle since Orlando “Zeus” Brown got hit in the eye with a penalty flag in 1999.
Wise signings indeed, it would appear.
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A little Holmgren give-and-take
Mike Holmgren answered plenty of questions at the news conference Friday to announce receiver/kick returner Johua Cribbs’ long-awaited contract restructuring. Here are some highlights:
Q: What was the key to getting the Cribbs deal done?
A: I think you start with the philosophy of, we are going to make every effort to keep our core players, our best players, here with the team. Clearly, Josh is one of those. Now, his situation was different because he had a contract. Then you have to ask yourself the question, I want every player we have to want to be here and play and give me his best, give Eric (Mangini) his best. He had, in my opinion, outperformed his contract to a certain extent the more I studied it. How do we reward the player and at the same time maintain our contractual integrity as an organization? Once we kind of figured out how we wanted to do that and I got both sides talking to each other again, we were able to do it.”
Q: What about the uncapped year the NFL is facing?
A: It’s a little different, but I will say this, I don’t think we are getting bogged down too much in overanalyzing those things. My hope, and it will always be my hope, that nothing much changes going forward. We iron out the differences and keep playing. You know the rules. There are no minimums or maximums now this year. There are some other rules involved. We are approaching it, hopefully, how we will always approach it. What do we have to do to make our team better in a responsible way? If that means going after a player hard and spending, we will do that.
Q: What about the quarterback situation?
A: We are actively looking at quarterbacks. That’s fair to say. I will stick with my guns there with the way we will always do with free agency, draft and trades I can’t be any more specific than that right now.
Q: Have you met with Derek Anderson?
A: I have not personally. I have not and that’s unfortunate. I had hoped to. We’ve certainly evaluated all of our players. We just kind of have to see where that goes. I mentioned it the other day, those roster bonuses are in there to have the club make a decision in a timely manner for the player. I think that’s fair. If we decide to do that with a player, that all happened before I was here, but if you decide to do that with a player then you have to decide in fairness to the player. We like him. He’s a good guy. He’s either going to be here or we will let him know in a timely manner.
Q: What free agents are coming in for visits?
A: Right now (Scott) Fujita (Saints linebacker) is coming in. Tomorrow evening, I believe. There might be another player in tomorrow, but it hasn’t been finalized yet.
Q: Any veteran receivers on the radar?
A: We certainly talked about it at our meetings prior to the start of free agency. We talked about everybody. There is some room on the roster for different people. I would say in prioritizing and how much we talked about it and how much we were willing to dive in, with the receivers it wasn’t quite as urgent. I would say it that way. We have a couple of young guys we drafted last that I think are really good. Our pile of receivers can play. Signing Josh, you can refer to Josh as a receiver if you wanted to. Then we have the draft picks, but we are not done. I’m not saying we won’t, but when we talked about free agency there were other areas that seemed to have a higher priority.
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Corey Williams shipped to Detroit
It was February 2008 when General Manager Phil Savage, hoping to bolster the defensive line, traded a second-round draft pick to the Green Bay Packers for tackle Corey Williams.
Savage is no longer the GM, and such moves are part of the reason.
The Browns today traded Williams and their seventh-round draft pick in this year’s draft to the Detroit Lions for a fifth-round pick in this year’s draft, a pick obtained by Detroit from Denver.
Williams had been seen as a pass rusher after posting seven sacks with the Packers in 2007, but a shoulder injury and a different defensive scheme — he seemingly was not a good fit as an end in a 3-4 alignment — conspired to limit his productivity once he donned the orange helmet.
In all, Williams played in 32 games, starting 18, with 88 tackles, 4.5 sacks, a fumble recovery and a forced fumble.
The addition of Detroit’s fifth-round pick gives the Browns nine picks in the first five rounds. They remain at 11 overall.
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Team confirms Fraley’s release
Hank Fraley had broken the news of his release earlier Wednesday and the Browns got around to releasing it a little while later.
Kind of a sad day, actually, as Fraley was nothing if not a pillar of accountability in that locker room, fitting in beautifully with Joe Thomas, Eric Steinbach, Alex Mack and some others.
But time marches on and Fraley last season had lost his starting center position to Mack, the team’s first-round draft pick. A few years earlier he had lost the starting job in Philadelphia to a younger player, which is how the Browns wound up with him.
Let the record show that Fraley gave the Browns some pretty good years after he joined the team in the wake of the traumatic — and career-ending — injury to center LeCharles Bentley.
In four seasons with the Browns, Fraley appeared in 63 games, starting 52 of those. Last season he was used in a number of spots on the line, even helping out in short-yardage situations as an extra tight end.
Obviously, with Mack now firmly entrenched, Fraley became expendable. Still a sad day, though, considering he gave the organization everything he had for four years. Such is life in the NFL, though, right?
If Fraley wants to, I’m sure he’ll catch on somewhere. At least it’s early enough on the calendar that he doesn’t have to scramble.
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Looks like Fraleys a goner
In a mild surprise, veteran offensive lineman Hank Fraley has told the Associated Press he has been released.
This is from the story:
“Fraley, a 10-year veteran who made some starts at guard and even lined up at tight end in certain packages last season, was informed by the team on Wednesday that he was not in their plans. Fraley said he was “shocked” by the news.
“Fraley was due a roster bonus later this month. He lost his starting center job last season to rookie Alex Mack, Cleveland’s first-round draft pick.
“The 32-year-old Fraley was acquired in a trade from Philadelphia in 2006. He said he would like to play another two or three seasons.
“The team has not yet announced Fraley’s release.”
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Florida’s Haden loses a little luster
Dare the Browns draft Florida cornerback Joe Haden No. 7 overall after he posted some tortoise-like times in the 40-yard dash at the NFL Scouting Combine on Tuesday?
According to reports, Haden ran 4.57 on his first try and 4.60 on his second. This after he had gone on record expecting to post times in the 4.37 to 4.42 range.
Florida’s pro day is March 17 and Haden, about to lose millions if he slips out of the top 10, says he’ll try to run faster.
“I never ran a 4.5 in my life,” he told the NFL Network, which televised the combine because, well, what else are they going to show in February. “I’m definitely going to have to go and run that back again. Make sure I go home and train a little harder.”
Mary Kay Cabot in The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer reported that Tennessee safety Eric Berry, another in whom the Browns have interest, turned in an official time of 4.47, which means the Browns are probably out of luck because he’ll probably go in the top five.
So, any way you slice it, the defensive back news wasn’t the best on Tuesday for the Browns, who would like to use a high pick on either a cornerback or safety considering their lack of impact players in the secondary.
