Category: Cleveland Browns (Page 108 of 114)

ESPN is reporting that Kellen Winslow was injured in a motorcycle accident Sunday near his home. There aren’t very many details yet but the team is saying the injuries sustained are not life threatening. Apparently, Winslow was riding in a parking lot when he hit a curb at 35 MPH and was thrown over the handlebars.

This is potentially devastating news for a team coming off such a promising draft. Let’s hope KW2 is okay. Meanwhile, what the hell is he even doing riding a motorcycle? Obviously, hindsight is 20/20 but after what happened to former Bulls point guard Jay Williams a few years ago, you’d think pro athletes would avoid motorcycles like the plague.

An earlier rumor had new Browns RB Reuben Droughns ready to hold out for a new contract. Mary Kay Cabot from the PD is now confirming this story, reporting that Droughns left the team’s off-season conditioning program and won’t return until he’s got a new deal.

Unfortunately for Droughns, who’s set to make $950,000 in 2005, he doesn’t have much leverage. Sure, he ran for more than 1,200 yards last season for the Broncos but with Lee Suggs and William Green currently on the roster, the Browns aren’t going to rush to give Droughns a raise. They want him to prove himself this season before they throw more cash his way, and for a guy who’d spent his entire career as a fullback before last year, that sounds pretty reasonable.

Tom Friend from ESPN The Magazine wrote a great column before the draft arguing that Braylon Edwards should be the #1 pick for the 49ers due to his passion and work ethic. Friend discusses Edwards?s amazing work ethic and his desire to emulate the great Jerry Rice:

?Yes, the player’s son should go first overall. People don’t realize that Edwards, besides being an obvious talent, has a freakish work ethic. While he watches TV in the evening, he’ll do flexibility work, or sit-ups or pushups. He refuses to just lie down on the couch.

The only time he’ll sit still, in fact, is when he pops in a video tape of Jerry Rice. His father has compiled an extensive football video library, and Rice is the one player who gives Edwards the chills. He noticed how Rice would run just as hard in practice as in games, and that became Edwards’ approach at Michigan. That’s why he wore Rice’s No. 80 his first two years in Ann Arbor. That’s why sometimes he’d head to the track, after practice, and run extra sprints by himself. That’s why Michigan coach Lloyd Carr says no one is as gung ho as Braylon Edwards.

The kid has been thinking like a pro player for years. In college, he got a massage after every game, which is what the NFL studs do. His dad, who used to play for the Oilers and Lions, introduced him to the Rams’ Torry Holt, and Holt took him out to the field to tutor him. Holt let him have it, too, critiqued his pass patterns, and Edwards wasn’t offended at all. Now, every day, he’s working on hitches and digs and post corners, working on disguising his routes. He’s proud to have Randy Moss’s downfield speed, but also wants the route-running feet of Marvin Harrison.

He’s also the kind of kid who cried after Michigan losses, who played his junior season with a broken finger, but never mentioned a word of it. After games, while wearing a suit and tie, he’d throw passes to little kids in the Michigan parking lot. When the Lions’ M&M Boys, (Matt) Millen and (Steve) Mariucci, interviewed him this spring, they asked if he’d mind going to a team that already had Charles Rogers and Roy Williams. And Edwards answered: ‘No offense to those guys, but I love the game too much, and I’m gonna play.’ This could be the one player in the draft who has it all: Rice skill, Rice heart. The 49ers, 20 years later, should draft the reincarnate.?

Browns fans have to be excited after reading this description. This is exactly the kind of player you want to draft high in the first round. Edwards appears to have that unique combination of exceptional athletic ability, the burning desire to be the best and the willingness work harder than everyone else. If he keeps this up, he will lead by example and be one of the cornerstones of the Savage/Crennel era.

Round 1: Braylon Edwards, WR
6-3, 211 pounds, #3 overall
So now we’ve got to root for someone from Michigan? Seriously? Edwards is tall, fast, strong and smart, plus all indications are he’s a down-to-earth kid who won’t be rocking any boats anytime soon. He will, however, make every Browns fan forget that he was a Wolverine very soon.

Round 2: Brodney Pool, S
6-2, 208 pounds, #34 overall
This guy is a player, and yes I realize that I wasn?t exactly thrilled about this pick initially. He?s got a little bit of everything ? good size, good speed, solid tackler ? plus he comes out of the Oklahoma program, which is always a bonus. Early reports indicate that the Browns may look to move Pool to corner, but wherever he ends up he?ll be a playmaker for several years.

Round 3: Charlie Frye, WR
6-4, 217 pounds, #67 overall
So much for the Luke McCown era. You?ve got to love the hometown angle here but even better, Frye has all the tools to be a quality NFL quarterback, beginning with his size and toughness. And these days, playing for a MAC team isn?t necessarily a bad thing, at least not if you?re a quarterback. Frye-to-Edwards and Frye-to-Winslow could be magical connections in two or three years.

Round 4: Antonio Perkins, CB
5-11, 188 pounds, #103 overall
He needs to hit the weights but this kid can flat out fly, being clocked at 4.31 in the 40. That speed should get him on the field in some nickel and dime packages as a rookie but he?ll also be able to showcase his electrifying skills on special teams. Perkins’ return ability coupled with the Braylon Edwards pick makes you question Dennis Northcutt’s future with the Browns.

Round 5: David McMillan, DE
6-3, 246 pounds, #139 overall
McMillan was a quality pass rusher for Virginia and in Romeo Crennel?s new 3-4 defense, that?s what he?ll be expected to do. He?s a little small and scouts questioned his passion for the game leading up to the draft, but Phil Savage must?ve seen something he liked here.

Round 6: Nick Speegle, OLB
6-6, 250 pounds, #176 overall
Dude?s got an awesome name, plus his former teammates and coaches compare him to Jack Lambert and Dick Butkus. Sounds good to me. Could be a nice steal for Savage.

Round 6: Andrew Hoffman, DT
6-4, 296 pounds, #203 overall
Chosen with the pick acquired in the McCown trade, Hoffman could be a serviceable nose tackle in the 3-4 defense, though he?ll likely just add depth to the Browns’ depleted defensive line for a year or two.

Round 7: Jon Dunn, OT
6-7, 328 pounds, #217 overall
He?s big and he plays tackle. That?s about all you need to know for now.

Just one day after drafting Akron quarterback Charlie Frye, the Browns traded second-year QB Luke McCown to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for a sixth-round pick (#203) in this year’s draft.

With that pick, the Browns selected Andrew Hoffman, a 6-4 defensive tackle from Virginia. Hoffman, who projects as a nose tackle in Cleveland’s new 3-4 defense, is “only” 296 pounds so he’ll likely have to bulk up a bit if he wants to have a productive NFL career in the trenches.

Then, to close out the 2005 draft, the Browns chose Virigina Tech offensive tackle Jon Dunn. At 6-7 and 328 pounds, this guy is a mountain. He’s a project, for sure, but with a seventh-round pick, what can you expect?

As for McCown, his days were numbered as soon as Savage took over as GM, though I imagine the Browns would’ve hung on to him had they been unable to find a young QB in the draft. Now the question is, who will the back-up be in 2005? Frye? Doubtful, though a possibility, I suppose. Still, I see Crennel slotting him third on the depth chart during his rookie season. Josh Harris? Call me crazy, but I doubt Savage and Crennel would be all that comfortable with the thought of Harris being just one Trent Dilfer injury away from running the team. I wouldn’t be surprised if they went out and signed a cheap veteran to back up Dilfer, at least for the early part of the season.