The Maestro?!

When I was a kid, from time to time, I would ask my mother for a cookie. If her initial response was no, I would whine, and tell her why I deserved a cookie. If that didn’t work, I would seek out another adult to give me the cookie I felt I so richly deserved. Never at any point would I draft a letter saying, “cookie distribution is one-sided in favor of the adults.”

Today, Josh Cribbs drafted a letter (!) to supposedly inform fans that he REALLY REALLY REALLY wants a new contract. Cribbs is getting some pretty terrible advice.

Here’s how holdouts work Josh. You either hold out, or you don’t. You don’t draft letters. I know you have a family to feed, I know that you think your performance deserves more money than you are currently being paid, I get it that you want a new deal.

I GATHERED ALL OF THAT WHEN I HEARD YOU WERE HOLDING OUT.

This letter reeks of desperation. This letter is straight out of the playbook of a high school girl who gets dumped a week before prom. Cribbs, I agree that you deserve some more scratch, I think you’re a great player, single-handedly responsible for several wins over the years. The one thing (I think) this letter tells me is that you really didn’t WANT to hold out, but the people around you told you that you should. That’s fine. Go get your coin, son. Leave the letter in the drawer.

Look, nobody likes holdouts, and I’m no different. I particularly don’t like players holding out that I really want back on the team. But 10 times out of 10, I’ll take a holdout over a guy who may or may not call Browns Headquarters at 2 AM after having too much to drink, only to hang up after the second ring.

Glad We Could Help

Anyone catch the latest edition of Peter King’s Monday Morning Quarterback? Didn’t think so. I saw this on Profootballtalk.com like the rest of you did.

Ok, let’s talk about it. Obviously PK did this for some sort of effect. I’m just spit balling here, but if King puts the Lions last, the majority of people reading will look at the column and say, “oh wow, Peter King has the last three teams to win Super Bowls in his top 3, and the Lions as the worst team. Now I remember why I stopped reading him a few years ago.”

I understand that the Browns are bad, but King really is just picking on us. There’s no way– NO WAY– taking everything into consideration that you can say that the Lions are a better team than the Browns at his point. King points to holes in our lineup? The LIONS don’t have holes? The problem is that the Lions have a brand new quarterback and young talent at the skill positions, so it’s kind of like a good looking girl who you would never want to see without make-up plastered all over her face.

The Browns had a solid offensive line going into the offseason, at which point we signed John St. Clair and Floyd Womack, then went and drafted Alex Mack. We have options on the offensive line. The Lions do not. I think Calvin Johnson is a talented kid, but if there was a Madden fantasy draft where all players were up for grabs, Joe Thomas would be taken off the board ROUNDS before Calvin Johnson.

The other sticking point for King is that our division is too tough. Yeah, based on last year it is, but are you saying the Lions could do better in our division than we could? Do you think the Browns would mind playing 6 games against the NFC North every year?

That’s like saying that Aston Kutcher is a better actor than Robert Duvall based solely on the idea that it was hard for Duvall to carve out a place for himself in The Godfather. Duvall was overshadowed by much better actors in a fantastic film, Kutcher has consistently turned in atrocious performances in atrocious movies! Would Kutcher have done a better job as Tom Hagen? The answer is absolutely not.

Yes, I went there. But it makes sense. The Lions have been God-awful in a pretty terrible division… FOREVER.

But I get it. Even a guy like Peter King has to make an effort to stay relevant in the current sports media landscape. A way to do that is to go off the script from time to time.  Can the Lions finish with a better record than the Browns this year? Sure they could. But King does not get a free pass, at least from me, for saying that now.

Also, as I’m sure you all remember, Peter King last year had us in the top 10 at this point.

Now I don’t want to get all crazy and overhyped here with the Browns less than a week into training camp, but things are already looking good for the upcoming season, at least in the division, with the other three AFC North teams suffering relative setbacks during week one of training camp. Let’s go team-by-team.

STEELERS:

Casey Hampton is so old and fat… HOW OLD AND FAT IS HE? Casey Hampton is so old and fat that he could not pass his training camp running test (something that Troy Polamalu and his injured hamstring had no problem with). Mike Tomlin was so pissed at “Big Snack” that he banished the Pro Bowl nose tackle to the PUP list until he could get in better shape. With myriad questions facing the highly suspect Pittsburgh lines, having their A-1 All-Pro NT benched for being old and fat is probably not what the Stillers were looking for. This is obviously good news for the Browns because with a week 2 matchup looming with The Team They Cannot Beat and center still the relatively weak link on the O-Line, not seeing Hank Fraley have to line up against Casey Hampton means more time for DA and better holes for Jamal.

BENGALS:

Carson Palmer is so douchey… well, you get the idea. Distractions are fun when they aren’t happening to your team, and they seem to be a dime a dozen in the biggest city in Kentucky. Is Chris Henry coming back? What’s Chad Johnson going to say next? Will Carson’s OSU diatribe cause a fan backlash? Can the defense hold opponents under 600 total yards per game? What in God’s name does “Who Dey” mean? So many questions, so few answers. We saw last year that Marvin Lewis can only keep so many plates spinning at once, so the more distractions the Bungles have, the better it is for the Browns (and the rest of the division). On a personal note, someone should probably tell Carson Palmer that he shouldn’t go out of his way to take shots at other teams, pro or collegiate, until he himself has won something. Oh, you say you won a Heisman, Carson? You know who else won the Heisman? Jason White, Eric Crouch, Gino Torretta and Andre Ware. Maybe even just lead your team to their second over-.500 season in 18 years? Just a thought.

I was planning on mentioning the Antwan Odom injury, but now that appears to just be a foot sprain.

RAVENS:

Troy Smith is the current favorite to be the Baltimore Ravens’ quarterback. I’m going to repeat that, as it bears repeating: Troy Smith is the current favorite to be the Baltimore Ravens’ quarterback. Unless the Ravens somehow manage to sign Ted Ginn Jr. and Santonio Holmes, and manage to replace all of their opponents’ secondary players with Michigan DBs (hello, Leon Hall!), that will likely turn out poorly for the Jailbirds. This is obviously great news for the Browns because the Ravens’ blatant disregard for the passing game will cover up any potential shortcomings the Brownies will have at corner. Just a thought: if you combined the Ravens’ defense and the Bengals’ offense, that team would win 13 games… which is kinda funny because I’m not sure if those two teams will combine for 13 wins this year.

As far as the Browns go, I’m liking a relatively quiet start to training camp in Berea. As far as I’m concerned, no news is good news in training camp and there hasn’t been anything crazy (yet). If the Browns can keep a low profile heading into September, things look good for the 2008 season, tough schedule be damned.

Also, you probably already know this but James Walker’s AFC North blog on ESPN.com is quite fantastic. If you haven’t taken the time yet, you ought to.

The Browns most likely are not done at the cornerback position. After the signing of Terry Cousins, most Clevelanders thought that we would get another Terry Cousins-like name to bolster our numbers. Turns out that could be very true, because it seems as if Mr. Savage has eyes for Denver’s Domonique Foxworth:

Foxworth could be more available than most starting-quality corners because he is not a penciled-in starter in Denver. Foxworth has played extensively at both cornerback and safety in his three NFL seasons.

Because he is a nickel cornerback and is entering the final year of his contract, the Broncos’ asking price might be reasonable to the Browns.

I’m not so sure this is the answer for the Browns at corner, but if we are getting into bargains, this could be the next move. According to his page at pro-football-reference.com, Foxworth hasn’t played corner since 2005, but he is young enough that he could be an impact player for years to come. Plus, he’s British. That’s gotta be worth something, if for no other reason than it would freank Santonio Holmes out.

As reported by the PD’s [very underrated beat reporter] Mary Kay Cabot, Browns TE Kellen Winslow Jr. will not be skipping mandatory team activities this summer and is not positioning himself for a contract showdown with the Browns. Her source? Why, it’s KW2 agent Drew Rosenhaus himself, stressing that OTA’s are optional, a stance he apparently takes with all his clients:

That’s good news, and this morning obviously we can use all the good news we can get.

And while I don’t necessarily agree with sticking to the letter of the law when it comes to OTAs–as they are implicitly mandatory–it’s certainly better than the alternative of having a key member of the offense missing even a day of training camp.

I’m also pleased at the general indication that Winslow is not trying to Anderson Varejao his way into getting the Browns to restructure his deal, a deal which could get him all of his original contract money via incentives. I still believe he owes the Browns the courtesy of finishing his newer contract as the Browns really took a gamble on him after the motorcycle crash (a gamble which I am pleased to report has paid off).

Again, this situation may be roughly equivalent to the old joke where the girl comes home from high school one afternoon and says, “Mom, I’m pregnant,” and the mom screams, “WHAT?!?” and the daughter says, “Just kidding, I only failed my math test last week,” “Oh, thank God.”… but it’s a relief nonetheless.

In the wake of the whole Daven Holly fiasco today, Browns fans can take solace that Shaun Rogers, a player we obtained for Leigh Bodden (who we could kinda use right now) is a happy panda. That is just fantastic, because the knock on this guy in Detroit was that he is capable of playing at a Pro Bowl level when he wants to, it’s just that nobody knows when that is. I hate to borrow from Elle Woods here, but endorphins make you happy, and happy players just play at a Pro Bowl level all the time!

This is good news today, this is very good news. Maybe if we have a more than capable defensive front seven, it won’t matter that my high school football team had more depth at the corner position than the Browns currently have.

A further examination of the article tells us that Rogers is still having some time adjusting to the 3-4 scheme, which is understandable. The fact that he is willing to learn while maintaining a positive attitude is promising. Let’s not kid ourselves, Browns fans. Through no fault of his own today, Rogers was saddled with more pressure to perform this season. Parting with a guy like Bodden was tolerable when it happened, but you can’t help but wonder if knowing what Phil Savage knows now if he still would have made the trade to bring in Mr. Rogers.

The only thing that bothers me about Rogers coming in? In Detroit, the Lions could win three Super Bowls in a row and the fans still wouldn’t care more about them than the Pistons, Tigers, or Red Wings. That being said, Rogers had still managed to catch a whole lot of flack for his on-again off-again play, even though people in Detroit care as much about their football team as they do for the new line of Toyota SUVs.

Rogers will find that Cleveland is a much diffrent city. One can only hope for the best in this situation, and so far, it seems so good with Rogers. But, in light of today’s events, his performance will have to be Pro-Bowl worthy, or else we will miss Bodden. That’s just the way Cleveland works. It isn’t our fault.

OK, so as we all know, the Daven Holly situation is just the latest in a long line of issues that the Browns are facing this year at the cornerback position. Leigh Bodden gone, Kenny Wright going off of the reservation. Let’s just say the Browns could have done without Holly possibly missing all of 2008. The good news is, Savage is saying that he was going to go after some more corner help before the injury anyway, and now will almost have to. Contained in that same article, is the bad news:

The general manager said the team has the salary cap room to add a player but is somewhat constricted due to budget.

Is this GM speak for, “we have the money, we just don’t want to spend it?” The article mentions Ty Law (who is garbage) and Lito Sheppard (Yes! Yes! I want him Phil!) as two big ticket names that Savage doubts he will pursue because of the price tag. The article also saying that even if Gary Baxter comes back healthy, he will play saftey. Soooooo one of the worst secondaries in the league last year is going into the 2008 season with Eric Wright (should be good), Brandon McDonald (the “It” guy on the Browns roster), and Jereme Perry (a guy we cut and re-signed this offseason) as the only corners on the roster with NFL experience? To borrow from Seinfeld:

WFNY had a fun little riff this morning comparing the Bengals disastrous 2005 draft with the Browns catastrophic 2000 draft, and that got me to thinking about all the different drafts the Browns have had since 1999, particularly by GM.

Obviously the Dwight Schrute Clark drafts of 1999-2001 were abysmal while Butch Davis drafted talented position players (KW2, Sean Jones, Andra Davis) but generally failed at drafting to team needs (coughcoughoffensivelinecoughcough); Phil Savage, however, has been an early round mastermind and has shown genius strokes drafting in the middle rounds as well.

Sure, he hasn’t pulled a Tom Brady or Marques Colston out in the last couple rounds–yet–but take a look at four drafts worth of Savage and how they stack up heading into this season…

2005:

Not a bad start for Savage, with the universally liked pick of the Pro-Bowler Edwards he hit the ground running, though the jury continues to be out on Brodney Pool, particularly at the Free Safety position. Obviously the Charlie Frye experiment failed, but remember that at the time ESPN and Mel Kiper had Frye as the top-rated senior QB in the Draft and most considered him to be an early second-rounder that Savage managed to nab in the 3rd… so at least we didn’t waste a 2nd-rounder on him, right? Right? Oh, and in case you need it he signed an undrafted free agent you may have heard of named Josh Cribbs, too.

2006:

An even better entry in 2006, arguably, as Savage addressed some glaring needs in the team’s linebacking corps with Wimbley, Jackson and Williams. Not only that, but he tricked Baltimore into coughing up a 6th round pick to move up and take the disappointing Haloti Ngata. The gem of this draft was Vickers, who would eventually supplant Terrelle Smith as the starting fullback, a position that he has yet to relinquish. I also continue to be a big fan of Jerome “The Ghost” Harrison as a change-of-pace back. 3 starters and 4 backups (one of which sees constant rotation) in one draft is very solid.

2007:

This will likely go down as Savage’s masterpiece; drafting a franchise Pro Bowl left tackle in Thomas, trading up to get a QB of the future (maybe?) in Quinn, trading up again to get an undervalued cornerback (a staggering need at that time) in Wright, then finding another day 2 gem in McDonald–a guy who had his breakout performance when he shut down All-Pro wideout Andre Johnson in Houston.

Will this year’s draft stack up? Tough to say when you consider the total lack of day one picks, but let’s just say that as far as Phil Savage goes in the middle rounds of drafts, I hold out great hope for guys like Beau Bell and Martin Rucker.

As you may have seen over the weekend, Ryan Tucker underwent successful hip surgery, and will need some time to recover, but shouldn’t miss games in the regular season. I was happy to see that Tucker is projected to be ready for the 2008 campaign, but even more happy to know that even if he isn’t ready, if something goes wrong in his recovery, there are no worries. The Browns finally have a contingency plan in place for what some would argue is the most crucial position in football: the offensive line.

Since the new Browns started in 1999, the offensive line has been the biggest on-field liability, and the lack of depth meant that we had to keep some pretty terrible players on the field since there were no viable backups that desrved a shot. This year, things could not be more different. This offensive line transformation is one of the telltale signs that Browns Backers finally have a front office in place that they can be proud of. A few years ago, the news of an offensive lineman going under the knife would have sent Browns fans into a woe-is-me attitude that Tucker wouldn’t recover and we would once again be doomed up front. This year, we have some serious depth when it comes to the Big Uglies.

How many other NFL teams can say that they have an interior lineman who has only missed one game since coming into the league in 2004 on the bench? I’m going to go out on a limb and say, oh, probably none. Rex Hadnot is just that lineman. He has been a solid presence on a shaky Miami Dolphins offensive line for the last three seasons, and– more importantly– the Steelers wanted him, and we got him. Tucker and Hadnot represent the top two players on our depth chart at right guard. Behind them, are two very capable back-ups, Lennie Friedman and Seth McKinney.

If you want evidence that this team will be able to follow up their 10-6 season with a playoff appearance in 2008, you simply need to look their options at right guard, where the Browns are four deep. And these are more than just warm bodies, these are guys that have proved that they can play, and in Friedman and McKinney’s case, proved that they were worthy of contract renewals at the end of last season. I’m not trying to say that all four of them have the chance to be Pro Bowlers this year, but it is nice for once to see that there will not be a domino effect on the offensive line if one guy goes down with an injury,

Having a versatile offensive line may be at an even higher premium this year, after what the Giants defensive line was able to do to the Patriots front five in the Super Bowl. Many will try to copy the Giants defensive scheme since it was the only thing that seemed to work against New England all season. That means more upfield rushers in the trenches, more pressure on the offensive line. Having depth on the offensive line has never been more important than it will be in the coming years. Safe to say, I am happy with the way things are looking up front for the Browns this season.

Now, if only I were as confident about our back four on defense.

We might be a little behind since this was posted Monday on si.com, but the head football honcho at Sports Illustrated, Peter King, has the Browns 9th on his first power rankings of the year:

This team has five prime-time games for the first time since Paul Brown prowled the sidelines and Jim Brown was a runner, not a protester. “I think our guys will like it,” said GM Phil Savage. “I think they’ll take to the challenge.”

Nice words and maybe even true ones. But Cleveland’s opponents — like Dallas on opening day — will think they’re going to have to play really well to beat the Browns. In other words, Cleveland’s not going to catch anyone by surprise. The pressure’s on.

Pressure? Do you know how long Browns fans have waited to hear that there are expectations and pressure on their beloved team? Every day I seem to find another reason to wait patiently for the 2008 NFL season, because I think I could live forever with the Browns getting all of this praise. King later remarks that players like Willie McGinest and Jamal Lewis should help keep the younger Browns head’s on straight as they make a drive for the playoffs. I couldn’t agree more. Even though I have devoted other posts to the notion that the loss of McGinest shouldn’t make a big dent in the on-field play of the Browns in 2009, Cleveland will certainly miss the leadership that he brings to the locker room. Lewis is a bit of a stretch, but McGinest will be there to remind the Browns that they have yet to accomplish anything if their heads should get too big.

King also has the Browns lumped in the “Now It Gets a Little Interesting (teams 3-10)” heading with (in order) Jacksonville, Dallas, San Diego, New York Giants, Minnesota, Green Bay, and Carolina. First of all, Minnesota as the seventh best team in the NFL? Thats a stretch. The Brownies will have the privilege of playing three of those teams listed, which just comes with the territory.

How much does this preseason ranking mean to the Browns organization? Nothing. How much does it mean to Browns fans? Just about everything. The idea that experts think that we are in the top third of teams in the NFL makes fans like us here at the Sons of Nev ecstatic.

Oh, by the way? Steelers ranked 12th. What a shame.