Dawghouse Blog

May 2006 - Posts

• Mountain of Blather

  Right on cue: Peter King trumpets the Pats and Cowboys as Super Bowl favorites. King is so blinded by his favorite teams and coaches that he can't even make a prediction like this without looking like a buffoon. Really, I think he makes all predictions based on what he'd like to write about. Check out King's insight into how he picked this matchup. He mentions a few other "contenders." Nowhere on the list is the defending champ, the Steelers (not entirely a bad thing, but still). Let's see, the Steelers return almost all starters, have a still-improving young QB, a dominant defense, and filled their only obvious hole with a very promising rookie WR. Nah, they couldn't possibly make another playoff run.... Yet he finds room in the AFC for the Miami Freaking Dolphins. A team with complete turnover at QB resulting in the importation of a former Pro-Bowl QB who looked positively pathetic last season before going down with some major injuries. A team that just lost one head of their two-headed monster at running back. A team with a good but aging defense. Sure, the Dolphins were a good middle-of-the-pack team last year. But a 2006 Super Bowl would require fast assimilation by new offensive faces and one-last-hurrah-better-than-all-previous-seasons' by a defense who's window is definitely closing. I'm not even saying the Dolphins won't be good. But to consider them before the team who just won a Super Bowl is embarassing. And then he details how the Pats and Cowboys won't have great regular seasons. How the Pats have lost so many players. And how the Cowboys have lots of guys with great potential. And how regular seasons that are tough will translate into playoff success due to "soft" schedules in December. Where is the logic? I think in the last few years the playoffs have proven that regular season success is a requirement for pos-season success, if only because it's an indicator of how healthy a team is. Whatever. I will make two predictions based on Peter King's prediction. Neither the Pats or Cowboys will play in the Super Bowl. The Pats will be good and I like them, but they won't get past the Colts, Steelers, Broncos, Bengals and perhaps even the Chargers. The Cowboys do have great potential but need way too much to go right. And, like so many season's past, Bledsoe's numbers will get worse as the season goes on. Both teams won't go better than 2-2 in the month of December. NFL schedules have a way of making utter fools of those who try and predict the "strength" of a schedule. In the Cowboys final games (New Orleans, at Atlanta, Philadelphia, Detroit) I don't see how you can pencil in a W agains ATL or PHI, and I look forward to John Kitna making Bill Parcells regret not signing him in the offseason to be the starting QB for the Cowboys. The Pats (at Dolphins, Texans, at Jags, at Titans) have two obviously tough road games plus two matchups that are completely unpredictable in May. It's not a given that the Texans are suprisingly competitive in Decemeber and that Vince Young won't turn everything on it's ear at the end of the season for the Titans. I haven't had anything good to say about Ruben Droughns' latest. It's sad, really. His wife did sound a little weird in the paper following the DUI acquittal. And it's maybe fun to imagine what might be going on there. But whatever the case, it does not sound like fun to have incidents like that. Hopefully this is not representative of a recurring, negative tendency in Mr. Droughns. He certainly seems like a nice dude, for whatever that is worth. Memo to Phil: We want to win a Super Bowl. But we don't want to be the Ravens. In fact, if we get a collection of convicts on this team I'm pretty sure my die-hard Browns fan days will come to an end. Stamp this sh!t out now. Please. I like Droughns, but if he isn't, in fact, likable then oh well -- cut him loose and give the job to someone else. I really hope that is not the case, obviously. However this is ultimately something by which the front office will be judged. Another Memo to Phil: Come October when Charlie Frye suffers some minor injury that will keep him out of a start or two, we will REALLY WISH WE HAD A VETERAN BACKUP QB. Especially if the Browns are around .500 and there is a lot to play for. I realize there aren't any particulary attractive QB on the market, but all you have to do is ask yourself one question. If you need to win a game or two to keep the season afloat, would you rather start Ken Dorsey, Derek Anderson, or Jay Fiedler? Maybe I should be annoyed about Phil Savage saying it's a good trait for players to be good Christians. I have a reflex against anything that smacks of too much religious overzealousness. But, I guess, I've also learned not to fear religion in the sense that it is generally a positive influence in a person's life. Whatever, that is besides the point. Reading PFT you'd get the impression that Savage is going way overboard, but reading the Canton Repository I get a totally different impression -- that Savage values character, and that, at least on a personal level, he's a relgious guy and appreciates that in players too. Yeah, I guess it's a problem if there were a large contigent of NFL free agents who were adamantly anti-religious or whatever. But I just don't see it being a big problem. We're not talking about a government official here. We're not even talking about an executive from a publicly traded company. We're talking about a GM for a privately held pro football team. And Savage seemed to be quite careful in making those comments. Compare that with this story about the Colorado Rockies. I don't think the Rockies deal is that big of news either, but it certainly is a much, much bigger deal than Savage's comments. The more I think about the "put a roof on CBS" proposal that is floating about, the more I feel like using primarily taxpayer money would be a bad decision. Look, if a roof won't be profitable then it shouldn't happen. I think everyone would agree on that. How about this... Estimate the amount of tax revenue attributable to hosting a Super Bowl in Cleveland. Tax that number and double or triple it. That's how much of the project should be paid for with conventional public tax money. I suspect that number is in the tens of millions, far short of the cost of the whole project. So where does the rest come from? Private funds. If the project is still not a profitable one after getting a one-time subsidy of tens of millions of dollars, then it isn't worth doing. Carson Palmer: "I keep thinking of all the naysayers who don't believe I'll make it back. I'll prove them wrong." Count me as a naysayer. Why are they fixing the Superdown in New Orleans? In the Katrina aftermath I was of the opinion that perhaps from that tragedy will spring forth a better rebuilt city. At the top of the list of "better" things would be a new stadium, even if it took years to accomplish. But instead the city is slapping a new roof on top of that thing and that is a big mistake. New Orleans was never known for good government (to say the least). I'm a little embarassed to think that Katrina might have washed away some of the incompetence. The NFL should be embarased too -- for encouraging this foolish reconstruction. Maybe they just don't want to have too much blood on their hands if the Saints leave town in the next decade. Dave Ragone is picked up by the Bengals. This is the first move the Bengals have made all offseason that truly made sense and addressed their biggest need -- a quarterback to play when Carson Palmer isn't ready. It's nice to see Cleveland guys play in the NFL and Ragone is no exception. He has some potential to be a decent John Kitna facsimile. But he won't be a true starter in the league. A lot of people wanted him to come to the Browns and, intriguing as that was, he just doesn't qualify as the veteran backup I think the team really needs. For the Bengals, Ragone represents zero risk. Last year at this time Ragone was getting positive press and teams were reportedly interested in trading for him. Now, the Bengals pick him off the street and can try him out with nothing invested. IN that sense, it's a great move for the Bengals. On the field, however, Ragone will have to overcome a couple previous NFL appearances in which he looked rather overmatched. And I wouldn't consider a similar QB to Palmer either. So it's far from a sure thing that Ragone will be an asset. Side note: What the hell are the Texans doing? First they keep David Carr. Then they pass on Bush, Lienart, and Ferguson. Then their GM hits the road. Now they are clearing up room on the QB depth chart. Sure, dumping Ragone does not represent a major move but it's yet another transaction where the team's plans don't seem to add up. Not sure if this rises to the Jerimiah Pharms level of draft incompetence, but clearly the Bengals are going down a dangerous road by acquiring a lot of questionable types. Non-Football Australia's 50 richest performers in 2005: The Wiggles – $50 million AC/DC – $25 million Nicole Kidman – $22.3 million I can't think of a suitable comment for this. Oh yeah, I also read somewhere that before blue Wiggle Anthony got married he was named Australia's most eligible bachelor. I can't think of a suitable comment for that either. Oh wait, yes I can: Where the hell did I go wrong in my life?!?!?!?!!? Posted May 31 2006, 08:15 PM by MikeB with 5 comment(s) Filed under: Browns

• The Offseason Lull

  With the Cavs season over, the Browns offseason non-events can now begin in earnest. This is it, the worst time of the offseason, when roster moves come to a crawl, and the only news worth hearing comes from the Indians, not the Browns. It's slow slog towards the almost-news of training camp. Only a few minor things to report... Kellen Winslow is playing football again, or nearly so, as he's doing drills and what not. Most encouraging tidbit from Charlie Frye? That he looks fast. It almost seems too much to hope for that Winslow not onlymakes it back healthy but is also the player the Browns hoped he'd be. But, for now anyway, it looks like he'll make it onto the field. Frye has added 15-20 pounds in the offseason. OK, cool, but it's worth remembering we heard the same stuff about Tim Couch in the offseasons of years gone by. I still get a pretty good feeling about Frye though, if not about his raw talent, then about his football mentality. He seems to want it and that desire appears to be more than a lot of talk. And I am definitely one of those people who think desire goes a long way even at the NFL level. So word leaks now that the Browns thought Dilfer was pondering retirement before they dealt him to the 49ers. Is this true? I guess we'll see. It's hard to imagine Dilfer being that useful to Nolan in San Fran, and this trade was probably as graceful an escape from a bad situation as Savage could manage. But this new info just underscores how dissappointing Dilfer was to the Browns, and even to me personally. I really liked Dilfer and don't think he's a bad player. But you gotta do what is asked of you. Suggs on the block, sort of -- I'm a bit suprised that the Browns clearly prefer William Green over Lee Suggs as the #2 runner on the team. Of course, the amount of wasted keystrokes people have spent on Suggs vs. Green over the past few years is staggering. It doesn't seem like either will make a significant contribution to the Browns in '06. On the "retractable roof on CBS and get a Super Bowl" idea that Bob Corna is floating around town: OK City of Cleveland, consider it. Study it. Then open the doors to all comers and let interested developers and architects bid on it. I like the idea except for the fact that Corna is now expecting he'll automatically be the guy building it. That just doesn't seem like a good idea for taxpayers, who will ultimately pay a price for this thing one way or another. Oh yeah, -- and I'd also lobby the NFL for more than one Super Bowl. Two games in a ten-year span does not sound that unreaasonable, particularly considering the crap the NFL has made Cleveland wade through since 1995. And a two-game committment would certainly bolster the city's economic benefit exponentially, and taxpayers could actually get their money's worth. Maybe the biggest offseason going-on affecting the Browns that is still, uh, going on is McNair-to-the-Ravens. It sounds now like this is inevitable. It's still weird, however, why it's taken so long when the compensation involved is relatively minor. I like McNair as a football player. He's tough and smart, and he's probably the best available choice at QB for the Ravens. But the Ravens are fooling themselves (or at least their fans -- it's not that hard to do afterall) if they think he can lead them into the playoffs. Side note - Cleveland Marathon. My first marathon is in the books. It was pretty cool. I had the bad luck of getting sick over marathon-weekend, but ran the race anyway. Other than the race being that much more challenging, it was pretty awesome to take part in a great event and cross the finish line. Out. Posted May 23 2006, 12:42 PM by MikeB with 10 comment(s) Filed under: Browns

• QB Thoughts and the Usual Blather

  So, as it turns out, Ruben Droughns wasn't guilty afterall of driving under the influence. Droughns passed field sobriety tests and then took a breathilizer where blew the legal _minimum_ for drunk driving. It sort of makes you wonder why police even order field sobriety tests. And it sort of makes you wonder why the legal limit is at .08 when a person could register at that level yet still pass a sobriety test. Logic dictates that either the field sobriety test is worthless or the legal limit is too low. I have to admit, I feel a lot better about the Browns QB situation after reading what Peter King wrote this weeK: 9. I think I like San Francisco's acquisition of Trent Dilfer. He's at the stage of his career where he can be a valuable mentor to Alex Smith and he can also be another set of eyes to help new offensive coordinator Norv Turner. I still can't figure out what the Browns are doing at quarterback. Cleveland now has no insurance policy behind shaky second-year quarterback Charlie Frye. Man, for a columnist who is supposedly wired-in to NFL front offices you'd think he'd make at least passing reference to what happened with Dilfer in Cleveland. And he ought to address it in some detail if we are to believe his assertion that he'll be a "valuable mentor" to Alex Smith. It seems everyone except Trent Dilfer thinks Dilfer has entered the "valuable mentor" stage of his career. you can bet Phil Savage thought that at one point too. Oh, and King writes a follow up column where he admits the Browns had to dump Dilfer if Dilfer was being a malcontent, and then says, "I just don't know if there's a solid No. 2 on the market right now." Well, ok, no one is disputing that. But if that's the case the Browns would have been screwed either way. Except now they are screwed with a guy (Dorsey) who seems to be a good citizen and will be motivated to put forth complete effort. That's more than anyone can say for Dilfer. And why isn't anyone ripping the 49ers for bringing in Dilfer to "mentor" Smith when he is coming from a situation where he proved to be nothing but trouble mentoring Charlie Frye? What sense does this deal make for the 49ers? I'd argue that the Bengals are the NFL team most deserving of being ripped for not having a very good Plan B at QB. Carson Palmer is obviously not going to be ready, and when he plays he's not going to be 100%. Yet they let Kitna walk for nothing and have don't zilch this offseason. And they are a team with legitimate aspirations to win in the playoffs, so they have much more to lose than a team like the '06 Browns. Why Frye -- or any middle-round draft pick -- is the right guy to be playing QB for the Browns in '06: Money. One of the things that has kind of irked me this offseason is reading guys like Peter King grumble at how the Browns "overpaid" for free agents. It's just flat wrong, and it'd be hilarious if it wasn't so sad that many otherwise well-respected writers fail to consider the impact of the biggest story of this offseason -- the new CBA and the significantly increased salary cap. While Peter King may be astounded that LeCharles Bentley is being paid like an elite guard or a very good tackle, he's not considering that the going rate for an All-Pro center shot up this offseason. And in a couple years Bentley's contract will be commonplace, if not rather favorable for the Browns. But another thing that allowed the Browns to be aggressive in free agency and should be noted is how Phil Savage was able to take advantage of Charlie Frye starting in '06 to acquire guys like Bentley and Shaffer. Think about it -- right now the Browns have less invested (relatively speaking) in the quarterback positon than at any point in the last couple decades. This may or may not be a good thing depending on how Frye does in 2006. But either way, the right move is to direct those dollars while you can towards other positions on the roster. In the Browns case, I think we have seen the offensive line directly benefit from Frye/Dorsey/Anderson representing negligable cap space. In other words, this was the offseason to hand out some big contracts. If we are lucky, Charlie plays well and comes out of the 2006 season as the entrenched starter for the next few years. And the Browns will probably then renegotiate his contract to something fair to Charlie but also advantageous to the club. But they won't really have to do that until the 07-08 offseason. Which means we could get one more season where the Browns will, comparatively speaking, spend next to nothing at the QB position. A couple articles have mentioned Testeverde as a possible back-up QB. At this point he seems to be the one veteran who's likely to be considered. He's not a bad choice, and on a personal level he seems ideal. For on-the-field performance I'm still partial to Fiedler, however. Frye says he's ready to be the man. Fair enough -- I'd expect nothing less, and really I think he's fairly well-prepared to step in and play. I think the applicable quote in this story is from Droughns, who commented on Frye's off-season preparations and said, "Now all he has to do is apply it to the field." Although Frye has been assured the starting job with the departure of Dilfer, I'm happy to see that nothing is really be given to him. Except the opportunity, of course. Why did the NFL purchase rights to broadcast the Insight Bowl? As far as I'm concerned there is yet a truly compelling reason to pay extra money to even get the NFL Network in my house. And now they are buying programing that's barely even related to the NFL. It's somewhat comical that major sports media outlets keep covering the impending departure of Texans G.M. Charley Casserly. The guy sealed his fate when he re-upped David Carr. Then he hammered the final nail in the coffin by passing Reggie Bush. If he survives now it's only news 'cause there'd be a dead man walking in Houston. I've been noticing a few national articles focusing on Parcells and TO... and I have a hard time even reading them because they are so uninteresting. I wouldn't totally underestimate Parcells' ability to produce one more very good NFL season before his NFL career is over, and having TO gives him enough talent to maybe do it. But Parcells also has had a LOT of mediocre seasons, and hasn't had a notably good season in ten years. Will the '06 Cowboys be the perfect storm and allow Dallas to win the NFC East? Maybe, but I think the right approach is to wait and see. BTW, it _will_ in fact be interesting to see how TO will impact the play of one of my favorite whipping boys -- Drew Bledsoe. Conventional wisdom would suggest it will allow Bledsoe to toss up a few more long balls each game and complete them. That will probably be the case in the early season. It's the second half of the year where Bledsoe annually stinks up the joint, so it will be interesting to see how it plays out. My guess is that Bledsoe will be good fantasy trade bait. I keep reading how the Bills were stupid for taking Donte Whitner at #8 and they should have instead traded down to #15 with Denver and still gotten their man. The Bills claim the Ravens were very interested in Whiter at #13 and they couldn't guarantee he'd be there at #15. To which draft pundits have grilled the Bills because it was clear the Ravens wanted Haloti N'gata. Well, I do think Whitner was a bad value at #8, but in the Bills defense there was no way for the Bills to know whether N'gata would be on the board when the Ravens selected. Many Browns fans, myself included, found themselves rooting for N'gata to be a Brown, and apparently the Ravens would have then targets Whitner at #13. The Bills should be ripped on because they ignored obvious needs at DT and QB in favor of a guy who was not generally considered a sure thing. Also, you could rip the Bills for not trading down with the Ravens. That would have allowed the Ravens to pick N'gata at #8, and nobody else was going to take Whitner. The Bills might not have gotten equal value according to the draft chart, but it still would have been a nice move down for them. Special Cavs Notes Actually, there is nothing particularly special about my writing about the Cavs. The series with the Wizards, while entertaining and often suspenseful, also made clear that the Cavs have plenty of work to do. So the Pistons will beat the Cavs. But this would be the best thing to happen to the Cavs short of LeBron James signing a contract extension later this summer. The Pistons are an excellent team that should overmatch the Cavs on both ends of the court. If the Cavs end this series with an idea what it will really take on the defensive end and that it will take a more team-oriented approach on offense., well then it will be a successful season. This series is where you either compete or you take your medicine (but you don't do either from the bench). Special Indians Notes I'm really getting into this special notes thing.... I miss Scott Elarton. Sure, it sucked to see Kevin Millwood leave. But Elarton was reasonable and I'd take him over Johnson anyday. I don't yet see it lasting, but it's great to see Ben Broussard hitting. But what if he could keep it up? Having Eduardo Perez around has been a good thing too. If the bullpen pitches well this team will leapfrog above the .500 mark. Of course, that gets back to starting pitching and Byrd and Johnson. Please consider sponsoring me in the Cleveland Marathon May 21st. Read more by following the link. Posted May 10 2006, 04:33 PM by MikeB with 9 comment(s) Filed under: Browns, Indians, Cavs

• Monday Notes + Marathon Countdown

  The usual Browns/NFL notes follow. But first I'd like to ask that you take a moment and consider contributing a few bucks to a fundraising drive I'm doing. Click here to read all about it. The quick summary is I'm running in the Cleveland Marathon in two weeks and am hoping to raise a little money for Welcome House in the process. It's a great cause, and a marathon is a long freaking way to run -- so your donation will definitely help motivate me to the finish line as well as help a very worthy organization. Thanks, -Mike After hearing Savage talk about the Browns running back situation with Harrison and Vickers newly drafted, it's starting to sound like Lee Suggs, not William Green, is the odd man out. I guess I like Suggs better but frankly it's hard to care -- neither is likely to rush the Browns to the promised land. But I'd be quite happy if either could 1) be healthy and ready when called upon, and 2) hit the hole with some confidence. Green and Suggs each seem to do one well. The one thing I'd say in defense of Suggs is that if he earns the backup job behind Droughns that perhaps the lighter load would help him stay healthy. That didn't prove true in '05 though. There's a thread in the Watercooler that suggests McCutcheon is on the trade block. Is this true? I like Cutch quite a bit as a 3rd corner. But I can see how he might not fit Crennel's vision of a defensive back because McCutcheon seems a little better iin man coverage than the zone's the Browns are moving to. I think the protypical corner for Crennel is more of a Bodden-type that has a little more size. If McCutcheon doesn't indeed get traded I'll be sad to see him go. He's the best player drafted by the first new-Browns regime and, for a couple years anyway, was an aggressive and sure tackler that I really enjoyed watching in those hard-to-watch years. He seem to have lost his edge the last few years, however. Along the same lines as in the above thread, it's true that the Chris Crocker trade stands out as the most curious offseason move. I keep thinking that Savage/Crennel know something they aren't telling when it comes to the depth chart at safety in '06. Or maybe they have designs to arrange guys differently in the defensive backfield. I'd sure like to see something soon from Jones, Perkins, or possibly Minter, and it's going to really suck that we basically won't have a clue about this until the games count. You know, in the midst of all the local-guy free agent signings I'm still curious why the Browns didn't court Chris Hovan as a DE. Maybe he's not enough of a space-eater, but I think he would have looked good lining up next to Ted Washington. Some mixed grades for the Browns draft from PD readers. For some reason, I'm more comfortable getting mixed grades than unanimously good or bad ones. It's more important, long-term, than the guys doing the drafting made sense with their selections. I think we can state that rather definitively. Nick Saban continues to sound like Butch Davis, to my ears anyway. The good thing and bad thing about Saban -- he sounds a little smarter than Butch, which means he has even less of an excuse. I think it's hilarious that Roger Brown thinks local beat reporters are supposed to be "impartial reporters" who make "ubiased observations". What a fallacy that is --- and it helps explain why Roger Brown writes so much useless drivel. I wonder what Roger thinks of OBR.com when it comes to the Browns -- it's completely biased and partial to the team, yet it manages to cover the Browns better than the PD and even breaks news. Memo to WKRN program director -- 9-12 host Greg Brinda is un-freaking-listenable. The only good thing about Brinda's show? It serves as a good reminder to me that I should already be at work... Posted May 08 2006, 01:14 PM by MikeB with 10 comment(s)

• Wanted: Veteran Backup QB

  OK, so with Dilfer gone and Ken Dorsey coming to Cleveland it's worth asking, what is going on with the quarterback situation in '06? While Charlie is the present and future (if all goes well), beyond that it is definitely murkey. Dorsey would presumably step into the second-string role. Dorsey is okay, but he's got relatively little experience too and I tink he'd be a more appropriate backup if we had a veteran starter. With Frye as the starter conventional wisdom says there should be a veteran backup to mentor him and help him make adjustments. Does anyone think Dorsey is that guy? It's not the worst thing to have a roster of young QBs. Doresy has been in the league for a while so it's not like he's completely green, and obviously Frye's experiences in 2005 are now invaluable. And the 2006 Browns are not expected to be a strong playoff contender anyway, so if we are going to take some lumps at QB this is the last year in which we want to do that. But the '06 Browns have a lot of promise. The offensive line and defense have both gotten an infusion of talent and figure to be improved. We finally have a solid starting running back, and the receivers should be stable if not spectacular. There's a decent shot that this squad can come out of the gate and be quite competitive -- and you don't want that progress stunted by extreme struggles are QB. We need a solid veteran who can step in and lead this team if Frye struggles or gets hurt. Problem is, there's just not a lot of talent out there. The best names available are Jay Fiedler, Gus Frerrote, Jeff Blake, and Shane Matthews. Or you can pull a guy off the almost-retired scrap heap like Tommy Maddox or Vinny Testeverde. Or you get truly goofy and be the team that gives Tim Couch his last shot. But the point is that the pickings are slim. And I'm going to take this as an opportunity to again bemoan the fact we didn't pursue Brad Johnson last offseason. If I am Phil Savage I take a long hard look at Fiedler -- he's a veteran who's 1) won, a little, 2) has played in conservative, run-first offenses, and 3) has some similarities in style to Charlie Frye. Right now I hope Phil is playing golf with Ozzie and agreeing to trade Anderson back to the Ravens for a 5th rounder. Then we promptly sign Fiedler and keep Dorsey as the 3rd QB/future 2nd stringer. And we all get a good laugh when McNair gets hurt in the first month of the season and the Ravens are stuck again with Boller at the helm. Posted May 05 2006, 09:12 AM by MikeB with 7 comment(s) Filed under: Browns

• Post-Draft Cleanup

  Great article on the Browns draft, the war room, and how the Browns traded down and got Wimbley. Most interesting part -- that they weren't interesting in Ernie Sims, Manny Lawson, Tamba Hali, Mathias Kiwanuka and Thomas Howard as OLB in the 3-4. In particular, I thought Lawson and maybe Hali would be pretty good prospects. The article also suggests Sowell was drafted in part because Cosey Coleman's contract expires afte the '06 season. (Though I'm wondering if maybe we'd be better off replacing Andruzzi.) The draft recap on WTAM the other night was pretty cool. Maybe there isn't much news, but tons of interesting tidbits. My favorite part -- where Savage says he screwed up the GRE before grad school because he realized halfway through the test that he was one question off filling in the bubbles on the answer sheet. Dilfer, Harrington? What is going on with that? Harrington is thankfully out of the picture. Dilfer, however, could be traded any day. I don't think that is a good idea, unless he's secretly a very bad presence in the locker room. Something is not adding up here, and you can count on some negative anecdotes leaking out from both sides of this squabble. Whatever the case, Dilfer is clearly on the way out in Cleveland and is now rumored to be headed to the 49ers. I have to say -- I don't get it. He'll go to San Francisco and still be the backup, expect the team will probably be worse than the Browns. There's only two reasonable conclusions: 1) he just does not get along with Carthon, or 2) he doesn't get along or feels mislead by Savage after being brought in here as "the starter." If it's #1 then I think it will remain to be seen who's right and who's wrong. If it's #2 I think Savage might be guilty of overstating Dilfer's significance initially, but for a supposedly savvy veteran Dilfer is pretty naive to think his hold on the starter's job was going to be anything other than tenuous. Looking back at the draft I have to laugh and shake my head at the Buffalo Bills. By most accounts, it was the Bills pick that could have really thrown a wrench in the Browns plans if they had taken Bunkley or Ngata, as widely expected. I had theorized that the Bills would pick a guy who had unexpectedly slid, which at the time of the pick I was convinced would happen with Lienert. Instead they reached for a corner. As a result, the Cardinals (Lienert), Eagles (Bunkley), Browns (trade down), and Ravens (Ngata) benefited. But in a way the Browns might have benefited even more had the Bills selected their most frequently projected pick -- Bunkley. It would have forced the Ravens to pay retail to move up to #12. And only after the Browns picked Wimbley would we fans have known that Savage liked him the best. And that would assume we believed him when he told us that. With generally good-to-very-good draft grades in, I think we can call the Browns 2006 draft a success. You can expect Rich Passen will write something inflammatory about it too -- that is, I think, the sign of a good thing occurring. To use Savage's analogy, it's clear this draft included a lot of singles and doubles, and maybe more. In another sign that Nick Saban will drive the Dolphins into the sand, the fish are trying out Marcus Vick. I hope he looks just good enough to make the roster and tease the Dolphins for the next few years. Count me in when it comes to rooting for the Titans to hang on to McNair all summer. Or better yet, re-sign him (as would be best for that team anyway, though it's probably too late for that). This way we can all enjoy seeiing Billick twist in the wind a little bit more. Hey, wouldn't this be a great year to invite NFL Films into Ravens headquarters? Gotta love 4th OL Sowells for admitting he was in the bathroom when his name was called in the draft. Hehe: On Monday, running back Edgerrin James joked that he was going to lobby owner Bill Bidwill to get wireless Internet set up in the team's locker room. As it turns out, the team already has it. James was just having trouble configuring his laptop to work with the wireless. One of the team's technology experts helped him Tuesday. Team officials were also measuring his locker for the installation of a television that James is purchasing. That service is available to other players, too. Imagine what guys who played in the NFL 20, 30 years ago must be thinking. I'm just one man, but this man is actually happy to hear that NFL video game football monopolizer Electronic Arts lost money at the end of 2005, presumably when Madden '07 was flying off store shelves. I wonder how much the hundreds of millions in license fees they are playing the NFL played into things. Console video gamers everywhere should hope for continued losses and hope that EA and the NFL realize it is in everyone's best interests top cancel their licensing deal and let a couple other game producers in on the NLF licensing goodies. It's worth remembering what happening in 2004 -- when the Sega NFL 2K franchise dropped its price to $20 or $30 bucks and produced an arguably better game. You would have though the NFL would have responded by merely upping its licensing fees to both Sega and EA; instead they cut an exclusive deal with EA that looks like a financial loser for EA. What happens if EA loses more and more money? You can bet those "new" versions of Madden will contain ever fewer actual enhancements each year. And it's a matter of time until someone creates a superior football game that avoids NFL licensing by creatively allowing players to create their own custom team and player mods and making them available to other players over the internet. Pretty soon no one will "own" the rights to the team names, player names, and all the other stuff makes so much cash on. Posted May 04 2006, 04:34 PM by MikeB with 3 comment(s) Filed under: Browns

• Down With the Draft

  Judging by the Watercooler threads on Saturday, this was a so-so draft. Me, I'm pretty happy and on board. Wimbley was not my #1 choice in the first round, but then again I'm not a GM and never watched any of the candidates while in college. So I'm cool with Phil Savage's judgement, and I think it's great that we go the guy we targeted and managed to take a low round draft pick off the Ravens hands in the process. And, oh yeah, after reading and hearing what some of the experts thought of Ngata after the Ravens picked him I'm not that concerned we didn't get a big lazy guy for the DL. And I'm even happier we didn't get a dude who's sister was flashing gang signs to ESPN while her brother was being interviewed. In **Kamerion Wimbley**, a guy can dream about a pass rush. If he's half of what he's expected to be our defense will be improved. And teaming him with McGinest is downright exciting for 2006. I love the fact that he's a good guy to boot -- picking a jackass with the #12 pick, even if he's talented, is not a bargain I'd like the Browns to make. But frankly the second-round pick of ILB **D'Quell Jackson** is what got me excited. Jackson is a great pick, and he stands to be a real asset to the defense. He's exactly the type of linebacker we need -- namely, one with an attitude. While Andra Davis is a mainstay, Jackson's fire will be a welcome addition. And you can pencil in McGinest, Jackson, Davis, and Wimbley as the starters from day one. I read a lot of "WTF?!?!" comments after the Jackson pick. But those posters are all wrong. The guy was a hugely productive college player and will continue to be. He was probably the ILB in the draft most ready to step in an play and he's now a Brown. WR **Travis Wilson** in the third was a bit of a headscratcher initially but it makes a lot of sense. It also just seems like Savage rated this guy higher than your typical draft preview guide. Wilson sounds a bit like a young Joe Jurevicious and is obviously a good red-zone target. He's not particularly fast but he's relatively polished. I think the idea here is to give the offense another WR who Frye can count on. Northcutt, Jackson, and Cribbs all are athelticly impressive receivers but no one would describe any of them as "steady". Well hopefully Wilson is the fallback guy who seems to be the man in close. The second day of the draft, however, I think the Browns cleaned up. You never know how these picks will pan out but Savage got guys who almost all met needs and have potential beyond their draft slot. **Leon Williams** - ILB - special teams and backup. He's a project with a lot of athelticism but not a lot of college production, which is a bit contrary to the type of player I'd expect from Savage. I can only assume they thing he'll fit Crennel's defensive philosophy. Probably the one pick on the Day 2 that I don't quite get, but I'm looking forward to hearing the FO's desciption of this guy. **Isaac Sowells** - T - Sounds like a legitimate prospect. I'm not going to pretend I know anything about him, other than what I read described him as a likely NFL caliber player. I'll take that. He's 324 pounds, which to me sounds like maybe he could wind up playing guard someday. **Jerome Harrison** - RB - Are you kidding me? We get one of the better RB prospects in the fifth round, a guy who you can pencil in as the third down back if he proves to be a decent recevier. At the least, he presumes to be a nice change of pace to Droughns and insurance against Lee Suggs' injury proclivities. This kid seems like he should have been off the board sooner and he could wind up being a real steal. **Demario Minter** - CB/S - Are you kidding me? Minter is up there among the best corners in this draft, and he sounds like a _perfect_ fit for our predominantly zone-coverage defense. He may not become a starter but he seems like a very good bet for a nickel-back. It's not too bad to get a dude in the 5th round who is so likely to contribute. **Lawrence Vickers** - FB - A fullback who's a good runner and receiver. Scout.com ranks him as the best FB prospect in the draft (for what that's worth, which ain't much...). I doubt he'll threaten Terrell Smith's job, but he could be a good 4th running back because he could sub at FB and fill-in at HB when necessary. Harrison and Vickers mean that William Green's days as a Brown are over. **Babatunde Oshinowo** - DT - I remember reading in the days prior to the draft some Watercooler's saying the Browns should pick this dude in the 3rd or 4th round. Well, the mid-6th sounds pretty good now. Oshinowo is, by most descriptions, a space clogger in the Ted Washington mode. A proto-typical nosetackle type of guy. He's not going to be making a lot of tackles but he'll occupy 1 or 2 blockers. He's definitely got the potential to replace Washiington in a couple years, and should get every chance to do it. The fact that Savage selected him with the pick acquired from the Ravens could be pretty sweet if Oshinowo pans out. **Justin Hamilton** - DB - Hamilton is kind of a mystery guy who's hardly even listed in many drat previews. To be perfectly honest, it's a seventh round pick and I don't care. In the seventh you are just taking a guy cause you think you won't be able to sign him as a street free agent. It's a safe bet that the FO saw something in the dude. OBR reported that Hamilton had ben in for a pre-draft visit, so whatever the case, it appears the Browns did some homework on him. Sort of a personal note. For the past few months I've been training for my first (and possibly only) marathon. On Saturday I ran the longest training run of the entire 4 1/2 month training regimen -- 20 miles. What better thing to do than listen to the draft? The draft is seemingly endless just like running 20 freaking miles. So it was pretty cool to jog through the Rocky River Reservation while tuning into draft coverage. And it's a good metaphor for the draft, which is really one step in a long process of turning the Browns around. You can't sprint and there aren't shortcuts. You have to pick good guys throughout and keep plugging away. By mid-afternoon on Sunday it was fairly obvious to me that Savage had an intelligent and level-headed approach. Throughout a very long run I was rooting for both Ngata and Bunkley to be on the baord at #12, and was pumped when Witner went at #8. And as it turned out both guys plus Wimbley was there at 12 and it was clear the Browns would get their preferred guy. You can't ask for much more. I had literally just finished 20-freaking-miles and was collpased in exhaustion (and pain in a pool of Gatorade when the trade with the Ravens was announced and the Ravens selected Ngata. For three hours I'd been hoping we got that guy and was momentarily concerned. But only for a moment, because that moment also proved that we have a GM who doesn't draft scared and who had no problem picking up an extra pick for nothing. And the Browns got their guy. We don't ever know how Wimbley, Ngata or almost anyone will pan out, but we can judge one thing today -- the Browns FO had it together this weekend. That's a fundamental step and it's clearly been achieved. I think the Browns did a great job of getting some promising guys. Wimbley is a bit of a risk to my eyes, but on him I'm willing to defer. And in rounds 2-7 the Browns got six guys I can easily see being contributors in '06 and beyond. That's borderline amazing to me. Misc draft notes: It's a joke that Lienert went #10. The guy is a proven winner and sould have gone much sooner. you mean to tell me the Packers, the Lions, the Bills, and the Raiders couldn't have benefited from Lienert? Give me a break. The Lions and Bills, in particular, are both fooling themselves. Jay Cutler is in a pretty sweet position in Denver. He should be the happiest dude in the draft. I think Broderick Bunkley is going to be a maiinstay for the Eagles. I guess he'll probably fit better there than in Cleveland. While good for the wallet, I don't see Dallas as being a good landing spot for Bobby Carpenter. That organization is messed up and will be until Parcells is gone. San Francisco had a great Day 1. Too bad they still have Alex Smith at QB. Someone needed to tell the Texans that they still need a freaking QB. The re-signing of David Carr will set back that franchise 4-5 years, easily. It doesn't matter how good Mario Williams is. People have compared Williams to Kearse and Peppers. Fair enough. But as good as those guys are, they both get shut down routinely. On the Texans defense it's hard to see Mario Williams being able to overcome offenses constantly scheming to take him out of the ballgame. I like the Steelers pick of Santonio Holmes because I always thought Holmes was a heck of a receiver and returner. Heck, last year it made no sense to me why Ginn was getting all the press -- didn't anyone see Holmes in '04? But the Steelers paid a steep price to move up and will really be banking that Holmes is the real deal. In hindsight you wonder if they could have had Holmes if they stayed put. They certainly could have gotten Chad Jackson, who at least some people think is as good a prospect. The Bengals continue to pick borderline head cases. Hope that works out for you Marvin. I'll join the Jets in commending their draft. This wasn't the year for the Jeets to get playmakers. But I wonder how Mangold is gonna stay healthy -- those knees don't look good with those massive braces. Are those purely for protective purposes? I hope so. Ditto for the conventional wisdom on the Bills -- Marv Levy seems like he's lost it. But the most damning thing is that even if all those DBs are good, they still won't be able to stop the run and they still don't have a QB. Thus, they will still suck. Even if Vince Young flames out, the Titans made the right choice. The guy could be very special and you have to take a shot. Of course, the jury will be out on the the Titan's selection of LenDale White. I love White as a runner, so he could really pay off. But he might increase the amount off-field drama in Tennessee to a prohibitively high level. And why are the Titans releasing Steve McNair? Wouldn't he be the perfect guy for a year or two? Heck, you can bank on him getting hurt so it's not like Vince Young won't get some valuable playing time in 06. The Ravens continue to sell their souls to the devil by selecting Haloti Ngata. Sure, he's a good prospect and I liked him as a Brown. But in the Ravens case they are placating Ray Lewis, who's pulled every childish stunt in the book this offseason to finagle more money, including demanding a trade, publicly complaining about the FO, dissing the coach who previous went to the mat for him over a possible _murder_ conviction, and in general grossly inflating his own on-the-field value. And apparently Ozzie needed to make him happy. Good luck with that. Next they will give him some more money, no doubt. That said, it wasn't like the Ravens had a bad draft. They didn't make flashy picks but they seemed to get guys who can make it onto the field. What was up with those short-lived rumors that the Browns would trade for Joey Harrington? That just seemed impossible. Why would any team trade for him without a contract agreement? And why would the Browns want him? I won't say he is completely without talent, but I don't see the atraction. And clearly his Lions teammates lost all confidence in him. A strange Sunday storyline to say the least. I guess it means the Browns view Dilfer as a guy they could possibly release if they get another guy in here they like. Personally, I'm very happy this didn't go down. The trade of Faine to the Saints was low3rd/high 4th value. Not bad. It's more than we got for Gerard Warren. The only question was whether the Browns really needed to pull tha trigger on that trade and whether Jackdon would have lasted another 7 picks. My vote -- it was a good decision and Jackson was not worth losing. I'll tell everyone who will listen that Jackson will be a real player for us. Didn't the Bengals need a tight end? After seeing what Savage managed to do with extra 4th, 5th, and 6th round picks I am not inclined to complain if the Browns trade away Suggs, Green or anyone else for what seems like modest compensation. It was nice to follow a Browns draft and not be scratching my head figuring out why the hell they picked certain guys in the late rounds. I think Chaun Thompson has been put on notice. He'll probably move inside now and maybe that will suit him well since he won't have to think so much. But that seems like an acknowledgement the browns have moved on to Plan B with Thompson because he still seems like a guy who should ba able to rush the passer. The depth chart got much better looking this weekend. Posted May 01 2006, 10:41 AM by MikeB with 6 comment(s) Filed under: Browns