Cleveland Browns Summer Camp Ends, Debates Begin

The Cleveland Browns wrapped up their offseason program last weekend and headed into a seven-week vacation until veterans report for training camp on July 31.

This is the only true “down time” for an NFL franchise anymore as the offseason workout programs have expanded over the years to keep their multi-million dollar stars in good shape for the season and justify their massive paychecks.

As we head into the seven-week news drought, we are left with a roster full of questions and very few “sure things” you can lay bets on in Las Vegas.

Certainly the continual signings of free agents during the spring minicamps such as George Foster and Rod Hood indicate Head Coach Eric Mangini not only didn’t like what he saw in the films from the Browns last year, he’s clearly not happy with what he’s seeing on the practice field in the last month.

It doesn’t take a football genius to realize the Browns had no depth in 2008, so the influx of new players isn’t really a huge surprise. The surprises will come in August as the roster gets whittled down for Week One.

Who will stay? Who will go?

I’m not sure even Mangini can answer many of those questions yet. There are too many workouts and meetings to go through before those decisions have to be made. If a player clearly isn’t getting his system by now, he wouldn’t be getting invited back to camp.

Rather than look purely at individual performances during the spring, Mangini spent most of the offseason workouts putting the players through two-minute drills, for good reason.

“You can do a great job for 58 minutes and not do a great job in those last two minutes and everything changes,” he said at his last press conference on June 13.

Every Browns fan alive during The Drive knows the absolute truth of that statement.

Mangini said the point of the two-minute drills was to get the players to react to the situations as they were happening in the right way as opposed to stopping and thinking about what the correct thing to do would be.

“That’s where the real value is,” said Mangini. “Everybody has to be thinking all the time.”

The players will have a lot to think about over the next seven weeks. Mangini reminded them even though they may not be at the team’s facility, that doesn’t mean they can forget about the team.

"I told the guys, ‘You don't want to just head off to the beach, throw on some suntan lotion and pick up a book,'" Mangini told clevelandbrowns.com. "The book you want to pick up, if you are, is the playbook. You want to be studying and making the information that you have been given just second nature.

“So now you are not thinking, you are reacting and you are playing, and your true ability comes out and you give yourself the best chance to be successful.”

Mangini also said this applies to their training regimen as well, so there’s no excuse for anyone to show up July 31 soft.

Taking a quick glance at the team, here are my initial thoughts going into the summer:

Quarterback

I think, barring injury or a drastic slide in performance, this is Quinn’s job to lose. Mangini likes cerebral players and Quinn always has been considered the more intelligent quarterback.

Anderson will go in a trade late in camp, unless a team loses their quarterback to injury. Brett Ratliff will be the backup.

Offensive Line

The offensive line was decimated due to injuries last year, but it never really was all that great to begin with. Mangini has been doing a lot of mixing and matching with different players, so anything is possible by September.

Wide Receivers

I believe Donte Stallworth has played his last game as a Cleveland Brown. I’m not willing to bet the farm on that one, but his absence from the offseason program, and the likelihood he is going to do jail time for the accident last Spring, indicate to me Mangini has moved on.

I wouldn’t be surprised at this point if Braylon Edwards at least breaks camp with Cleveland. He needs to prove 2008 is behind him if he wants the megastar contract he believes he deserves. If he comes out and has a great couple of weeks on the field, he could be traded at that point.

Running Backs

Jamal Lewis is healing from offseason ankle surgery and Jerome Harrison got more reps during camp. The lack of movement on the roster at this position makes me believe Mangini is satisfied with what he is seeing at the moment and doesn’t see much point in going after a free agent at this time.

That being said, you can never have too much depth at running back, just ask the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Defensive Line

Other than Shaun Rogers, I expect the defensive line to be completely different. That is Mangini’s specialty, and I doubt last year’s performances left any kind of lasting impression, other than the general disgust felt by the rest of Cleveland.

Secondary

This will have some of the most dramatic changes as the Browns secondary was practically non-existent last year. Hood’s signing is further proof Mangini wants more depth and more options as he prepares for 2009.

Special Teams

We have Joshua Cribbs and Phil Dawson.  With Dawson’s contract issues, I’m not sure we can even guarantee Dawson will be around with how the front office has dealt with contract issues to this point.

Dawson is the only one who lived up to his threat to hold out. We’ll see how that affects him come training camp.

Final Thoughts

The Browns definitely are a team in transition, which makes predicting roster spots a difficult endeavor. Add to that Mangini’s paranoia, and you have a giant mystery to unravel.

Mangini wouldn’t have it any other way.

While I think Mangini goes too far with his paranoia, his heart is in the right place. His belief that any information the other team has can be used against him later isn’t a bad way to approach the job, but I’m not sure it’s all for the best.

For example, Derek Anderson injured his calf last week. We know this because he was limping and was seen wearing some kind of wrap. When asked, he referred reporters to Mangini, who wouldn’t specify.

I can appreciate that kind of mentality the week of a game if Anderson is your starter. But during June, when you’re not even wearing pads, who are you trying to fool? It comes off as childish.

Reading the transcripts of Mangini’s press conferences has been enlightening, but I’m holding steadfast to my position that Mangini still has proved nothing to me other than he runs a tighter ship than Romeo Crennel did.

If the Browns are at least 2-2 after Week Four, I’ll be relaxing my stance somewhat. Should the Browns actually hit the midseason point over .500 and notching a victory against Pittsburgh, Mangini will have my full confidence going forward.

Until then, I remain cautiously optimistic.

While we’re talking sports, how about Cliff Lee’s near no-no on Sunday?

It’s very frustrating to me to see Lee get so close and lose the no-hitter in the eighth inning. Even though I was alive and watching baseball in 1981, I was quite young and have no memory of Len Barker’s perfect game.

I patiently wait for the day when a Cleveland pitcher can once again pump their fist into the air after throwing a no-hitter, or dare I say it, a perfect game.

Go Tribe, Go Browns.