Browns '09: Some Players Getting A Second Chance

(Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

You don’t get a second chance at a first impression—or maybe you can with the Browns.

With a new front office and coaching staff, there are a lot of second year players who are getting a fresh chance after being cast aside last year.

One definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, hoping for a different result. That was Romeo Crennel’s coaching strategy in a nutshell.

He kept using the same untalented, underachieving players every week, expecting them to do something other than stink. Meanwhile, the Browns had a bunch of hungry, untested rookies and second year players who sat on the bench, week after week, while Crennel kept saying, “They’re not ready.”

Whether or not they possessed pro bowl talent is a different debate, but the argument is they never really got a chance to shine.

Crennel refused to play most rookies and second year guys. I'm not even sure he practiced with them. In some cases, he wouldn't even acknowledge their existence. So they obviously weren’t ready, and never would be had the situation continued this year.

Two prime examples of this were Brady Quinn and Martin Rucker.

The Quinn situation has been examined ad nauseum, but it’s worth pointing out here that a quarterback change was forced on Crennel, and his handling of Quinn showed it.

Rucker, on the other hand, is far more typical of what happened to rookies under the old Browns regime. Rucker was injured in preseason, and then ignored once he came back, even though Kellen Winslow was hurting and unable to perform the blocking duties most tight ends are expected to deliver on.

New Head Coach Eric Mangini has come to this team with only game film to entertain and inform him. Since the game film pretty much shows a bunch of over-matched, under-coached players, Mangini probably is willing to give these second year players a closer look.

If I were Mangini, I would see a golden opportunity to take these young players and teach them the right way to do things. After being relegated to water boy status by Crennel, they haven’t had much opportunity to learn bad habits.

Quinn and Anderson now are in an “open competition,” whatever that actually means, and Rucker and other rookies finally got real opportunities to show their stuff during OTAs.

Crennel never did quite figure out that this year’s rookie is next year’s pro bowl veteran. He always assumed the veterans would do their job and the rookies would screw things up.

It’s also purely my opinion that Crennel never forgave Quinn for holding out during the 2007 training camp.  This resulted in the “Cut off nose to spite face” offensive scheme early in 2008 when Derek Anderson wasn’t performing anywhere near his 2007 level, but still was allowed to keep playing.

With Mangini, all that counts is results. He’s made it very clear that if player “A” is doing the job, he gets the start. If player “B” comes in and does better, then it’s time for player “A” to step it up, or the team will move on.

I’m ready to move on, and so is this fanbase. Training camp is only three weeks away.

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