Cleveland Browns' Locker Room: With Bad Seeds Gone, Team is Now Unified

Over the past few years, the Cleveland Browns have had three playmakers in their locker room who were all former Pro Bowlers in running back Jamal Lewis, wide receiver Braylon Edwards, and tight end Kellen Winslow.

What many Browns fans also knew is that these three players often played the role of crybaby or rat, by either talking the to media and telling them something they shouldn't have said or whining about something.

Winslow was traded almost immediately, after coach Eric Mangini was hired, to Tampa Bay for draft picks.

He did a little bit of everything when it came to talking to the media and crying.

Even though any fan can give him compassion for the Browns telling him to hide his staph infection in 2008, which was just wrong, he still felt the need to rat out upper management when he should have held himself in a high and more professionally manner.

Barring all of his injuries aside, Winslow was equally as damaging in the locker room and off the field as his injuries were prohibiting him to be the talented college player he once was.

Easily the talent the Browns have missed the most in 2009, but moving on.

Edwards was not as much of a crybaby or rat, but rather the wanna-be bad boy who seemed to always be hanging out with the wrong crowds.

He was with former Browns receiver, Donte' Stallworth, drinking mass amounts of alcohol the tragic night of Stallworth's accident.

Most recently, only a few days before getting traded to the New York Jets, Edwards was in a Downtown Cleveland fight where he supposedly punched a friend of NBA Superstar LeBron James out of "jealousy."

Since getting traded, Edwards has shown that he is no better than an average wide receiver in the NFL, and with only 26 catches as a Jet, even a change of venue cannot help him.

Edwards is not missed by the Browns or fans at all, and the Browns got the better of this end of the deal.

Sorry Jets fans, but you wanted him.

Finally there is Lewis, who over the past several years as a Brown, he has gone under the radar in regards to his attitude toward the team, but he was as damaging as the other two were.

In 2008, against the Broncos, Lewis went to the media and told them the Browns' defense and other players "just gave up" during their loss.

Again, in 2009, Lewis went to the media to complain about Mangini's practices saying that they were "too demanding."

Also, in 2009, Lewis said that he would never consider himself a Cleveland Brown when he retires because he would always be a Baltimore Raven and remember that the Ravens cast him off the team in 2006 saying he didn't have anything left in the tank.

When you look at these events, Lewis was a not the professional team player that even pegs him to be, but more of a crybaby.

Maybe he was trying to compensate because of his abilities actually diminishing with what seemed every carry of the football, but his "concussion" he sustained a few weeks back looks a bit suspect now and perhaps it is just his way of quitting.

Thankfully, all three of these "cancers" are now gone, and look what has happened to the Browns' locker room and their performances the past few weeks.

There has been dramatic improvement across the board.

Even though they may not have the big names, the team seems more unified, on the same page, and most importantly there are no malcontents on the team now.

Things cannot get any worse for the Browns in 2009, but with promising and entertaining football being played on the field, things are beginning to look up for the franchise and especially for Mangini.

(Article also posted on Dawg Scooper)