Browns '09: Different Is Good

While the rookies sit in meetings, the rest of us wait for the weekend, and the first real look at what is going to be different for the Browns this year.

Definitely different will be training camp. Gone is "Camp Feel Good" where no player was even remotely prepared to play a scrimmage, much less a regular season game.

In the lead-up to camp, the Browns began signing some draft picks.

The front office certainly was busy, signing Alex Mack, David Veikune and Kaluka Maiava. With those signings, we’re down to just the two unsigned wide receivers, Brian Robiskie and Mohamed Massaquoi.

While there are a ton of questions surrounding the team, two areas of the team I can take the bank as “givens” are:

1. The defensive line has nowhere to go but up and should look much improved
2. There are a lot of new faces at the wide receiver position.

Those two things aren’t that difficult to figure out, but they are worth mentioning because our defensive line was practically non-existent last year, and the people we did have catching balls last year didn’t really catch much of anything.

Going into the second half of the 2008 season, even the casual fan was griping that the team had just “quit” and was just going through the motions. 

Braylon Edwards couldn’t catch the swine flu and watching a game after Derek Anderson got injured was the fan equivalent of the Bataan Death March.

There’s only so much of the roster head coach Eric Mangini could turnover going into this season, so the players that are gone won’t be missed, and the players invited to camp have one last shot to impress, or they’ll be headed out the door as well.

Kamerion Wimbley and D’Qwell Jackson have shown solid skills in the past and were drafted to be impact players on the 3-4 defense. Last year they were basically invisible, with Wimbley only making 66 tackles and four sacks.

Since Wimbley’s strength is supposed to be his pass rushing, that number is...very bad.

Edwards is in a contract year, meaning he has extra incentive to not suck this year. That being said, I don’t expect Edwards to finish the season with the Browns. If he gets off to a good start, his trade value goes up and the Browns could trade him for draft picks.

Staying with the receivers, Robiskie and Massaquoi will sign, most likely in time for the first practice this weekend as neither one of these guys wants to be the guy on the sidelines, out of the rotation due to a contract holdout.

That cost Brady Quinn the 2007 season, and now look where we are with that position.

We also can’t forget about Beau Bell. Bell spent much of last season injured, and the rest of the season pretty much ignored. As I’ve said before, if you weren’t a proven veteran, Romeo Crennel didn’t know you existed.

When Bell was available, he was barely used. Considering the performance from the players who were used, his sidelining was inexcusable. I’m not saying he’s the second coming of Lawrence Taylor, but we never even got a chance to see if he was the second coming of Mike Junkin.

Back on offense, I expect to score touchdowns this year. That certainly is something different than last year when we didn’t score an offensive touchdown the last six games of the year.

The complete meltdown of the offense can partially be blamed on injuries, but at some point, the coaches have to coach, and the players have to play.

Neither of those things happened in the latter part of the 2008 campaign. I expect nothing but 110 percent from the players and the coaches this year clear through to the bitter end.

While Mangini’s 2008 Jets fell apart as well in the last few weeks of the season, they never quit and they never looked like they were going through the motions.

The 2008 Browns quit, despite quotes to the contrary, and I never want to see that again.

However, I don’t expect to see that this year. Mangini doesn’t seem to me to be the kind of guy who tolerates players who quit. Therefore, I expect to see winners.

That would be different, and that would be good.