Jake Delhomme Uses OTAs To Impress Cleveland Browns Coaches, Fans

Jake Delhomme made a lot of people look good in this week's Cleveland Browns OTAs.

Team President Mike Holmgren looked happy on the sidelines as his big offseason signing completed pass after pass on the practice field.

All these completions, of course, made Delhomme and the receivers look good as well, and it probably eased some of Head Coach Eric Mangini's lingering heartburn problems from last season's dropfest.

In Tony Grossi's article about the week's activities, he noted Mangini compared Delhomme to Brett Favre.

"I don't like making comparisons, but I will," said Mangini. "He reminds me a little bit of Favre that way, in terms of he enjoys practice, he enjoys being around the guys. He is able to be serious and still keep things light. It is really important to him."

Grossi noted there were very few drops over the course of the sessions open to the media, but one thing that needs to be pointed out here is these drill all were non-contact. No one was in pads.

This is important because while Delhomme was shredding the Browns' defense in the red zone drills, Rob Ryan's unit wasn't exactly allowed to go full force, and the simulated tackles just don't quite live up to live action blocking.

Delhomme was never under real pressure and the receivers weren't worried about getting their heads taken off.

That's all a really long way of saying just because the offense looked good and the defense looked bad in OTAs doesn't mean we should get ready for a bunch of high-scoring games.

What you can take out of the OTAs is the difference from last year—where it was pointed out Derek Anderson and Brady Quinn were throwing the ball all over the field, and not necessarily to the receivers.

If Delhomme is showing 99 percent accuracy in OTAs, one should hope that his accuracy stays above 65 percent once the games are real.

After last season, that will relieve a lot of heartburn in a lot of fans on Sundays.

One last note, Delhomme is wearing No. 17, his number in Carolina. For Browns die-hards, the number was also worn by Browns legend Brian Sipe and, unfortunately, former wide receiver Braylon Edwards.

So all those fans with a No. 17 jersey that says "Edwards" on it, go ahead and pull that shirt out of the closet and do a little surgery.

Training camp opens in a little more than two months.