Browns Training Camp Report (1 Viewer)

[Bri]

i'm really not sure why they haven't signed a vet QB yet. even though i've picked on Testaverde, he's got to be better than what they have now. maybe they are playing the waiting game with someone like Collins, trying to get the price down?

Vinny doesn't want to go thru camp. He wants to coach and from an earlier article I got the feeling he'd play some if needed but was looking for a coaching spot.I posted the article here months ago, his opinion could have changed but I doubt it, still seems to fit with his age and all.Vinny won't be a week 1 starter so he'll have time to learn the team's O, if he signed somewhere.

 

[wannabee]

Browns | Edwards doesn't appear limited

Published Mon Aug 7 1:27:00 a.m. ET 2006

(KFFL) Updating previous reports, Zac Jackson, of ClevelandBrowns.com, reports Cleveland Browns WR Braylon Edwards (knee) did not appear to be limited or worried about his surgically repaired knee Sunday, Aug. 6, during his first practice. Edwards said he was able to go full-speed on the plays.

 

[Bri]

Browns | Edwards doesn't appear limited Published Mon Aug 7 1:27:00 a.m. ET 2006 (KFFL) Updating previous reports, Zac Jackson, of ClevelandBrowns.com, reports Cleveland Browns WR Braylon Edwards (knee) did not appear to be limited or worried about his surgically repaired knee Sunday, Aug. 6, during his first practice. Edwards said he was able to go full-speed on the plays.

he'll soar up draft charts with every report like this

 

[wannabee]

Browns | Ephraim reportedly facing league suspension

Published Tue Aug 15 11:30:00 p.m. ET 2006

(KFFL) Patrick McManamon, of the Akron Beacon Journal, reports Cleveland Browns OC Alonzo Ephraim will reportedly be suspended by the league for violating the substance-abuse policy, according to league sources. Ephraim will miss the first four games of the 2006 season, the sources said. The suspension is for a failed test with a previous team, but it's not known where. According to sources, the Browns did not have the complete information about the suspension before Ephraim signed July 29.

 

[Frenchy Fuqua]

Maybe Phil Savage isn't a genius?

PFT

POSTED 11:06 a.m. EDT, August 13, 2006

SAVAGE SLAMMED FOR "WOE IS ME" ROUTINE

The Peter Principle, first coined nearly 40 years ago, stands for the notion that, in a given hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to the level of his own incompetence.

In other words, the worker enters the organization, performs above the requirements of his entry position, and thus is promoted. The process continues until the employee rises precisely one level higher than that for which his skills, abilities, and temperament are suited.

So what in the heck does that have to do with football? A lot, in the hierarchy that is the NFL.

Case in point -- Browns G.M. Phil Savage. Regarded as a great college scout, it's possible that the limit of his competence is great scouting.

We say this because the reaction in league circles to Savage's recent comments in the wake of the retirement of center Bob Hallen has been strongly negative, and it has called into question whether Savage has the stuff to be the ultimate leader of a football organization.

On Friday, Savage publicly teed off on Hallen, who left the team earlier in the week and later announced his retirement. "I have to admit, I'm upset that he walked out on us two days before the first [preseason] game without any warning, especially in light of us losing LeCharles Bentley," Savage said. "It was totally unexpected. It really put us in a vise."

Savage then characterized his team as being in "dire straits" at the center position, and that the Browns "have gone from having the best center situation in the NFL to one of the worst." He also said, as we quoted on Saturday, that "we're playing with people that are names of players who were not even in our minds six months ago, much less two weeks ago."

The kicker? Savage admitted that the team lied about the condition of Hallen's back. In the wake of his departure, the team's comments indicated that the veteran had a real injury. Now, Savage makes it clear that nothing was wrong with Hallen, and that the franchise was trying to help Hallen put a good face on the situation.

"To keep it from being an embarrassing situation, we basically said he's being looked at,'' Savage said. "But our people never saw him again.''

So what changed between Monday and Friday? Was the team willing to help Hallen avoid embarrassment, or was the team hoping to downplay the situation until they had an opportunity to try to persuade him to change his mind?

The only other possible explanation is that the desire to throw Hallen a bone became a desire to throw him under the bus once he opted not to return.

Regardless, a league source with whom we spoke on Saturday afternoon was amazed by Savage's words. First, although every NFL team at times conceals the truth and/or blatantly distorts it, it's never a good idea to admit to doing so.

Second, the source explained that Savage's musings to the media about the team's struggles at the center position send a horrible message to the locker room.

"He's already giving the team an excuse for failing," said the source. "Leaders don't do that."

Added the source: "If the leader shows that excuses are acceptable and and will be used, the players will follow suit. . . . Cut out the 'woe is me' bullsh-t. They're not going to push the season back. What you're saying to the guys that you're plugging into the roster is that they have an excuse, because they weren't good enough to be considered months ago."

Speaking of months ago, the source thinks that Savage's separate problem is that the team's big splash in free agency created unreasonably high expectations, and that the team is now forced to get the message out that competing for the AFC North might not be a realistic objective this year.

"When they signed all of those free agent players in the spring," the source said, "they had press conference after press conference. They were selling hope and marketing how great their offseason was. They spent boatloads of money and told everyone how much they upgraded the team. Every day was a celebration. Now they are stuck trying to manage false expectations."

And this raises a great point, one that we'd never considered before. If, as we've heard, teams jump into the free agency pool by overpaying for big-name guys in order to energize the fan base and placate the local press, how does the team reel in the resulting expectations if the results once the season starts don't justify the excitement?

The message could be that it's not always a great idea to round up a bunch of guys early in free agency. Though a team should want its fans to be focused on the possibilities of a new season, there's a point at which the money spent in March could cause angst in August -- especially when one of the big-name additions goes down for the year and when his hand-picked backup decides to walk away from the game.

But in such situations, the team shouldn't announce to the world, "Oh well, now we'll suck." Instead, the front office and the coaching staff need to continue to focus on the getting guys who are able and willing to play ready for a 16-game grind, without giving them any built-in excuses for failure.

With all that said, Savage remains regarded as a great scout. But, based on his words, it could be that he's the latest example of the Peter Principle as played out in pro football.

 

[chris1969]

I think the Browns knew. Didn't anyone else wonder why they rushed Ross Tucker into the starting spot so quickly this week?

 

[supermark_28]

chris,how has jerome harrison looked? i have him as a rookie in 1 of my keeper leagues and w/ the whole suggs fiasco am considering keeping him. thanks in advance...

 

[chris1969]

He looks good when I've seen him, but he doesn't get a whole lot of carries in practice. I wouldn't call him a keeper yet, but if Suggs was tradable anything could happen before the season starts.

 

[supermark_28]

He looks good when I've seen him, but he doesn't get a whole lot of carries in practice. I wouldn't call him a keeper yet, but if Suggs was tradable anything could happen before the season starts.

it didnt look like he received any carries against the Iggles which concerned mesomewhat. thanks for looking..

 

[chris1969]

That's the thing, what I've seen looks good, but I haven't seen enough.