It was a tough day on Wednesday for the Cleveland Browns.
First came the news that rookie running back Trent Richardson – only the No. 3 overall pick in April’s NFL Draft – is heading to Florida to have his left knee further evaluated by Dr. James Andrews. Richardson missed practice on Tuesday with soreness in the knee, which Andrews operated on in February. Richardson had an MRI and is visiting Andrews for a second opinion.
It’s been said that you only get one chance to make a first impression. If that is true, then James Haslam struck gold in his first weekend as new owner of the Cleveland Browns.
We know that Haslam can work a room and is smart enough to do his research, but will that translate into being a good owner? That’s the $64,000 question – or in the case of the Browns, the $1 billion question, which is what Haslam reportedly paid for the team.
We start answering that question at The Cleveland Fan.
The Cleveland Browns made official on Monday what everyone has known since the night of April 27:
Brandon Weeden will be the starting quarterback this season.
“Brandon Weeden will start the Detroit game, and he’ll be our starter as we go forward here,” Browns coach Pat Shurmur told The Beacon Journal. “The No. 2 position will be determined based on how things play out here in training camp. Brandon’s the starter, and we’re moving forward. I think that’s the important thing. I’m not looking back. We’re committing and we’re rolling. We anticipate he’s gonna do a great job.
On Friday, Cleveland Browns owner Randy Lerner issued a statement, 96 words in total, that could drastically change the course of the No. 1 franchise in town:“In connection with current rumors and press inquiries, I can report that I’ve been approached by Mr. Jimmy Haslam, who is interested in making an investment in the Cleveland Browns. We are currently in negotiations and both sides have agreed to keep that dialogue and its details private. Given that any transaction would require League approval, care has been taken so that this process will not be disruptive to the organization, in particular the football team, as it prepares for the upcoming season. We will share further details or make an announcement if it becomes necessary.”
It has been open season on the Cleveland Browns ever since the end of the 2011 NFL Season.
It started with the team being criticized for not getting into an unwinnable bidding war with Washington to move up in the draft to select quarterback Robert Griffin III.
It moved to the NFL Draft, where the Browns were criticized for trading up one spot to select running back Trent Richardson and then “reaching” to draft quarterback Brandon Weeden.
It continued with the media-created “controversy” over what Jim Brown thinks of Richardson. And the cries that the Browns must do something immediately with Colt McCoy.
Picking up on a theme we touched on last week, ESPN’s John Clayton points out that going young is the way to go for the Cleveland Browns.
At the skill positions on offense, the 25-year-old Mohamed Massaquoi is the old man of a group of wide receivers that includes supplemental-pick Josh Gordon (21), fourth-round pick Travis Benjamin (24), second-year receiver Greg Little (23) and Carlton Mitchell (24). Rookie Trent Richardson (21) will presumably be the starter at running back. Quarterback Brandon Weeden, who will be 29 in October, throws off the curve a bit, but in a short time the team has gotten younger at key positions.
But how soon will the youth turn into potential victories? Well … Clayton drops the dreaded patience on Browns fans:
History tells Browns fans to be patient. Teams have been successful going young at the skill positions, but in most cases, the growing pains hurt them in the first year. Going young is the right way for the Browns to go, but it will take time for everything to come together.
Clayton offers some recent examples of other NFL teams that committed to a core group of skill players that were all under the age of 25, citing the 2009 Bears (7-9), ’09 Giants (8-8) and the ’09 Raiders (5-11, but that was with JaMarcus Russell. Once the Raiders moved on, they’ve gone 8-8 in the past two seasons).
The other example? The 2009 Eagles, who went 11-5 with a group of players that included LeSean McCoy (22), Jeremy Maclin (22), DeSean Jackson (23) and Brent Celek (25). Of course they had Donovan McNabb, rather than a rookie, at quarterback.
And who was general manager of the Eagles then? None other than current Browns GM Tom Heckert.
While it is clear the Browns are still not a finished product and will very likely take some serious lumps on the field this fall, there is reason to hope that history may finally be on the team’s side.
(Photo courtesy of ClevelandBrowns.com)
Two days after the Cleveland Browns selected former Baylor wide receiver Josh Gordon in the NFL Supplemental Draft, opinions are all over the board about the move.
They range from the positive, like ESPN’s John Clayton:
Using a second-round supplemental pick … might have been a gamble for the Cleveland Browns, but it was a smart gamble.
When Mike Holmgren took over the Browns, the cupboard was bare at wide receiver. Even though former coach Eric Mangini used 2009 second-round picks on wide receivers Brian Robiskie and Mohamed Massaquoi, neither offered the play-making ability to match the previous offenses …
Getting Gordon — even at the cost of a second-round pick — was worth it. It might take Gordon until 2014 to be a legitimate starter. Little or Gordon might never be as good as Jones, but if Heckert is right on Gordon, the Browns have more potential playmakers at receiver to start climbing out of the bottom of the AFC North in the next few years.
Well, we have to admit we didn’t see that one coming.
Just like 99.9 percent of Cleveland Browns fans we had no idea who Josh Gordon was just a few days ago. But then the news came out that he would be part of Thursday’s Supplemental Draft, and that he had first-round talent (according to some) and that the Browns, painfully thin at wide receiver, were possibly interested in him.
And, suddenly, it was welcome to Cleveland, Josh, as the Browns used a second-round pick on the former Baylor player.
So what did the Browns get? Head over to The Cleveland Fan to find out.
Former Baylor wide receiver Josh Gordon worked out for NFL teams on Tuesday in preparation for Thursday’s Supplemental Draft and by all accounts was impressive.
The question now becomes, how impressed were the Browns?
Find out at The Cleveland Fan.
With nothing better to do while waiting for the opening of training camps across the NFL, Pro Football Talk decided to release preseason power rankings for the league’s 32 teams.
And, of course, they put the Browns at No. 32.
That’s right, the Browns are supposedly worse than the Colts, who have rookie quarterback Andrew Luck throwing to 33-year-old wide receiver Reggie Wayne and not much else; worse than Jacksonville with Blaine Gabbert and tarps covering thousands of unsold seats; worse than a Miami team that is considering starting David Gerrard at quarterback; worse than the Vikings, Rams and every other crappy team in the league.
It’s so bad, the Browns may as well give up on the season and start focusing on who they will pick with the No. 1 overall selection in the 2013 draft.
Red Right 88 