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McGinest sees one last playoff run

By Sean McClelland | Thursday, May 8, 2008, 05:12 PM

You are forgiven if you’re not a Browns fan and you thought linebacker Willie McGinest already was retired.

After all, it’s not like he’s done much on the field the past couple of seasons. In fact, his most memorable moment last season came against Pittsburgh when he failed to tackle scrambling quarterback Ben Roethlisberger at a key point in what became yet another loss to the hated Steelers.

So, when McGinest, who once was an outstanding linebacker for the New England Patriots, a borderline Hall of Famer, told SI.com on Thursday that the 2008 season would be his last, the natural reaction was to shrug your shoulders. Big deal, right?

But McGinest’s reasoning for giving it one more year is what should warm the hearts of Browns fans. He said he wants to finish his career with one last playoff run, so he obviously thinks the Browns have that kind of season ahead of them. Otherwise, why not quit now? Surely he’s set for life financially, right?

McGinest is long past his prime, of course, but Browns head coach Romeo Crennel loves the guy because he’s a leader on the field and in the locker room. It’s good that he’s hanging around.

That said, it’s unclear how McGinest actually fits or whether he will maintain a starting spot in the base 3-4.

The Browns will have to be careful. Willie’s not a pass rusher anymore, and while he can still be effective against the run when the play is right at him, his days of pursuing ballcarriers and quarterbacks in space are pretty much done.

In 27 games for the Browns over two seasons, McGinest has seven sacks and 107 tackles. He’s been a shell of the player who racked up 78 sacks with New England and set the record for postseason sacks with 16.

If nothing else, McGinest will be able to tutor some of the younger linebackers. No doubt he’s helped Kamerion Wimbley the past two seasons. Seventh-round draft choice Alex Hall should be able to soak up some knowledge, as should fourth-rounder Beau Bell, although he plays inside.

“I have no regrets or no qualms about my career,” McGinest told the Web site. “I’ve done everything a football player can do and I’ve done it more than once. This will be it. I’ve worked hard; I think I’ve done everything I set out to accomplish.”

McGinest played 12 seasons and won three Super Bowls with the Patriots before signing a three-year, $12 million contract with the Browns in 2006, reuniting with Crennel, his former defensive coordinator.

Now he’ll try to go out in a blaze of glory.

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Can they be knots in the rope?

By Sean McClelland | Sunday, May 4, 2008, 10:31 PM

The Browns like their five draft choices. Of course, what else would they be saying at this stage?

Running around in shorts with about 70 other guys who mostly have the proverbial snowball’s chance in hell of making the roster, the Fab Five at least looked the part of football players during the weekend’s rookie minicamp.

No question, they will stand out in the hotel lobby. Now, whether they will become knots in the rope, who can say?

Ah, the rope. Knotted in several spots, it continues to hang in the vestibule of team headquarters, along with a sign posted by General Manager Phil Savage challenging everyone in the organization (presumably including secretaries and kitchen workers) to become a “knot in the rope” and give the Browns traction in their climb toward the Super Bowl.

OK, it’s beyond corny, but Savage just got a three-year contract extension and it looks like he knows what he’s doing, so if he wants to go around hanging ropes at the facility and also outside the locker room at Cleveland Browns Stadium (yeah, there’s one there, too), who’s to argue?

Will it help beat Pittsburgh? It just depends on how quickly these draftees turn themselves into knots.

Here are some of head coach Romeo Crennel’s initial impressions after watching them in person for the first time since the Combine:

Fourth-round linebacker Beau Bell: “He has some movement skills (let’s hope so, right?). You can see him move and be able to get to the ball some. But we’ll have to get the pads on because linebacker is one of those positions where they do have to hit some.”

Seventh-round linebacker Alex Hall: “He shows that he has athletic ability and talent. So far, I’m encouraged.”

Fourth-round tight end Martin Rucker: “Once we get to training camp and put the pads on, we’ll find out more about his blocking. So far, it looks like he can catch the ball, he’s got a big body, he moves well against the linebackers and that’s encouraging.”

Sixth-round nose tackle Ahtyba Rubin: “He looks like he has excellent strength. From what we’ve seen here so far, he looks strong, particularly if you look at his upper body. He’s like a little fireplug.”

Rucker and Bell are the best bets to become knots early. Rucker will get all the work he can handle at next month’s full-squad minicamp with tight ends Kellen Winslow Jr. (knee) and Steve Heiden (back) likely to be limited coming off surgery. Bell will be busting wedges on special teams until he learns the defense.

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Scouring the countryside for a cornerback

By Sean McClelland | Sunday, May 4, 2008, 01:50 AM

From the looks of the rookie minicamp roster, it’s not hard to tell which area is deemed most in need of improvement.

There are 20, that’s right 20, defensive backs here. Four have contracts as undrafted college free agents and 16 are bouncing around Berea on tryouts.

And it’s entirely possible the Browns still will walk away from this camp needing help in the secondary (although it looks like they won’t be losing veteran corner Daven Holly, a restricted free agent who says he’ll sign his one-year tender offer from the Browns soon).

“If somebody’s good enough, we hope to find (a cornerback),” head coach Romeo Crennel said. “But I don’t know if it’s going to come from this bunch or not.”

General Manager Phil Savage neglected defensive backs in the draft, not wanting to reach for need in the middle rounds at the expense of adding a player at a different position who may have had a higher grade.

The cornerback shortage stems mainly from the trade with Detroit in which Leigh Bodden was sacrificed in order to acquire defensive tackle Shaun Rogers. And it doesn’t help that veteran Kenny Wright’s status remains in limbo following his recent arrest in Texas on charges of drug possession and fleeing the police.

Wright is still technically on the roster, but he didn’t play much last season and the NFL will have the final say on his status if the Browns don’t cut him themselves out of sheer exasperation.

One starting cornerback job belongs to second-year pro Eric Wright. We know that. Brandon McDonald, another second-year pro, will complete on the other side, probably with Holly. But in this day and age, any team without four legitimate corners runs the risk of being passed silly.

So the search continues and may lead back to someone such as Jereme Perry, a former Browns player recently released by the Miami Dolphins. Perry, who made the Browns two summers ago as an undrafted frree agent, at least knows the defense and would have that going for him.

Among this year’s crop of undrafted college free agents, Darnell Terrell of Missouri was probably closest to being drafted, judging by what is being said about him.

Other undrafted CFAs are Justin Harrison (Illinois), Jerrid Gaines (Miami of Ohio) and Gerard Lawson (Oregon State).

DBs here on tryouts represent schools from all across the land, all levels of football and nearly the full spectrum of the alphabet, from Darrius Battles (Louisiana-Monroe) to Jonathan Zenon (LSU).

By casting such “a wide net,” as Savage put it, the Browns are simply trying to better the odds of finding that diamond in the rough all NFL teams seek.

They are not holding their collective breath, however.

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A contract worth celebrating

By Sean McClelland | Friday, May 2, 2008, 11:18 PM

Credit owner Randy Lerner with another obvious but shrewd move in giving General Manager Phil Savage a three-year contract extension through 2012 on Friday.

“In Savage We Trust” has become the rallying cry of Browns fans, and with good reason.

On the first day of rookie minicamp, Savage thanked fans for their support. A classy gesture, but he probably does owe his job to them when you think about it.

If not for the fans’ forcing the issue on radio call-in shows and through e-mail, maybe Lerner would have caved to the whims of former team president John Collins, who sought to hamstring Savage after the rocky 2005 season, his first as GM.

Collins, genius that he was, suggested Savage stay in the office more rather than being on the road scouting players for the Browns.

Savage was on the verge of resigning back then when Lerner slapped himself in the forehead and realized that would have been a big mistake.

Lerner then took the corrective (and obvious) step of erasing Collins from the front-office picture, arguably his best move to date and certainly best in Browns history by anyone named Lerner.

At his contract-extension press conference, I asked Savage if he and Collins keep in touch. “We send each other postcards,” he cracked.

Where do the Browns and their laugh-a-minute GM go from here? Onward and upward, one would think. Their window is just now opening, it appears, but it wouldn’t be opened even a crack without Savage’s deft personnel moves, from making high draft picks count, to discovering middle-round gems, to adding useful non-drafted players such as Joshua Cribbs, who made the Pro Bowl on special teams.

Charles Ali, a fullback, was last year’s find. Due to a clerical error, many teams thought he was still a junior in college. Savage knew better, brought him in for a nominal price and watched him make the team.

Is there a player in this year’s group of undrafted college free agents who might find his way onto the roster? One to track is Darnell Terrell, a 6-1, 203-pound defensive back from Missouri who wasn’t drafted because teams didn’t know if he fit better at safety or corner.

The Browns need a cornerback, so that’s where they’re looking at him this weekend. Big, physical kid.

“Need to see him a little bit more,” head coach Romeo Crennel said. “I know he had a decent grade on him coming out, but we have to wait and see a little bit more.”

Lance Leggett, a 6-3, 189-pound receiver from Miami (Fla.), is another possibility, along with Gerard Lawson, a defensive back from Oregon State.

Among the 54 players in camp on tryouts, best bets at first glance look like Xavier Mitchell, a rush linebacker from Tennessee, and James Banks, a receiver from Carson-Newman. Savage made a point of mentioning both on Friday.

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Making sense of the draft

By Sean McClelland | Monday, April 28, 2008, 09:29 AM

It ended with a seventh-round choice, Alex Hall, from a small school in Raleigh, N.C., who might turn into something.

The draft also ended with no cornerback or backup running back added to the roster.

General Manager Phil Savage seemed pleased, however, with the Browns’ five picks Sunday: linebacker Beau Bell, tight end Martin Rucker, receiver Paul Hubbard, nose tackle Ahtyba Rubin and defensive end Hall, a long-range project who will be converted to an outside linebacker.

Factoring in earlier trades, you can say the draft looks like this:

Brady Quinn, QB, Notre Dame

Corey Williams, DL, Green Bay Packers

Shaun Rogers, DT, Detroit Lions

Beau Bell, LB, Nevada-Las Vega

Martin Rucker, TE, Missouri

Ahtyba Rubin, NT, Iowa State

Paul Hubbard, WR, Wisconsin

Alex Hall, DE, St. Augustine’s

Where’s the cornerback, you ask? Well, the Browns’ looked at their needs this way: Inside linebacker, outside linebacker, tight end, cornerback, in no particular order apparently. They addressed three of the four.

“I think there’s always some soft spots on your roster,” Savage said, “but I think we’re comfortable with the players we have. We’ve made a lot of strides. Offensive line, defensive line and quarterback seem to be fairly solid, and those are three good places to start.”

As for sacrificing next year’s third- and fifth-round picks for better traction in this year’s draft, the wisdom of that can be debated, but Savage defended it by saying they had put so much effort into scouting second-day picks that he didn’t want that work to go to waste, especially if they could acquire players such as Bell and Rucker. Both were among the top 50 or so on their board and, by that logic, bargains where they were taken.

Plus, “Beau and Martin were in a group above the next level of corners in our mind,” Savage said.

The sleeper, I think, is Hubbard. The Wisconsin receiver missed half of his senior season with a knee injury and caught just 14 passes, but he’s big and fast and some teams might have forgotten about him or downgraded him just because there wasn’t a lot of tape of him doing much last season.

Hubbard can’t be any worse than Travis Wilson, a 2006 third-rounder who is shaping up as a colossal bust. Or Tim Carter, who did next to nothing last season after being acquired from the Giants.

Beyond Bell and Rucker, I think Hubbard has the best chance to contribute right away and certainly he’ll be in the mix in ‘09, by which time Joe Jurevicius figures to have retired.

Rubin will compete with Louis Leonard, primarily, for the backup nose tackle spot.

On the running back issue, an NFL Network analyst left Savage puzzled when he criticized the Browns for not taking one to back up Jamal Lewis.

“I don’t know why people keep saying that,” Savage said. “We were pretty pleased with (Jason) Wright and (Jerome) Harrison. We have no complaints.”

With no prompting, however, Savage listed cornerback and running back as two of next year’s likely draft needs.

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Bell tolls for Browns

By Sean McClelland | Sunday, April 27, 2008, 12:11 PM

Shortly after noon, the NFL draft finally started for the Cleveland Browns.

Trading their fourth- and fifth-round picks to the Dallas Cowboys, they moved up 18 spots in the fourth round to select Nevada-Las Vegas linebacker Beau Bell, a 6-foot-1, 250 pounder with injury issues.

Then they got together with the Cowboys again, dealing next year’s third-round choice for another fourth-rounder, which they used on Missouri tight end Martin Rucker.

The Browns, who did not have a pick in the first three rounds, entered the day with the No. 23 pick in the fourth. But General Manager Phil Savage coveted Bell and didn’t want to risk that he wouldn’t fall that far.

Bell mainly played outside linebacker in college, but the Browns are drafting him to play inside and were not deterred by the knee injury, a bone bruise, he suffered during practice for the Senior Bowl.

At his pro day, Bell ran a disappointing 4.9 in the 40-yard dash, but that was mainly because the injury cut into his training. Before hurting the knee, he ran in the mid 4.7s.

“I’d like to thank the whole organization for believing in me and choosing me,” the Mountain West Conference Defensive Player of the Year said on a conference call. “I can’t wait to get started and play some football.”

Bell described his style as “real physical at the point of attack. I like to run around and hit people.”

Browns starting cornerback Eric Wright, a second-round draft choice last year, was Bell’s teammate at UNLV for one year.

“He said it’s cold out there, but it’s real fun and the team’s on the rise,” Bell said. “I’m really excited to come to Cleveland. Being on the inside could really bring out the best in me.”

Rucker (no relation to Reggie) started all 14 games for Missouri as a senior and led the nation’s tight ends with 84 receptions.

One disquieting scouting report on Rucker: “Not physical, plays too tall and lacks functional strength.”

“Most of our blocking was done in space,” Rucker said. “I’m eager to prove to everyone that I can (block).”

Rucker, 6-foot-4, 251 pounds, is the brother of Mike Rucker, a Pro Bowl defensive tackle who recently retired from the Carolina Panthers after a long and productive career.

Rucker’s father is a member of Congress from Missouri, which led to this criticism by Pro Football Weekly: “Has a sense of entitlement coming from a very successful family and must learn what it really means to work.”

Rejecting that notion, Rucker said, “There’s going to be nothing but hard work out of me.”

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Draft day is all about the food

By Sean McClelland | Thursday, April 24, 2008, 11:49 AM

Back in 1999, when the franchise was just rising from the expansion ashes and co-owners Al Lerner and Carmen Policy were hoping to ingratiate themselves, draft day brought more than just Tim Couch.

There was dinner, served to the media at our work stations.

I think I recall prime rib or chicken being the options. Maybe not. It’s been a while. But I do remember thinking they went to an awful lot of fuss, and appreciating it with every bite.

Nine years later, the food remains a highlight, but it’s cafeteria-style these days. No waiters taking orders. But there’s ice cream, which is important.

And with the Browns not expected to do much of anything Saturday because they don’t pick until Sunday, I’m thinking there will be more time for eating and schmoozing, which are the two constants at any draft.

Distractions were more important in those early years anyhow, especially with the picks the Browns were making, although we didn’t know exactly how abysmal some of them actually would turn out to be.

You don’t have to be Mel Kiper (or Todd McShay for that matter) to know the Browns did not draft well from 1999 through 2003. Three of their first four first-round draft choices (QB Couch, DE Courtney Brown and RB William Green) have been out of the league for two years and the other, defensive tackle Gerard Warren, is with his third team, hanging on by a thread.

It helps to remember the past so we don’t repeat it, right? So, to review: Dwight Clark and Chris Palmer passed up Donovan McNab to take Couch. Later, Butch Davis passed on LaDainian Tomlinson and Richard Seymour to take Warren, then passed on Clinton Portis to take Green, then passed on Eric Steinbach to take Jeff Faine

Is it any wonder the Browns have made the playoffs just once in nine seasons?

With the exception of 2004, when Davis drafted Kellen Winslow and Sean Jones, draft day in those early years was nothing but heartburn and heartache for Browns fans.

Then Phil Savage showed up.

Since taking over as general manager in 2005, Savage’s first-rounders have been Braylon Edwards, Kamerion Wimbley and Joe Thomas.

Edwards and Thomas already have made the Pro Bowl and Wimbley’s been more than solid.

That’s a pretty good batting average for a guy who had never been a GM.

Now the challenge is to hit on some of the lower-round picks because that’s all the Browns have this year after trading away their top three.

It’ll be interesting to watch what happens. Between trips to the cafeteria, of course.

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