Browns preseason schedule
No Nationally televised preseason games this year Browns fans.
The exact times and dates haven’t been announced yet, but here’s how preseason is shaking out. In week 1, the Browns travel to Green Bay. Week 2, Cleveland at home against St. Louis. Week three, travel to Detroit to play the Lions and wrap up preseason schedule at home against the Chicago Bears.
LB trade?
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According to the Nationalfootballpost, the Browns are discussing a possible trade with the Philadelphia Eagles for OLB Chris Gocong. Gocong, 26, recorded 44 tackles last season while also playing on special teams.
The Cal-Poly product is 6’3″ 263 pounds and suited for a 3-4 defense.
So who do you believe?
These next three weeks leading up to the draft, there will be the biggest propaganda and disinformation campaigns undertaken by NFL teams. One of the questions surrounding the Browns will be, do they take a quarterback in the early first round or do they try to package a deal and get one late in the first round/early 2nd?
Of course, as I reported here a few days ago, the Browns have invited Texas quarterback Colt McCoy to dinner. He’s a very accurate quarterback but lacks a big arm.
[picappgallerysingle id="7483356"]The other quarterback which is garnering some news is Jimmy Clausen. Clausen, 6’3″ 220, is a junior out of Notre Dame.
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Clausen has been questioned about his leadership skills and maturity, but in his final year in South Bend, he threw for 3700 yards, 28 touchdowns and only 4 interceptions. During Clausen’s career he did only compile a 16-21 winning record for the Irish.
Cleveland is going to need to address the quarterback situation and whether it will be Clausen or McCoy remains to be seen. After the pro day at Oklahoma this afternoon and QB Sam Bradford went 49-50, it appears Bradford might be off to play for the Rams.
Browns GM Mike Holmgren has been quoted in the media regarding Clausen, “I wish I liked him more.” Now this could just be posturing as Jimmy has 3 years of experience playing in the West Coast offense and you can’t believe anything that comes from the mouths of team officials in the next 3 weeks. After all they are professional sports teams, not news organizations.
So as the Browns sit currently, they have 35 year old Jake Delhomme who is coming off a disastrous past 13 games and career backup Senaca Wallace brought over from Seattle. Mike Holmgran is not going to sit tight with that duo and a quarterback will be selected at some point in this draft.
Unfortunately for the Browns, if Holmgren and the front office do really want Clausen, they will be forced to trade up, and that trade up might very well be with either Detroit or Tampa Bay because the Washington Redskins are making some noise regarding Clausen as well. Former Denver Broncos coach Mike Shanahan is now at the helm for the ‘Skins and they too need someone under center as Jason Campbell has been a disappointment.
So, what say you Browns fans? Clausen or McCoy? Are you ready for another Notre Dame quarterback on the lakefront?
Look who’s coming to dinner!
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ESPN’s Chris Mortensen reports that the Cleveland Browns have genuine interest in Texas QB Colt McCoy. Mortensen speculates that Browns GM Mike Holmgren might try to package some picks and select McCoy at the end of the first round or perhaps wait and see if he is still available when the Browns pick in the second round.
McCoy is a two time runner up to the Heisman trophy and has thrown for 13,253 yards in his college career. Colt guided his Texas Longhorns to the BCS championship game last year but was unable to complete the game due to injury. In the first quarter of the game against Alabama, LB Marcell Dareus broke free and tackled McCoy, pinching a nerve in his throwing shoulder. Alabama went on to win the game 37-21.
While McCoy is generally considered to have an average throwing arm, he is very accurate which is key in running the West Coast offense. With the Browns already acquiring QB’s Senaca Wallace and Jake Delhomme, drafting McCoy would make sense, as he could sit for a year and learn the system and then start in 2011, providing there is football in 2011.
Prior to the draft, many think this might be an 8-8 season for the Browns
[picappgallerysingle id="7452268"]After last season, ownership of the Browns hired a new GM, Mike Holmgren. Management decided they would keep Eric Mangini as the head coach but would remove him of some of his management duties.
If you look at the free agent signings of the Browns, you can’t help but think there will be a much improved team after the draft this year in Cleveland.
QB-Jake Delhomme
QB-Seneca Wallace
TE- Ben Watson
OT- Tony Pashos
CB-John Bowie
LB- Scott Fujita
RB-Peyton Hillis
