As expected the Browns traded DL Corey Williams to the Detroit Lions. The Browns got a fifth-round draft pick in this year’s draft for Williams, but also gave up a seventh-round pick. This ends Williams’ very disapppointing stint with the Browns, and puts the finishing touches on what was a horrible trade for the Browns. Considering the Browns obtained Williams from the Packers for a second-round pick, and didn’t even get a fifth-round pick for him straight up (since they also has to give up a seventh), either the Browns got fleeced by Green Bay, or they just gave Williams away to Detroit. Either way, it isn’t pretty.

Williams never panned out for the Browns, as he struggled to adapt to the 3-4 defense, after doing well in Green Bay playing one of the inside line positions in a 4-3. Hmmm…maybe the Packers knew he couldn’t handle the transition, and that’s why they got rid of him? Not long after Williams departed, the Packers also made the change to the 3-4 defense as well.

RYAN TUCKER RETIRES

Ryan Tucker has played his last game in the NFL and for the Cleveland Browns. After spending the majority of his 12-year career with the Browns, and missing last season with a knee injury, Tucker has decided to move on to the next chapter in his life, and plans on spending more time with his family and moving on to other business avenues. Tucker was never a star for the Browns, but he was a consistent performer on their offensive lines when they didn’t have other stars like Joe Thomas. Good luck, Ryan!

PRO BOWLER COULD BE TRADED

There are rumors that the Browns may make a move to trade former Pro Bowl DT Shaun Rogers. Rogers’ 2009 season was cut short with an injury, and the solid play of Ahtyba Rubin in place of Rogers, would seem to give the Browns an opportunity to move Rogers to upgrade at another area of need such as quarterback, offensive line, or the secondary.
At first glance, moving one of the few players Pro Bowl players the Browns have, may seem like bad move. However, the Browns have a number of holes to fill, and very few players under contract who are tradeable yet expendable, and still might have good value to another team. Rogers is probably the only one who fits both descriptions, so don’t be surprised if Rogers is moved in the next couple weeks.

While Cribbs’ level of play remained consistently high right through his performance in the Pro Bowl, up until today, his off-field world for the last few months has been much more of a roller coaster ride. Never swaying from his desire to get a renegotiated contract, in spite of having three years remaining on his current contract, Cribbs has gone from being optimistic, to frustrated, to stating that he was done in Cleveland as he hauled the contents of his locker away in a trash bag, to now signing to remain with the team he had openly stated he wanted to remain with all along. The new regime in the Browns front office may have talked a good game, remaining almost indifferent publicly as they always said they wanted Josh to remain in Cleveland, while also stating that they would remain fiscally conscious. However, they had to also know that Josh Cribbs is as beloved in Cleveland as he is valuable to the team, and that not signing him would be a very bad sign of things to come to their fan base.

From a football standpoint, locking up Josh Cribbs for the next three seasons was a no-brainer. Every head coach talks about the three phases of the game: Offense, Defense and Special Teams. With Josh Cribbs returning kicks for the Browns, the third of those phases will be one that the Cleveland Browns will have an edge in, against pretty much any opponent. There is no special teams player, and in particular….kick returner….who is more dangerous that Joshua Cribbs. In addition to what he can do for the team on special teams, he is a threat if used the right way on offense as well. So, according to the Browns, they plan on expanding the role of Josh Cribbs on offense next season as well.

Now that the Cribbs saga has reached a positive conclusion, expect the Browns to be active on the trade market as well as they search for a quarterback, and potentially additional draft picks. There is word that DE Corey Williams may be headed to Detroit for a draft pick, and second-round tenders to quality players like LB D’Qwell Jackson may lead to some additions to an already robust draft filled with 11 draft picks already.

1) St. Louis Rams – Will Horton (www.ramsherd.com) – Ndamukong Suh, DT, Nebraska

2) Detroit Lions – Josh Pung (www.roarofthelions.com) – Gerald McCoy, DT, Oklahoma

3) Tampa Bay Bucs – Eric Schmidt (www.whatthebucs.com) – Eric Berry, S, Tennessee

4) Washington Redskins – Ryan Estroninos (www.paintitredskins.com) – Russell Okung, OT, Oklahoma State

5) Kansas City Chiefs (www.chiefschatter.com) – Joe Haden, CB, Florida

6) Seattle Seahawks – Jay Flannelly (www.flockofseahawks.com) – Brandon Graham, LB, Michigan

So Roger Goodell steps to the podium and announces, “With the seventh pick of the 2010 NFL Draft, the Cleveland Browns select Jimmy Clausen, quarterback, University of Notre Dame”
The New York crowds erupts as usually with a mix of 90% boo’s, and 10% cheers, which happens with every draft pick and is therefore meaningless, but fans in Cleveland are cheering.

The obvious storyline to this is the drafting of Clausen, who succeeded current Brown, Brady Quinn at Notre Dame. Also, the Browns are in desperate need of a playmaker in the defensive backfield. But with Berry and Haden off the board, and with Clausen surprisingly falling to Cleveland, Clausen was just too good to pass up…..especially after trading down last season and therefore giving the Jets Mark Sanchez. They couldn’t pass on another potential playmaker to lead their offense.

The Browns are far from set at the QB position (with questions surrounding both Derek Anderson and Brady Quinn), and as was demonstrated in the conference championship round of the NFL playoffs this year, you need a good quarterback if you are going to contend for a Super Bowl. Jimmy Clausen has all of the attributes you look for in an NFL quarterback. He is tall (6′ 3″), has good size (217 lbs), has good mobility, a solid mind for the game (comes from a pro-style offense run by Charlie Weis), and he has great arm strength which according to many is the one big question about Brady Quinn.

With their quarterback position addressed, the Browns can now focus on the right side of their offensive line, their defensive, and wide receiver, with the remaining 10 picks of the draft.

Each of the team correspondents from our NFL family will take the reins of their particular franchises as we construct our own version of the first round of the 2010 NFL Draft… and for those of you in Chicago and Charlotte, while the fates have pushed you out of that moment of glory this season, we will not let you go without. ALL of our correspondents will be taking part as those teams relinquishing first-round selections will offer thoughts on what their teams may have done.

Enough is enough… let’s get to it. Will Horton from RamsHerd.com will kick us off shortly with the first pick on behalf of the St. Louis Rams. Follow us right here and make sure you hit up the links for extended analysis on each pick.

Thanks for tuning in, and enjoy.

If you have ever seen the eyes of a child light up when their Christmas, that would have otherwise gone by without a special gift because their family has fallen on hard time, is suddenly made a whole lot brighter because of a gift they received from a generous donor, you see what really matters. Or if you have ever seen what a generous gift can do for a family who otherwise would not be able to care for a loved, you know what really matters. Still, those acts often go unrecognized in a national media so thirsty for the next big play to lead their sports shows with.

For one Cleveland Brown, and one who you haven’t heard alot about this season, this weekend, some well deserved recognition is coming his way. Mike Furrey has been named one of three finalists for the Walter Payton Man Of The Year for 2009. Mike and his wife, Koren, started the Mike Furrey Foundation years ago while he was in Detroit, and the foundation continues to grow and benefit more and more people every year.

According to the foundation’s website, “The Mike Furrey Foundation is a non-profit organization designed to improve the lives of those that are Hungry, Homeless, Hurting, and/or Hopeful. The organization helps promote/advocate for the basic needs of all people/children to be met. ”

Whether it be hosting a celebrity golf or bowling tournament, or through leading some of the charity work through the church that the Furrey’s are members of, Mike Furrey and his foundation are focused on giving back to their communities and helping the lives of others who may not be so fortunate. In an era of so many “I love me some me” athletes, Furrey has elected to spread his love far beyond what many athletes choose to.

Whether he wins the Walter Payton Man Of The Year award on Sunday or not, Mike Furrey is a winner in my eyes, and more importantlly, in the game of life. If you can, please visit his website, and support in any way you can.

Maybe it went unnoticed with all of the stir created by Mike Holmgren coming to Cleveland to become the team’s president, but the Browns actually DID have a team president before Holmgren’s arrival. That guy (Mike Keenan) must have felt a bit uneasy over the past month as the team openly shopped for a new leader and then brought in Holmgren and gave him Keenan’s job title while Keenan remained in the building.  Picture ‘W” hanging out in the White House and keeping the Oval Office for a few weeks after Obama was sworn in. Can you say “awkward”? Well, Keenan was mercifully shown the door on Friday along with the Browns chief contract negotiator, Dawn Aponte. These firings now clear the way for Tom Heckert to assume control of the player-personnel matters for the Browns. Job One of course, will be dealing with Josh Cribbs.

CRIBBS UPDATE

Speaking of Cribbs, Mike Holmgren stated this week that the Browns planned on making another contract offer to Cribbs. Holmgren stated once again that he “loves” Josh Cribbs, so now it’s hopefully time to show Cribbs some ‘love’ financially. Now, probably making the level of ‘love’ needed a bit higher than before, Josh Cribbs was named first-team All-Pro as a kick returner. Some notable fellow kick returners who make the kind of money Cribbs is seeking (Devin Hester, Andre Davis, Roscoe Parrish) didn’t even make the second-team All Pro list. Something tells me that the price of poker just went up! The ‘ace in the hole’ for the Browns of course is the fact that Cribbs still has three years remaining on his current contract. Still, the Browns realize that Cribbs needs a pay raise.

JOE THOMAS ALL-PRO

For the second time in his career, Joe Thomas has been named to the NFL’s All Pro team. Last year, Thomas was second-team last season. This season, he made first-team.

Thomas anchors a line that paved the way for one of the leagues best rushing attacks over the final weeks of the season and truly deserved the honor. Throughout the course of the season, he also made players like Minnesota’s Jared Allen look like they were just ordinary players ,when they faced the Browns. Joe Thomas has only been in the league for three years, so the Browns have anchor for their offensive line, for years to come.

That change is a good sign for the Browns and their future, but at the end of the day, the most important factor will be what change is seen on the field in wins and losses. The team showed it can win, with the four victories to close out the 2009 season, but as I have stated in previous posts, there is no reason to feel comfortable with how those wins were accomplished. The passing game was lacking and even Mike Holmgren referred to that in his recent press conference when he said “….if you throw six balls a game, you are not going to win” and agreed “…we have to look at that.”. Thank you, Mike. I knew I could count on you!

So then the question has to be asked about HOW an improved passing game will be accomplished. Eric Mangini already stated that he plans on integrating aspects of the West Coast Offense, which is a Mike Holmgren staple, into the Browns offense in 2010. So I think you will see a pretty significant change in the offensive playbook in 2010 as compared to 2009. With an upgraded passing attack a virtual certainty, one of the biggest changes we should expect in the 2010 season will be at the position responsible for directing the passing attack….the quarterback position.

The Browns have two quarterbacks under contract for next season in Brady Quinn and Derek Anderson, and even though Holmgren and Heckert haven’t seen much of either since they have been with the Browns, they have enough film to know pretty much what they have. What they have are two big question marks. Anderson has had one good season in 2007 and hasn’t done much since. Quinn hasn’t had enough starts or remained healthy long enough for anyone to give him a final grade, plus he now has a foot injury to deal with. Neither is likely to be anointed as the Browns starting quarterback in 2010, nor should they be. I expect the Browns to bring in a new quarterback to be the starter in 2010.

That leaves two familiar faces to the new management team. One is Matt Hasselbeck from Seattle, and there are two options in Philadelphia in Kevin Kolb and Donovan McNabb. While many would think that Hasselbeck would have the inside track to become a Browns because he is a ‘Holmgren guy’, we have to remember that it is Heckert….not Holmgren….who will have final say in player personnel matters. Hasselbeck has also had his own injury concerns, with back issues. That leaves either of the two Eagles quarterbacks as potential options for the Browns in 2010.

The Eagles actually have three quarterbacks on their roster, when you also consider Michael Vick, but aside from Vick throwing the only TD pass in the Eagles playoff loss to the Cowboys last week, his primary role this season has been his ability to run out of the wildcat formation. The Browns already have that role filled with Josh Cribbs, assuming that the Browns are able to keep Cribbs, who Holmgren has stated that he “loves”. Vick is still a project and the Browns have a couple of projects already in Quinn and Anderson.

Kevin Kolb has been solid in spot action, particularly this season, and now that the Eagles will be in re-tooling mode as well, I would be surprised if the Eagles are willing to part with their former second-round draft picks who is under contract in 2010 for a paltry $550,000. So, as I look into my brown tinted crystal ball, I see a good chance that Donovan McNabb will find his way onto the Browns roster for 2010 to be their starting quarterback.

McNabb has been in the NFL as long as the Browns have been since they returned to the NFL in 2009. He was the second pick of the 1999 draft, which ironically is one pick after the Browns selected Tim Couch with the first pick of the draft. Couch is now long gone from the NFL, while McNabb has been to the Pro Bowl five times in his career. This past season, he had a 92.9 passer rating and in 14 games started, passed for over 3,500 yards, with 22 TDs and only 10 interceptions. He is also very familiar with the West Coast offense, since that is the same type of offense used in Philadelphia. This past week, Eagles coach Andy Reid proclaimed that McNabb would return to Philly in 2010, but later seemed to back away from that comment, stating that there were a lot of areas the Eagles had to look at. With two quarterbacks who could be potential trade bait, plus 11 draft picks in the 2010 NFL Draft to play with, it would be a pretty easy thing to package either Quinn or Anderson (my guess is it would be Anderson) to back up Kolb, along with a second day draft pick, to acquire the services of Donovan McNabb. In McNabb, the Browns would have a starter for the next one or two seasons, and a mentor for their quarterback of the future……no matter who that may be. Aside from the obvious benefit of solidifying their quarterback position, the Browns would do something they haven’t done in a number of seasons……avoid a quarterback derby. Let’s hope it happens!

In Mike Holmgren’s first press conference as Browns president, he stated that everything within the Browns organization was up for review. He said that he would be looking at everything and that areas where change was needed, would be changed, and areas that didn’t need to be changed, would remain as-is. For a company like The Cleveland Browns Football Company, the biggest ‘product’ they have is what they produce on the football field. Sure, there are other things, like suite sales, ticket sales, and merchandise sales (to name a few), but the one ‘product’ that impacts everything other aspect of the organization, is how the team produces during the sixteen games they play in the NFL each season. In 2009, that was a football team that won five games and lost eleven.

As proof that ‘beauty is in the eye of the beholder’, Holmgren’s former team in Seattle finished the 2009 season with five wins as well, after a Holmgren-led Seahawks team finished with four wins in 2008. Like the Browns, the Seahawks had a first-year head coach as well in 2009, in Jim Mora Jr.. However, unlike the Browns, the Seahawks were so disappointed with a five win performance that Mora and his staff were suddenly shown the door this week. It seems that five wins in Seattle will get you tossed. Converesely, in a perennial losing organization such as Cleveland, five wins will get you another year on the job and the support of a new president who was hired to turn the organization around.

There is no question that Mike Holmgren is a solid “football guy”. He is widely respected in the NFL, and the Browns selection of Holmgren to lead their organization was viewed by most as a slam dunk and a sign of great things to come for the Browns. What still doesn’t add up in my mind though is how Mangini AND his entire staff, were kept for the 2010 season. There was no more perfect chance to enact some change in the Browns, than right now, with the hiring of Holmgren. Instead, what it appears we will now have in Cleveland is the same thing we had in 2009, except a new president, and a new general manager. It is rare that a team undergoes such an overhaul at the top, and yet the coach and his staff remain after the change takes place. So there has to be some other underlying reason why the decision was made to give Mangini and his entire staff a mulligan after the 2009 season.

IS HOLMGREN SETTING THE STAGE FOR HIS NEW GENERAL MANAGER TO PICK HIS OWN COACH?

In his press conference, Mike Holmgren joked about his new fancy new title, and said he will hire people to do the jobs they are hired to do. The interview process for a new general manager continues, but it appears that current Eagles GM Tom Heckert will soon be named to the same position with the Browns. Last year, Heckert pulled his name from consideration as the Browns GM when Eric Mangini was hired as head coach while the interview process was being conducted. Heckert obviously did not want to be saddled with a coach he didn’t select or buy into. So why would Heckert now agree to become the Browns GM when the same coach remains in Cleveland? My guess is that Heckert may convince Holmgren to do an about face and let Mangini go still during this offseason, or Mangini will be on a shorter leash than a schnauzer at the Westminster Dog Show in 2010.

WAS THE THREAT OF AN OWNERS LOCKOUT IN 2011 A FACTOR?

With the NFLPA and NFL owners at an impasse on a new collective bargaining agreement, an owner-imposed lockout in 2011 is looking more like a potential possibility. A lockout would immediately shutoff the money spigot for NFL teams in 2011, and a new labor agreement will likely change the financial landscape of the NFL in 2011 and beyond. It would impact what they pay players, and what money would be leftover for teams to then pay their coaches. With Mangini still having three years left on his contract, there may be little incentive to bring on another multi-million dollar coach, when they would have to pay Mangini the rest of his contract, while the Browns are still paying Romeo Crennel after he was fired prior to 2009. Even in the NFL, and for wealthy owners such as Randy Lerner, money doesn’t really grow on trees.

IS HOLMGREN SETTING THE TABLE FOR HIM TO BECOME HEAD COACH?

There is some speculation that Mike Holmgren still may be leaving the door open for him to return to the sidelines at some time in 2010. I can see it now. The Browns get off to their typical slow start, Mangini is shown the door at half-time midway through what looks to be their fifth loss of the 2010 season, and cameras focus on Mike Holmgren as he abruptly stands up from his seat in the owners loge, tears off his suit only to reveal a snappy Browns pullover and coaching gear. He then sprints through the bowels of Cleveland Browns stadium only to emerge from the tunnel onto the field, as the Browns faithful rise to their feet and start chanting “Mike!” “Mike!” “Mike!”, and he runs to the sideline with red challenge flag in hand. He tucks the flag in his waist band eagerly awaiting the next questionable call by the officials, throws on a headset, and the Mike Holmgren Coaching Era begins! Oh the thrill of it all!

Sorry, but even is less dramatic fashion, I don’t think it’s happening. Mike Holmgren has his hands full already as team president, and I don’t see him being president AND coach, with Tom Heckert or anyone else as general manager organizationally sandwiched in the middle of those two roles. We may not yet know the full reason why the decisions were made this week the way they were, but I doubt that it’s because Mike Holmgren will eventually become the Browns head coach.