Cleveland Browns Off-Season Summary 2008/2009

Welcome to gridironbrownies.com, where you will find thoughts, comments, news, tidbits, and rants about the Cleveland Browns. If you’re looking for the Browns through rose colored glasses, there are plenty of places where that can be found…..but this isn’t one of them. What you will find is an impartial view of what’s coming out of Berea for a team blessed with one of the most loyal fan bases in the NFL. Come back often and enjoy, as the 2009 edition of the Cleveland Browns gets ready for the start of the Eric Mangini era!

Before we go head first in to the 2009 season, let’s review some of the more vital changes to the Cleveland Browns since the end of last season.

Out With The Old….

After a 2007 season where the Browns came within a Colts benchwarmers-led loss to the Titans in Week 17 from the playoffs, the 2008 Browns season was one looked at with much hope and optimism. That good vibe lasted right up until Week 1 of the 2008 season when the Cowboys came to town and gave the Browns and their fans a good dose of reality. The team limped toward the end of the season, losing their last six games, not scoring an offensive touchdown in the any of them, and ending the season with a dismal record of 4-12.  The low-light of the last month was the lone home game where the also-struggling Cincinnati Bengals came to town and thumped the Browns 14-0. A season that began with so much promise and an offense that lit up the scoreboards in 2007, finished the season not scoring more than 10 points in any of their final six games.

It didn’t take long for the purge to begin. General Manager, Phil Savage was the first to go, quickly followed by head coach, Romeo Crennel and his coaching staff. Team owner, Randy Lerner, vowed that he was focused on bringing the football-hungry city of Cleveland a championship caliber football team, and the search began for who would head the turnaround for the city’s beloved Browns.

From a player perspective, often disgruntled Kellen Winslow II was traded to Tampa Bay for a second round draft pick in 2009 and a fifth round pick in 2010. More offensive weapons were either shown the door, or are soon to see the door, as veteran WR Joe Jurevicius was released, and disappointing 2008 free agent acquisition, Donte Stallworth, got himself in a legal mess when he struck a pedestrian crossing the street, while Stallworth was on his way HOME from a night on the town…. at around 6AM! As the saying goes, when it comes to professional athletes, “Nothing good happens after midnight”

In With The New….

Within days of getting fired in New York as the head coach of the Jets, Eric Mangini was the first addition to the Browns organized as he assumed the same role in Cleveland. What was interesting about this was that Mangini was hired BEFORE a general manager was named. It took a while but as expected, Mangini’s former roommate, George Kokinis, left Baltimore’s front office to become the Browns general manager.  Usually it’s the other way around (the GM is hired and then finds his coach), but in this case it essentially was a situation where the coach was instrumental in hiring his boss. We can never do it the easy way in Cleveland, can we?

On the surface, the pairing of Mangini and Kokinis seems to be a good one in that they are very comfortable with one another, and have similar philosophies on who they want in a Browns uniform. They won’t be just “presenting” a unified front, this really IS a unified front. The question of course is how that will translate to wins and losses.

Eric Mangini soon started to make the team one that shared his same philosophy, by adding a number of former Jets  players and coaches to his staff. As offensive coordinator, Mangini hired former Jets QB coach Brian Dabol, and as defensive line coach, he recruited former Jets LB coach Bryan Cox.

As for players, the list of former Jets who are now Cleveland Browns includes: LB David Bowens (free agent); DL Kenyon Coleman (draft day trade), DB Abram Elam (draft day trade); DL C.J. Mosely; (free agent); DB Hank Poteat (free agent); and, QB Brett Ratliff (draft day trade).

In With The REALLY New….

Speculation swirled around Browns headquarters prior to the 2009 NFL Draft, as the fruit of a 4-12 record was the fifth pick in the first round. There was talk of teams trying to trade up with the Browns so the Browns could amass more picks to help spur the rebuilding effort. There was also a lot of talk about the Browns trying to trade WR Braylon Edwards, whose most prominent trade partner appeared to be the NY Giants who were trying to find a replacement for WR Plaxico Burress. Allegedly, the Browns wanted too much as the Browns wanted draft picks, a WR, and DE Mathias Kiwanuka. The demand for Kiwanuka ended up being the deal-breaker. If the Browns could have swung that deal, there isn’t a Browns fan who would have flinched. In the eyes of Browns fans, Edwards went from “hero” in 2007 after a tremendous season, to “zero” in 2008 where he dropped more passes than any WR in the NFL.

There were also trade rumors of the Browns trying to deal QB Brady Quinn. None ended up being anything more than rumors, which in my mind is a good thing. Two years removed from the 2007 NFL Draft when the Browns worked so hard to move back into the first round to grab Quinn, Quinn has done nothing to prove that he is not the Browns quarterback of the future, any more than he has had ample opportunity to prove that he is. I think you have to give him a legitimate shot before sending him packing and turning over the keys to the offense to Derek Anderson once again.

On Draft Day, as the time came for the Browns to make their pick, Eric Mangini proved that there were no hard feelings for being sent packing from New York, as the Browns traded with the Jets, for a number of players listed earlier in this blog, and draft picks. The Jets used that pick to draft former USC quarterback, Mark Sanchez. Two more trades later, the Browns finally started adding players with the 21^st pick. Following, is a summary of the Browns 2009 draft. The one common denominator in all of them is they were all strong academically in college, and good character guys. With the purge of guys who were pretty much the opposite of that, this is good news for the Browns.

 Alex Mack – C – California (Round 1, 21^st pick overall): A three-year starter, and first-team all Pac-10 nominee for all three years, Mack should help anchor an already strong offensive line that includes Eric Steinbach and Joe Thomas.

Brian Robiskie – WR – Ohio State (Round 2, 36^th pick): Robiskie is probably as NFL-ready as any WR coming into the NFL in 2009. With great hands, and a football pedigree (his father coached the Browns for a short time and was coached wide receivers for the Browns and other teams), Robiskie isn’t the fastest guy around, but he should do well for the Browns in the slot receiver role.

Mohamed Massaquoi – WR – Georgia (Round 2, 50^th pick): In Massaquoi, the Browns hope they have found a starter to go along with Braylon Edwards. He’s a big target, has decent speed, and good hands. He ended his college career on a 33 game streak of games with at least one reception.

David Veikune – OLB – Hawaii (Round 2, 52^nd pick): When Eric Mangini talked about drafting Veikune, he raved about the kids “motor”. Though he played DE in college in the 4-3 defense, the way he was used in college convinced the Browns that he could stand up and play OLB in the Browns 3-4 defense.

Kaluka Maiava – LB – USC (Round 4, 104^th pick): Maiava played all three LB positions during his time at USC and was a solid performer  in his senior season, starting alongside the more heralded  Rey Maualuga, Brian Cushing and Clay Matthews II. Maiava comes from a wrestling background with former professional wrestlers  all over his family tree. He’s smart and versatile and should be a valuable addition to the Browns defense.

Don Carey – DB – Norfolk State (Round 6, 177^th pick): Coming from a small school, Carey opened scouts eyes with a solid performance in last season’s East-West Shrine Game. He’s a smart player who could have attended Yale, but didn’t because he couldn’t afford it. Carey could be one of the those great small school finds that make the NFL draft so interesting each year.

Coy Francies – DB –San Jose State (Round 6, 191^st pick): If not for only playing one season of Division I ball (he transferred to SJSU from American River College in 2006 and had to sit out 2007 due to NCAA transfer rules)  Francies would have probably been drafted higher. Francies is a play-maker who could be a dark horse to crack the Browns starting lineup.

James Davis – RB – Clemson (Round 6, 195^th pick): In 2007, an NFL Draft Advisory committee rated Davis as a second-round prospect. Electing to return to school for his senior season, behind only an average offensive line and a struggling offense, Davis rushed for only 751 yards his senior season, after averaging over 1000 yards his first three. The Browns could have very well found the future replacement for aging Jamal Lewis, in drafting James Davis.

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Tags: Alex Mack, Brian Robiskie, Coy Francies, David Veikune, Don Carey, James Davis, Kaluka Maiva, Mohamed Massoquoi