That's a wrap!
Zac Jackson, Staff Writer
06.13.2008
That's a wrap.
The last passes thrown Thursday at the Browns' full-squad minicamp were the last ones that will be thrown by the Browns until training camp begins in late July.
That really flew by, didn't it?
The Browns' offseason program started way back in March with regimented lifting and running programs, players working four days per week in one of three groups. That led to 12 days of organized team activity practices and, finally, five practices over the last three days at minicamp.
It was a fast-paced camp, with an offense that in the spring of 2007 struggled to find its way in Rob Chudzinski's new offense implementing new plays and new formations on a practice-to-practice basis. The defense has several new players and a new coordinator, Mel Tucker, whose tweaks are pretty much being kept under wraps and away from the Browns' opponents.
But there was no mistaking the offense displayed great confidence and great tempo, while the sheer size of new defensive linemen Corey Williams and Shaun Rogers offers hope for better results in the trenches than the Browns have managed over the past several seasons.
"I think overall it was a good spring," Browns coach Romeo Crennel said. "When I'm saying spring, I'm saying OTAs and the minicamp that we just concluded. The guys worked hard. I think we got something done. Also, we realize there is a lot of work to be done and we still have a lot of work to do before we get ready for our first regular season game.
"I think from a knowledge standpoint we are ahead (of last year). But we still haven't had any pads on - no contact - so once you put the pads on and you know it starts being for real, that's when you can really tell where you are."
The real work is ahead, but Crennel isn't the only one who's pleased with the Browns did over the last month.
"Last year we were a team trying to find itself, trying to find what we were going to be about and see how this offense was going to work with us," Braylon Edwards said. "This year we know what we can do. There are some things that this offense allows us to do, and we've gotten good at a lot of things. So now the thing is to turn the good things into great things.
"It was good in terms of continuing what we did last year, (then) putting guys in different spots and mixing it up," Derek Anderson said. "The more we learn, it becomes easier for guys. We put a lot in (during minicamp) to try to get guys to keep learning it, progress, and evolve."
The coaches made sure there would be no complacency or looking ahead to summer vacation by unveiling new elements during the minicamp. On the offensive side, that meant new chances for receivers like Travis Wilson, Joshua Cribbs and Kevin Kasper, and that led to more opportunities for the defensive coaches to evaluate a still unsettled group of cornerbacks.
They put in extra work, too. The quarterbacks stayed on the field for extra work after almost every practice throughout the spring, sometimes with almost the entire receiving corps staying to help. Jerome Harrison was seen on the field for 20 or 30 minutes after some practices, too, working on catching passes out of the backfield.
It's all part of getting ready for what everyone hopes will be the season the Browns have been waiting for, one that's now just more than a month away from beginning in earnest.
"We like the spotlight," Edwards said. "(In the past years) it never felt good in the back of our minds that people didn't take us seriously. Let's be real, people took us as a homecoming game. Now, for people to be leery of what we can do, it makes us feel good.
"It is going to make us prepare that much harder."
http://www.clevelandbrowns.com/article.php?id=8520
