Training-camp postcard: Browns

[Smooth]

Training-camp postcard: Browns





Where's Bill?

At the Browns' training facility in Berea, Ohio, just outside Cleveland.

Browns tight end Kellen Winslow has
missed most of his first two season with
injuries.







Here's the Drill

1. I saw three Browns practices, one with Kellen Winslow playing in 11-on-11 drills and two without. What a difference when the third-year tight end is out there. Suddenly the offense looks capable of moving the ball against real competition.

Winslow, who missed nearly all of the last two seasons because of injuries, said he's operating at about 90 percent right now, and coaches are still taking it easy with him. But that 90 percent is enough to remind you of why he was the highest-drafted tight end in decades coming out of Miami in 2004. It's tempting to say that everything in Cleveland this year hinges on the progress of quarterback Charlie Frye, but Frye has a much better chance of making progress if he has K2 out there with him.

2. Speaking of Frye, you see why he has people in Cleveland believing in him. Whatever the opposite of "deer in headlights" is, that's Frye. The second-year player out of Akron doesn't hesitate to give orders to longtime veterans and signing-bonus guys. Frye says he's talked to linebacker Willie McGinest, the former Patriot who signed with the Browns in the offseason, about how Tom Brady stepped in for the injured Drew Bledsoe in 2001. "Brady just took that team and ran with it," Frye says. "That's my mind-set. Pedal to the metal, I'm going."

Another Frye note: He put on 15 pounds this offseason, bringing his weight up to 218. Frye, who started the last five games of 2005, decided he needed more padding after a Week 16 game against Pittsburgh in which he was sacked eight times. "I told my mom, 'Steak and mashed potatoes are back on the menu.'"

3. A couple of rookies who stood out during the practices I watched: wide receiver Travis Wilson, their third-round pick out of Oklahoma, and linebacker Leon Williams, their fourth-round pick from Miami.

4. Another player who stands out at practice is third-string quarterback Derek Anderson. You take a quick glance at the 6-foot-6 23-year-old with a big arm and wonder why he isn't the man who could be The Man. Cleveland GM Phil Savage says it's a matter of Anderson proving he can keep the ball in the hands of the offense. At Oregon State, Anderson threw 79 touchdowns -- and 57 interceptions.

5. McGinest, on what he learned in New England last year, after injuries to Rodney Harrison and others: "The system may be great, but it couldn't save us. We still needed those players." McGinest, in his 13th season, is seen as a mentor in Cleveland for the young players learning the 3-4 defense of coach Romeo Crennel -- who was McGinest's coordinator in New England. But when talking to a small group of reporters, McGinest bristled after a few consecutive questions about him teaching the young guys, as if he had half-retired to coaching. "I don't just want to talk about it," he said. "I want to go out there and show them, this is what it takes to win."

Factoid

Seventy of the 90 players in Browns training camp have joined the team in the last two years, since Crennel and Savage took over. And Savage points out that if you count extensions they've given, the Browns have only 12 player contracts without their fingerprints on them.

Fantasy Note

The most attractive fantasy player: Winslow. With Braylon Edwards likely out at the start of the season and the offensive line looking sketchy -- right tackle Ryan Tucker will miss the preseason recovering from arthroscopic surgery, and center LeCharles Bentley is gone for the season -- it's easy to imagine Frye, under pressure, making a lot of quick throws to an intermediate receiver who is incredibly elusive and has great hands.

Camp Confidential

The Browns like fifth-round pick Jerome Harrison as a third-down back -- Crennel compared him to Dave Meggett. With Reuben Droughns as starter, that may mean the end of the line in Cleveland for either William Green or Lee Suggs. And Suggs, whose three years in Cleveland have been injury-plagued, is a third-down type himself. The numbers game may not go his way.



To read the article at SI.com, click here.

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[RuanuLaw]

"Brady just took that team and ran with it," Frye says. "That's my mind-set. Pedal to the metal, I'm going."

I love that.