I agree bluez! I love Cameron's skillset, but the concussion bug is a tough one to invest in. This one is dragging on alarmingly long. If he misses a 3rd game, he might actually be done for the year (or career??)...I would be hard pressed to invest heavily in that player with those issues.
*SORRY* It is being reported that Josh Cribbs is at a workout for the Indianapolis Colts...I CERTAINLY hope Farmer doesn't have to eat crow, as we are set to play the Colts in 4 weeks... I might add, he has NOT made the team, he is merely trying out...
http://factoryofsadness.co/2014/11/...edium=Network&utm_campaign=Around the Network Josh Cribbs is also apparently receiving interest from another AFC North team.
I think that is the same report demo and this reporter "added" the "North" part... It was reported by Grossi that a team in the AFC was interested, then today the reports expanded to a workout for the Colts. I haven't heard anything more specific about the North, other than the article/report you cited, but that guy isn't a reliable source. He is a part of SI's "Fansided" where they get blogs from fans with aspirations...Hell he even quoted Grossi in his article stating AFC team, with no mention about the "North" part...
The coach may not want to talk about it, but the Browns are in first. BEREA, Ohio?The Browns are in unfamiliar territory. They are in first place in the AFC North and a Browns team hasn?t been in first place in their division since the 1994 season. Mike Pettine said he didn?t have to spend much time talking to the team about being in first place. ?We talked about it briefly, but just still in the context of this is a big test for us and how we?re going to handle it,? Pettine said ?There are no awards. There?s no prize for being 6?3. The only thing that?s done for us is our games are meaningful now. You still have to have the ability to put that one in a box and move onto the next one. ?It makes it a little more difficult because of what they?ve been hearing now for three or four days, but I didn?t have to hit them with a bunch of coach speak and all that,? he said. ?I think this is a mature group that can handle it. It showed today in how they showed up and how they?ve worked in practice.? Pettine said a lot of the players weren?t old enough to remember football, let alone the Browns in 1994. Pettine was asked if the players realize what they?ve accomplished, in terms of Browns history. ?They do,? he said. ?I asked, I think it was (DB Robert) Nelson in the meeting how old he was. He was three or four I think, but again, I told them it doesn?t mean anything. We have the whole offseason to sit back and enjoy the better moments of the season, but once you?re in it you just have to press on. You?ve got to go to the next one. Learn from it - the good and the bad - and use it in the next one.? Pettine has been receiving a lot of love nationally for helping to turn the Browns around, but he says it?s a team effort, as well as too premature. ?As part of the overreaction,? Pettine said laughing.?I?m smart enough to know that I?m a part of it, but it still falls back to me on the staff we were able to put together and the players we were able to bring in. Everybody is pulling the rope in the same direction. Since I?m at the head of it, I can see why that talk is there, but there?s no ?Nine-Game Coach of the Year.? It?s at the end of the year. To me, those are all team awards when that happens, so I?m no different. It?s on to the next one.? Notebook Cameron, Gipson Missing: The Browns started preparation for their home game with the Texans without TE Jordan Cameron (concussion) and DB Tashaun Gipson (concussion), neither were on the practice field during the open portion of practice. ?(Gipson) came back from the time off complaining of some headache issues,? Pettine said. ?He said he thinks it occurred in the game, so we?re just going to follow the league?s protocol and have him evaluated. ?I don?t know what the result of the evaluation was, but we?ll have more information (Wednesday).? On the stationary bike were WR Andrew Hawkins (thigh, knee) and OL Nick McDonald (undisclosed). Cameron has missed the last two games after suffering a concussion against the Raiders. ?He?s been okay for the past couple of days,? Pettine said. ?He was here today. We?ll have a better sense (Wednesday) when he?s in the building.? Taylor Sparks: DL Phil Taylor left the field late in the Bengals game and didn?t return. However, he was back at practice on Tuesday. Taylor was playing his first game since having arthroscopic injury on Oct. 8. ?I think getting Phil back was a good spark for us,? Pettine said. ?He gave us some quality reps. He was very disruptive.? Taylor had three tackles and a pass broken up. Agnew Back, Small Gone: FB Ray Agnew was re-signed and FB Kiero Small was released. ?It was just an evaluation (process),? Pettine said. ?We wanted to see Small and compare it to the body of work to Agnew and decided it was time to switch back.? In addition, the Browns released DL Jacobbi McDaniel from the practice squad and signed DL Jamie Meders to the practice squad. Meders is from Valley Forge High School and Ashland University. Haslam thanks Vets: Browns owner Jimmy Haslam was at practice and went individual to individual to thank each veteran that was invited to watch the Browns practice. All five branches of the armed forces were represented in Berea. The Browns welcomed 75 military guests and the USO of Northern Ohio during Tuesday?s practice on Veterans Day. The Browns will hold its Salute to Service game when the team hosts the Texans on Sunday as the game?s coin toss captain.
Hello fellow lounge hounders! Shot on me fellas. Irish I agree with you man on Cameron. He has the skill set to be a good TED! But he is what he is and that's injury prone. But the concussion's also have me worried a little bit. Size, speed and hands. He has all those. He creates mismatches that's for sure. But the man can't stay healthy. I'm not sure, Irish maybe you can help me out here. But Cameron makes I think 1.7 million a year. What would we have to sign him for you think? What is he worth now with the concussion problem? Do you think they will use a certain type of tag on him like Mack? I know that's a lot of questions but I really feel we are building a strong team here. Every dollar spent counts. My thinking on this is his price just got smaller. So if we could get him reasonably then I sign him but next year with one of those picks I'm drafting a TED. Speaking of every dollar counts, I don't think the Browns should resign Rubin. He make over 9 million a year, I think. He is an unrestricted free agent along with Sheard and Austin. Austin make 2.7 million. I dont know what Sheard makes but I would resign him. Gipson and Skrine are restricted free agents. I would keep both of them also. By not resigning Rubin and Austin we would knock off over 11 million a year. The question is where is it going to go? Hoyer, Sheard? We are leading the division now so I'm not doing my usual college prep yet. But I do know there is some good D-lineman in this draft. Good OLB's. I haven't really looked at TED except Jesse James from Penn St. But resigning Cameron or not I'm drafting a TED! GOOOOOOOOO 1st place BROWNIES!!!!! WOOF WOOF!
Cameron has been the invisible man this season, and the concussion thing is scary for him personally and for the team professionally. We can't sign a guy who is going to play only 50% of the season. He has skills, but I never truly thought of him as elite. Maybe it' s my long standing status as a Browns fan that makes me expect the worst, but concussions individually are scary, but also cumulative, making his future as a football player questionable. Gordon's return would go a long way to softening the TE coverages we will see, and at least from that standpoint, makes the oppty for Cam to get back at a good time. The jury is out though for now. MacDonald hurt? God help us if we have to start over again on the Offensive line. 3 weak O line performances at this stage are very unlikely to end in a 2 and 1 record. Let's hope it doesn't keep him out, Watts is nearly unstoppable for a complete line, let alone a makeshift one. Every week will be a test. Are we ready? I am glad we had a long week to let the furvor settle down after Thursday night. Predictably, "the Browns are going to the playoffs" talk shifted back to an echo after the Sunday games.
OK so we are 6 and 3. with 7 to go. This game is critical. Have we learned from the Pitt hangover? Do we understand, accept, and look forward to putting in all of the effort necessary to make us the better team Sunday? I believe we, as fans should expect to win Sunday, but the players shouldn't. It's not because we are "the better team", though I believe we are. It will be because we wanted it as much or more than Houston did. The big test is for the O line and for Hoyer. Watts will not be denied. He will make plays. The critical piece, IMO is does Hoyer keep his head, and not force things. Take a sack if he has to, throw the ball away if he has to, etc...... He doesn't need to play the hero. The D can get this one done, and the O IMO only needs to eliminate granting Houston any additional opptys, by turning the ball over. I would be happy with a boring win, where we can all question Hoyer, but come away with the victory, by stifling Mallet and Foster. I'll sign for that right now.
BEREA, Ohio? The Browns might be able to get one of their play makers on offense back this week in Andrew Hawkins, but also might be without one of their biggest play makers on defense. The Browns started the practice week Wednesday without Tashaun Gipson. However, they might get some help as Mike Pettine left the door open regarding the possibility of Jordan Cameron returning this week. Pettine confirmed that Gipson is in the NFL?s concussion protocol. Gipson took a knee to the head against the Bengals and came back from the weekend off complaining of a headache. Pettine said Cameron might practice Wednesday, which indicates he?s moved up in getting cleared in the league?s concussion protocol. Cameron has missed the last two games. However, Cameron was not on the field during the open session. Pettine was asked prior to practice Wednesday if either will practice. ?Cameron maybe, but it?s too early for Gip (Gipson),? Pettine said. ?It will be a tight window. We haven?t ruled Gip out yet, but he?s in the protocol. We?ll always adhere to that strictly and see how the week finishes.? Gipson leads the NFL in interceptions with six, but if he cannot play he will be replaced by Jordan Poyer and Jim Leonhard. Hawkins practiced on Wednesday after missing last week?s game with the Bengals. He currently leads the Browns in receiving with 39 catches for 504 yards. Notebook McDonald Back: C Nick McDonald was practicing during the open media time at practice. McDonald sat out Tuesday with a calf injury. McDonald was listed on the pre-practice injury report with a calf injury. Pettine talked about McDonald before practice. ?If Nick can?t go, we know we have (John) Greco to slide over, if we had to,? Pettine said. ?Ryan Seymour has taken the reps while Nick?s not practicing.? Pettine said McDonald might just some rest early in the week. ?We?ll know better today,? Pettine said. ?We didn?t want to put him out there on the extra day (Tuesday). We?ll see where he is today. He?s logged enough practice and game reps that we might be better off to rest him early in the week, but make sure he?s getting the mental reps. I think that will all clean itself as week goes on.? If Seymour starts, it would be the fourth different center to start for the Browns in the past month. Alex Mack broke his leg against the Steelers and Greco started the next game. McDonald has started the last three games at center. Other players on the pre-practice injury report were WR Andrew Hawkins (thigh, knee), DL Phil Taylor (knee) and DB Johnson Bademosi (concussion). Hawkins practiced, while Cameron, Gipson and Bademosi were not on the field during the open session. Gipson Leads Pro Bowl: FS Tashaun Gipson currently is the leading vote getter for the Pro Bowl with five weeks left in the voting. Fans can vote at NFL.com. Gipson currently leads the NFL with six interceptions, but is questionable to play this week from suffering a concussion against the Bengals. Could?ve, Should?ve: The Texans selected DE J.J. Watt in the first round (11th overall) in the 2011 NFL Draft. That year, the Browns had the sixth-overall pick and they traded down with the Falcons and used the picks they received to eventually select DL Phil Taylor, QB Brandon Weeden, WR Greg Little and FB Owen Marecic. They also bypassed WR Julio Jones, who the Browns were rumored to be interested in, but the trade allowed the Falcons to select him.
Tough questions for me to answer Els...Honestly, it depends on how comfortable you are with the numerous injuries, not only the concussions, which alone scare me away. This imho brings his value down. And, as Ken already stated above, he has shown signs of a top flight skill set, BUT has never put them to good use in developing into an elite player. I agree 100% with you on that. So how do you value that? Right now, I would "mark" him as a top ten talent that can't stay on the field for 16 games. If you evaluate him SOLELY on 2013 where he managed to play 15 games out of 16, then we would be looking at the company of say... Dennis Pitta, who has had some injury issues of his own, has had one good year with similar #s to Cameron's 2013 season...less yards, but same number of TDs. His contract that he signed last season (he is one year older than Cameron, so this is a great example) was for 5years/$32M, it averages $6.4M per year and has $16M guaranteed. But the best part of his contract is that after the first two years, you actually save cap space by cutting him, so it is still team friendly for an injury prone player. If he were cut after year one, the dead money cost to the cap is $6.6M...tough hit But in years 3-5, the cap GAIN is actually $600K/3.3M/5.5M respectively So, in order to resign Cameron, I believe this is what we are looking at...Which if he ever became a 16 game starter and played like he did in 2013, it would be a bargain...if he goes like he is in 2014 from here on out, then it is over paying a player that knows the system and has potential. (edit All this depends on him returning to the field VERY soon and playing well mind you...if his injuries continue, his value drops to a 1 to 2 year incentive contract, that the Browns would be more than willing to pay. However, there are NO "tags" in Cameron's future, unless of course he returns this week and averages over 100 yards and 2 TDs per game for the rest of the season, then all bets are off... IMHO, Jim Dray and Gary Barnidge are contributing greatly to a team with (2) rookie undrafted free agents as their main targets. I don't know that this system needs an elite TE to make it hum. I would rather pay a clean and sober Josh Gordon his due and get another top flight wide receiver out of the draft to add to Taylor Gabriel and Andrew Hawkins. What I would personally like to see in 2015 for our receiving corps: Josh Gordon re-sign him to a team friendly, heavily incentive laden contract that could make him one of the highest payed wide receivers if he passes every drug test. Andrew Hawkins signed through 2017 to a team friendly contract Taylor Gabriel signed through 2016 to his UDFA contract Miles Austin re-sign him to a similar 1yr/$2M contract, I feel he has outplayed his contract, not on the field, but with veteran leadership and he should be rewarded for it! Devin Funchess, 2nd round draft pick, the ultimate 2015 draft WR/TE tweener out of Michigan. He could play an integral role moving all over the line to fill what ever role Shanahan can dream up. He is never going to be a 1,600 yard receiver in the NFL, what he can be is a consistent 900 yard complement to Gordon who scores double digit TDs year in and year out. Christian Jones, 5th round draft pick, His real value will be on special teams as a return specialist, but he can also coontribute to the receiving corps if the injury bug bites.. **notes IF BY THE GRACE OF GOD either Amari Cooper or Kevin White came within striking distance of a nominal trade up in the first, then I would make the move to get either of them. I feel Cooper will be gone in the top ten and White top 15 though...so a lot depends on what we and the Bills do from here on out...start rooting for whomever the Bills are playing on Sundays, we DO NOT want them making the playoffs...if they are on the outside, then there is an outside chance we could move up to get Kevin White. Otherwise, I would reserve those 1st round picks for the defense...it is going to be a nice draft on the defensive side of the ball.
Yes, I'm not much of a Bama supporter either bluez, but when it comes to my Brownies, I don't give a rats arse where the players come from, it's where they are helping to take us to!!
Coach Mike Pettine declined to announce a starting running back for Sunday's game against the Texans. We suspect it will be Terrance West after he started in Week 10 and put up a 26-94-1 line as the Browns routed the Bengals. Pettine brushed off Ben Tate's recent whining, again saying West had earned the starting role. "There will be times when we have to choose as a staff what we feel is best for the team, over what the individual feels is best for him ? and this is an example of that," the coach said. West is the best bet here, but owners just need to know the leash is short in this RBBC. Not even the players know how the workload will be distributed going into the games.
[h] *YAHOO* HAPPY THURSDAY LOUNGE HOUNDS? *YAHOO* [/h] Back safe and sound from my annual safari and find the Browns alone in first place in the division *BRAVO* Am loving the optimism around here. Pettine and Company need to keep taking care of business one week at a time.
Texans running back Arian Foster suffered a helmet-slamming groin injury in the team?s most recent game, a loss to the Eagles before the bye week. With a game looming against the Browns on Sunday, Foster has yet to practice this week. Via Tania Ganguli of ESPN.com, Foster didn?t practice Thursday after missing practice Wednesday. He has said he intends to play. ?That?s the plan, going to keep on working out,? Foster said Wednesday. ?We shall see.? Yes we shall. And if Foster doesn?t play, the team?s chances of losing shall increase.
Cool. Thanks.I also agree with 2 defensive players in the 1st rd. Like you I would jump all over Cooper also. Like I said before I know this draft is defensive deep at D-Line. Putting pressure on the QB along with o-line/d-line is my thing. I will have to look more into the draft after our season is over. I will do the same for FA once I find out how much space we will have.
