An inside look at Browns offseason workouts

 
As the Browns congregated for their mandatory weekend minicamp on Thursday, it
started with new coach Eric Mangini making quite a statement.
Rain? Practice still takes place — outside.
The mandatory minicamp follows after a few months of voluntary minicamps and
organized team activities.
NoLogoNeeded.com has contacted a source that has first-hand accounts of the
Browns' offseason workouts. The following notes are their observations. Our
source asked to remain anonymous and we will respect that request.
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Receivers, Receivers, Receivers Everywhere
Brian Robiskie has come as advertised.  He has looked impressive in drills and
practices.  The Browns finally have a receiver with sure hands.  However, he
is not going to outrun anyone.  He should make a fine possession receiver.
After Robiskie, it gets bad. Don’t count on Braylon Edwards making a
transformation back into his 2007 form.  At these off season practices, he
continues to struggle catching the ball.  During the drills,  the Browns ran
three straight plays to him.  The end result: Braylon dropped all three
balls.  On a brighter side, he did make a couple catches in the 7-on-7 and team
workouts.

Mohamed Massaquoi may be following in Edwards’ footsteps.  Massaquoi is the
most impressive receiver on the field through the team’s drills.  The problem
comes when the action goes live, as he develops a case of the “Edwardses”
and bobbles or drops most passes that come his way.

Look for undrafted rookie Jordan Norwood to be this year’s training camp
darling, a la Frisman Jackson, Kevin Kasper and Jamel White.  Norwood has
tremendous speed and quickness.  It's impressive how much faster he seems than
everyone else out on the field.  Norwood gets most of his work on special
teams, but also gets noticed in limited reps at receiver.

Much has been made recently over the veteran leadership that David Patten could
provide to his younger teammates.  He may only be providing this leadership in
the offseason though, as he doesn’t receive many reps or make many big plays
at the practices.

Veteran receiver Mike Furrey has been impressive in his time on the field.  His
problem is that he is already in his 30s and it may come down to a numbers
game.  The Browns will most likely carry five receivers and Edwards, Robiskie,
Massaquoi, and Cribbs most likely have already secured their place on the
team.  That means that Furrey, Patten, Norwood, Syndric Steptoe, Paul Hubbard,
Lance Legget, and Devale Ellis all get to battle it out over 1-2 roster spots.
Legget has started to separate himself from the others lately running crisp
routes and actually catching most passes thrown to him.

On to the quarterback competition
For those who believe that the Browns acquired former Jet Brett Ratliff to be a
dark horse in the quarterback competition, don’t count on it.  Ratliff looks
to be a Ken Dorsey or Ty Detmer type of player.  He has a good understanding of
the new offense, but severely lacks any type of arm strength whatsoever.  His
arm is noticeably weaker than that of any of the other quarterbacks including
Quinn and Richard Bartell.

Quinn appears to be in the lead to be the starter over Anderson.  Quinn
receives around 25 to 30 reps, Anderson gets about 20 reps and then Bartell and
Ratliff each get about five.  The problem, though, is that neither Quinn nor
Anderson has looked impressive.  Both quarterbacks have struggled with erratic
throws and under the pressure of learning the new system.  Mangini mentioned in
his press conference that this was partially due to receivers not running
correct or crisp routes.  However, the throws have been erratic enough that
this will not make much of a difference.

It appears that Anderson has been picking up the offense better than Quinn. 
Quinn seems to have trouble understanding offensive coordinator Brian Daboll and
getting the plays called and executed correctly, while Anderson goes out and
runs the play.

Offensive Line
Alex Mack will be the day one starter at center. Mack gets the majority of reps
at center and that Hank Fraley gets the rest.  In drills and in play without
pads, Mack may have the best footwork on the offensive line.

Although Charles Ali plays fullback, he is in this section because of his
size.  Ali has shown up to the OTA’s with a few extra pounds and out of
shape.  He is constantly needing a break and sucking air.  You wouldn’t know
it looking at his shorts, which appear to be three sizes to large. However, this
causes the coaches and teammates to holler at him to pull up his shorts that
continue to drop as he runs.

Linebackers
Last season’s top draft pick (fourth round), Beau Bell, has been having a
rough go at it.  Bell doesn’t seem to be understanding the defense or special
teams.  He is constantly in the wrong place and on the wrong end of the
coach’s wrath.  Don’t look for much contribution from this draft pick again
this year.
David Veikune looks pretty impressive, but the players are not in pads, so this
could change.  But for now at least there is a positive sign.

Alex Hall and Kamerion Wimbley are big question marks at linebacker. 
Hopefully, Alex Hall will be able to hold up against the run and develop into a
three-down player.  Wimbley appears to be the same old “One Move Wimbley”
we have seen.

On a positive note, David Bowens looks good.  Although again, this could be
because he knows the system and practice is without pads.

D-Line
One of the best sights is Robaire Smith going through drills. The defensive line
should be much improved if Smith can return to form. Shaun Rogers looks like
Shaun Rogers again, which is good news. 

Defensive Backs
There are plenty of numbers for competition at cornerback, after the top three
(Wright, McDonald and Hood) there just isn’t much talent.  Corey Ivy has been
getting most of the work as the fourth corner, but hasn’t done much to keep
it.

Rookie Don Carey has been getting some hype for his interceptions, but usually
runs with lower-level talent.

The other sixth round pick, Coye Francies, will be in big trouble when cuts
start rolling around this summer.  He has some time yet to pick it up, but he
has been burned on a consistent basis. 

Coaching Staff
So how involved is Mangini in these practices?  Mangini is letting his coaches
coach.  He stands off by himself in these practices and tells the ma with the
air horn when he has seen enough and to let everyone know it is time to go to
the next drill. He is definitely the man in charge, but he seems to stay out of
the spotlight. He, along with the entire rest of the coaching staff, also
hollers “Stay up!” and “Keep’em off the ground” nearly every play. At
least he's interested in keeping his guys healthy enough to get to preseason.




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