The eve of camp

Some random thoughts and predictions as the Browns approach the opening of training camp on Thursday:

First-round pick Braylon Edwards isn't signed yet. If he doesn't ink on the dotted line, that would be the fifth straight year the Browns haven't had their first-rounder in camp on time.

The two most-hyped Browns draft picks, Edwards and quarterback Charlie Frye are the only two left to sign. The fact that Frye isn't inked is especially troubling. Quarterbacks need mental preparation to take the field more than any other position. Edwards can show up and run wind sprints for the first week and be cool. Frye needs to learn and implement the whole playbook.

General manager Phil Savage isn't a slick charmer like Carmen Policy. Head coach Romeo Crennel doesn't spew the word "guts" like Butch Davis. This might be the most low-key sports regime in Cleveland, personality-wise. Good. Let's shut up and build a winner, then. The less talking and more doing, the better.

Prediction: safety Brodney Pool will be the Browns rookie who will have the most immediate impact. He has the size to play safety and adequate speed to play the corner. He might find an immediate niche as a nickel-package back.

Prediction: the stability that Trent Dilfer will lend to the quarterback position will go a long way to helping the offense jell, even if Dilfer won't put up gaudy numbers.

Prediction: Dilfer will lend stability just in time to get injured again, paving the way for either Frye or Josh Harris to take over. How the youngsters react to being tossed in the fire could determine the course of the season.

Suggs will have a good season, but constant ping-and-ding injuries will prevent him from latching onto the feature running back role. With nobody among Suggs, Green and Droughns able to emerge from the pack, the running back position will remain muddled.

Much like last year, Steve Heiden and Aaron Shea will be good enough as tight ends to make us forget about not having Kellen Winslow Jr.

You won't notice much of a difference between having L.J. Shelton as the starting left tackle versus Ross Verba. However, the odds of veteran Shelton having 3 a.m. booze orgies at his house and winding up on the police blotter are probably less than with Verba.
(By the way, at last check, Verba still hasn't gotten that big, fat contract the Browns weren't going to give him. Come on, other NFL teams! He's one of the top five offensive linemen in the league! He would be a heck of an anchor along with Santa Claus and Quasi Modo.)

Bonus list time....

The Browns' first-round picks since returning to the league, ranked by effectiveness of the pick (Edwards not included since he has yet to play):

1) Jeff Faine, C, 20th overall, 2003. Injuries have hampered him, but who on the offensive line haven't they hampered?

2) William Green, RB, 17th overall, 2002. Has done so much wrong off the field, but has done just enough right on the field to apparently convince the Browns to hang onto him. Could potentially make the tailback position very deep with Lee Suggs and Reuben Droughns.

3) Tim Couch, QB, 1st overall, 1999. The C.C. Sabathia of Cleveland quarterbacks. Showed flashes of stardom, but could never sustain it. A chronically terrible offensive line coupled with virtually no running game until Green arrived didn't help matters. He was branded as a "system" quarterback at Kentucky, and his downfall in Cleveland was in large part the product of a system, too. An inept one.

4) Courtney Brown, DE, 1st overall, 2000. Maybe he lacked the "killer instinct" of a Jevon Kearse, but we can only imagine what could have been had Brown's knees not been destroyed by injuries. Fresh out of Penn State, he was 6'-7" and lightning quick.

5) Gerard Warren, DT, 3rd overall, 2001. Butch Davis's first draft pick as Browns coach was an overestimation of talent that would become synonymous with the Davis regime. He was ballyhooed as the next Warren Sapp coming out of Florida, but proved to be no more than a decent hole-plugger at his best. At his worst, he was a stone-dumb buffoon who called out the quarterback of a red-hot division arch-rival ("Kill the head and the body's dead.")

6) Kellen Winslow, TE, 6th overall, 2004. He might be a good tight end in the future. If he doesn't get himself killed first.