Saturday's newswire focuses on yesterday's signing of sixth-round draft
choice Kirk Chambers, but there are a couple of other interesting stories to
bring your way this morning as well.
As far as Chambers is concerned, the Plain Dealer's Tony Grossi
gets the homework award by speaking to Chamber's agent, Don Yee, about
Chambers' one-year contract.
In 2003, the Browns insisted on five-year contracts for every new draft pick.
This year, however, the Browns have tweaked that strategy for sixth and seventh
round picks, allowing them to opt for a one-year contract. Statistically,
lower-round picks are less likely to stick on a particular team's roster, making
a five-year contract a bit of a gamble. Butch Davis, however, still has yet to
cut any of his draft picks, including his low-round picks in 2001 and 2002.
From Chambers' perspective, the one-year deal opens up the possibility of
being a free agent after three seasons. The Browns insistence on five-year deals
has infuriated some agents, as it prevented their clients from getting to free
agent payoffs until after the five-year contract period. Grossi's article covers
this change in approach, and is good reading.
Another article of interest on the Newswire comes from Steve Heiden's
hometown paper, the Rushford (Minn.) Tri-County Recorder. A local boy made good,
Heiden talks about his role as a blocker now that Kellen Winslow has
arrived, and enthuses about the team's prospects in 2004. Heiden gushes about
playing in Cleveland and the quality of the football fans on the North Coast.
He's right, of course.
There is some momentum building towards training camp as well. I suggest that
you take a look at the
Watercooler if you want to hook up with the Dawgs visiting Berea next
weekend.
The Browns are also announcing parties and get-togethers, as they try to
compensate for some emotional distancing which occurred during the teams first
five years back in Cleveland. A
Brown and Orange Weekend has been announced and our friends at the Southwest
Browns Backers get mentioned
in an article on the event.
Showing that no experience is complete without corporate sponsorship and
roving clowns, the Browns have announced an "AOL for Broadband training camp
festival" taking place next weekend on Friday through Sunday. The team promises
festivities will include "will include roving entertainers, a children’s
activity tent, an autograph tent, inflatables/rides, and also include music and
entertainment performed on stage." The festivities will be held on Friday, July
30 (10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.), Saturday, July 31 (8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.) and
Sunday, Aug. 1 (Noon – 7:00 p.m.).
The whole thing about "inflatables" makes me nervous, but they're advertising
it as a kid-friendly event. The
informal picnic being planned in the park by the gang in the Watercooler is
more my speed, personally, but if you like your festivals festive,
Baldwin-Wallace is the place to be.
NOTE: Fans reading this article via Yahoo, Fox Sports, or copy-and-paste
in message boards can click through to linked articles by visiting
BerniesInsiders.com.
LINK:
Today's
Newswire
URL: http://www.fanmonster.com/browns/news/btng_newswire.asp