It's the day after a big Browns victory, but attention was on sidelined
Cleveland Browns players in local newspapers on Tuesday morning.
Jeff Schudel has
an excellent wrap-up on the Braylon Edwards situation in this morning's Lake
County News-Herald, which provides answers to a number of questions fans have
about Edwards' status. Jeff, by the way, will be joining us this evening on the
Bernie's Insiders Radio Program
at 9PM on SportsTalk Network.
The most critical thing for everyone to know is that there wasn't a
definitive prognosis on Edwards as of Monday evening. The Browns hope to know
more today, and will undoubtedly be answering the phones about it in Berea
despite today being an off-day for the team.
There are two items that I consistently have seen on the minds of folks on
our forums, as well as other Browns forums.
The first are two reports by ESPN's Chris Mortenson, the first speculating
that Edwards will be out 6-8 weeks on Sunday. Mortenson then came back with
another report the next day that cut Edwards' time away in half.
While Mortenson may wind up being correct, it's mystifying as to how those
numbers came to be thrown out there. As Jeff points out
in his article, the doctors working with Edwards at the Cleveland Clinic
don't even know what kind of infection Edwards has.
As a lot of Browns fans have noted in threads on our forums and others, it's
hard to get too concerned about these estimates until the team has more
information from doctors at the Clinic. When we have information that originates
from within the team - either through official statements or through our friends
close to the team - we'll report it, as will other local sources of Browns news.
The second item that probably needs to be addressed are some comments from
fans that Edwards was somehow being "babied" by the team. There have been a
couple of threads of this type on Browns message boards that I've seen.
Some of this thinking was probably prompted by our own story on Sunday that
it was perceived that Edwards problem was related to was was considered to be an
in-grown hair on his arm. That sounds like a hangnail or something, but Jeff's
column points out how a number of dangerous infections can be started by such
seemingly innocuous breaks in the skin.
Any line line of thinking that Edwards was being overly-cautious is
definitively slapped away by Jeff's chronicle of the events leading up to
Edwards' hospitalization this weekend. Jeff points out that
it was the team that identified the problem and took action.
There are other reports on Edwards status that help bring Browns fans
up-to-date which can be found on
today's
Newswire.
The other injured player who has been the object of some media stories over
the last several days is Browns TE Kellen Winslow.
Winslow was the subject of a report by FoxSports.com's Jay Glazer on Sunday,
where Glazer reported that the Cleveland Browns and TE Kellen Winslow
were close
to a new deal. The deal, as reported by Glazer, allows the Browns TE to
recoup most of the money lost this season due to Winslows' off-field motorcycle
accident.
This ties to analysis provided by Bernie's Insiders shortly after the
accident that the Browns most-likely course with Winslow was take back bonuses
tied to his contract, but allow Winslow to make back that money if he hits
certain incentives in future performance.
Mary Kay Cabot
reports this morning that, in fact, the Browns are close to a one-year
extension with Winslow and that the contract is close to being signed. As far as
I can tell, Mary Kay has an exclusive this morning in getting confirmation from
Team President John Collins. It's well worth checking out as is the
rest of the Newswire!
- Barry