Other recent articles: |
Published March 12, 2009 Why Are Players Relieved to Leave Cleveland?Kellen Winslow was about as disgruntled as they come. Big Baby Shawn Rogers is ready to throw a tantrum. Sean Jones left for greener pastures. Braylon Edwards may be the next upset former Cleveland Brown. But this isn’t the first off season former players left and trashed the franchise upon moving on. Trent Dilfer has said “this is a dysfunctional franchise”. Jeff Garcia couldn’t wait to get out. Jeff Faine, Shaun O’Hara, Anthony Henry, Leigh Bodden, Lance Moore, and others are probably thrilled they got out of Cleveland early enough in their careers. The list goes on. LeCharles Bentley spent two of the hardest years of his life affiliated with the Browns. He finally battled back from his staph infection that almost cost him his leg, and what did the team do – cut him his first day back. Now the same eerie situation is occurring with Joe Jurevicius. Released? What happened to his comeback from staph infection? The local kid who came back to play for his hometown team? The missing anchor to the 2008 team? The veteran presence Edwards and our quarterback (whoever that is) needs? The third down target? I do understand the move. Clear cap space to start to rebuild this team – and build the Mangini-Kokinis era. But c’mon. Jurevicius’ comeback would’ve been a great story. A franchise should stand behind guys like him, Bentley and even Winslow. Randy Moss was a head case before arriving under Bill Belichick’s wing. Now he is thriving as a Patriot, and most importantly, you don’t hear anything more than a peep out of him. Is he a reformed man? Maybe. But it’s probably a stern, well-oiled machine-for-a-franchise that turned Moss straight. Now rumors that Edwards is the next to go have surfaced. It would be hard to swallow letting raw talent like Edwards go, despite the dropped passes, the attitude and his affiliation to that team up north. He can still be a franchise receiver, and it would be devastating seeing him in that role anywhere else. This all just equates to more proof that the Browns have lots of work to do to become a model NFL franchise. And it also proves that 2009 is going to be a long season.
|
Add a Comment
Please be civil.