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Centered by confusion
Offseason acquisition LeCharles Bentley having minor difficulties adjusting to Browns' system
By Patrick McManamon
Beacon Journal sportswriter
BEREA - There are athletes, and there are honest athletes.
Ask LeCharles Bentley what he can learn about the Browns' offensive line in the weekend minicamp, and he'll tell you.
``Absolutely nothing,'' Bentley said Saturday.
Now that's honest.
For linemen, minicamps are about getting blocking calls and language down, but even that doesn't go smoothly.
``I don't know what's going on half the time,'' Bentley said. ``Half the time I don't think guys know what I'm doing.''
Take deep breaths. There's no need to panic about the Browns' new center, or about the Browns' new offensive line.
Even coach Romeo Crennel said he doesn't learn much about linemen in minicamps.
``They can learn the offense,'' Crennel said. ``They can communicate and make protection calls and know when to slide a short distance and when to slide a long distance and maybe pick up some tricks at a slow tempo.
``But those guys, both offensively and defensively, they need to be able to put on pads and work with pads. That's when you find out the most about those guys.''
Bentley called joining the Browns and assimilating a new system ``a learning process.' He said he's still doing some of the things he did in New Orleans, where he played his first four years.
``Sometimes I'm making calls that I'm used to,'' he said. ``I'm trying to unlearn those things and put them into this offense.
``This is a process that's normal.''
As to when the line will get things together, Bentley was again candid.
``I don't know how long that takes,'' he said. ``A lot of this is new to me. The quicker I get it down the better for everybody else. I think it's more on myself being a center to get everyone on the same page.''
But it will happen. And when it does...
``It's over,'' Bentley said.
The offseason was all positive for Bentley. He signed a lucrative contract to play in his hometown, but he said ``all the confetti has fallen and it's back to work.''
And he's not wearing the ``00'' number he had hoped to wear.
The league ruled earlier in the spring that it would not allow exceptions to uniform numbers, so Bentley had to change. He picked No. 57.
``I understand they had a ruling to make and that's part of the rules and regulations,'' he said. ``I wasn't trying to get around that. I guess I'm not bigger than the NFL.''
The reason he wanted double-zero? To honor former Raiders center and Hall of Famer Jim Otto, who wore it in his career.
``I thought I was doing it for a good reason,'' he said, ``but it wasn't a good enough reason.''