Cleveland Browns (2008 Season)

[osugrad21]

CPD

Cleveland Browns re-sign defensive back Gary Baxter



Friday, March 14, 2008 Tony Grossi

Plain Dealer Reporter
Gary Baxter is going to try it again.
The Browns signed the star-crossed defensive back to a one-year contract Thursday in hopes of seeing him complete his comeback in a Cleveland uniform.
"This is very important for me to sign a one-year deal here and to finish something I started," Baxter said in a statement released by the club. "This has been a long process, but right now everything is going well and I'm going to continue my quest to make history."
Baxter is trying to become the first NFL player to return from patella tendon surgeries on both knees. He had the surgeries in October 2006. Nine months later, he was cleared to practice for the opening of training camp in 2007.
Baxter made the final roster but didn't appear in a game. He was placed on injured reserve with 10 games left.
"I'm running and feeling good," Baxter said. "I'm putting in everything I've got. Things are looking very positive."




Cont...

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Link

Baxter, Ali signed to 1-year deals

Jeff Walcoff, Staff Writer
03.13.2008

The Browns have signed defensive back Gary Baxter and fullback Charles Ali to one-year contracts, the team announced Thursday.
Baxter has been working his way back onto the field during the past 17 months since injuring patellar tendons in both knees on Oct. 22, 2006 during a game against the Denver Broncos.
The 29-year-old sat out the entire 2007 season while continuing to recover. He remained on the team's active roster for the first six weeks of the season and practiced on a limited basis before being placed on injured-reserve on Oct. 23.

Continued.....

[LitlBuck]

Get Kimbala Edwards who was recently released by the Lions to be our other pass rushing outside guy. Browns wanted him when Wimbley was coming out but at that time he re-signed with the Lions so at least we have a previous history with him as far as being interested.

[LitlBuck]

Cleveland.com

Cleveland Browns lose Chaun Thompson to Houston
Posted by Tony Grossi Plain Dealer Reporter March 14, 2008 14:10PM

Browns free agent linebacker Chaun Thompson has agreed to a two-year contract with the Houston Texans. A source said Thompson will get a $650,000 signing bonus and $2.4 million overall.

"At the end of the day, it brings him back home to Texas," said agent Jeff Griffin. "This is just good family-wise for him."
The Browns offered Thompson a two-year deal similar to the one he'll sign in Houston.

The defection means the Browns will turn to other options at linebacker, including Kalimba Edwards, Al Wilson and possibly Rosevelt Colvin.

[billmac91]

OLB Clark Haggans has a visit set up for the Browns next week. He started all 16 games for the Steelers last year. He is 31, so he still has some tread on the tires. Much more than Willie anyways. Willie looked like he was running in mud last year.

Anyways, Haggans would be a major upgrade and also bring a winning attitude.

[LitlBuck]

Originally Posted by billmac91

OLB Clark Haggans has a visit set up for the Browns next week. He started all 16 games for the Steelers last year. He is 31, so he still has some tread on the tires. Much more than Willie anyways. Willie looked like he was running in mud last year.

Anyways, Haggans would be a major upgrade and also bring a winning attitude.

Nice find... he would be a good pickup

[LitlBuck]

Cleveland.com

NFL INSIDER

Cleveland Browns' Andra Davis, Willie McGinest get pay cuts
Sunday, March 16, 2008
he Tony GrossiPlain Dealer Reporter

Not everybody with the Browns is getting contract extensions and big pay raises these days.

The team quietly reduced the contracts of two prominent former starters on defense - linebackers Andra Davis and Willie McGinest. Both players now are part of three-men rotations at their respective positions.
In December 2005, Davis signed a five-year contract extension for $20 million. That deal included a base salary in 2008 of $3 million, plus a $200,000 roster bonus. The base salaries would rise to $3.75 million in '09 and $4.1 million in 2010

more on salaries

Davis's contract will be up after this year plus Willie takes a big pay cut. Also, more about Anderson's contract. Due big signing bonus next April... I don't think he will see that one.

[osugrad21]

Canton

Around the NFL: Browns, Ravens share cruel history
Sunday, March 16, 2008
By Steve Doerschuk
REPOSITORY SPORTS WRITER

It's not spot on to say the Browns and Ravens are joined at the hip.

There's something of a dislocated hip in this discussion.

It's a weird connection, actually, between Cleveland, which had the Browns from 1946-95 then lost them, and Baltimore, where the franchise landed.

The weirdness is magnified by the fact Cleveland General Manager Phil Savage has worked for the old Browns, the Ravens and the new Browns ? and no one else in his NFL career.

The common thread weaving through the last two decades has been quarterback instability in Cleveland and Baltimore. The problems caused therein are one reason Savage won't knee-jerk jump from Derek Anderson to Brady Quinn. They're the sorts of reasons that persuaded the Giants to stay with Eli Manning, the Jets to keep giving Chad Pennington chances, the Bears not to bail out too soon on Rex Grossman, for better or for worse.


Cont...

[LitlBuck]

link

By Marla Ridenour

Pittsburgh free agent linebacker Clark Haggans is scheduled to visit Cleveland Tuesday and Wednesday, his agent Jeff Sperbeck confirmed Monday.

Haggans, 31, an eight-year veteran, could give the Browns a pass-rush threat opposite Kamerion Wimbley. Haggans has totalled 32.5 sacks the past six seasons, with 58 tackles and four sacks in 2007. He became a regular for the Steelers in 2004, with 57 total starts in that span. He's also recorded 315 career tackles (210 solos) and 18 passes defensed.

Wimbley, Cleveland's first-round pick in 2006, set the team's rookie record with 11 sacks, but followed that up with just five in 2007. Outside linebacker Antwan Peek, signed as a free agent from Houston to take some of the pressure off Wimbley, was hampered by injuries most of last season.

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[osugrad21]

CPD

Rival Steelers' LB visits Browns



Wednesday, March 19, 2008 Tony Grossi

Plain Dealer Reporter
Linebacker Clark Haggans, a mainstay pass rusher for the Pittsburgh Steelers the past four seasons, is the latest free agent to visit the Browns.
Haggans checked in on Tuesday and was to meet with team officials and coaches on Wednesday. The Browns are looking for a pass-rush complement to Kamerion Wimbley.




Cont...

[LitlBuck]

Cleveland.com

Cleveland Browns visit with KC cornerback
by Tony Grossi Plain Dealer Reporter
Wednesday March 19, 2008, 12:12 PM

Kansas City free agent cornerback Benny Sapp is visiting the Browns today.

Sapp, 5-9 and 190 pounds, has played in 56 games in four years with the Chiefs since they signed him in 2004 as an undrafted free agent from Northern Iowa.

Sapp is believed to be the first cornerback to visit the Browns since they shipped starter Leigh Bodden earlier this month to Detroit in the trade for tackle Shaun Rogers.

Sapp has been a backup corner and special teams contributor for the Chiefs. He has two interceptions. He also was a part-time kickoff returner last year.

Continued

[osugrad21]

CPD


Kansas City Chiefs cornerback Benny Sapp visits Cleveland Browns



Thursday, March 20, 2008

ROWNS
Chiefs corner pays visit
Kansas City free-agent cornerback Benny Sapp visited the Browns on Wednesday.
Sapp, 5-9 and 190 pounds, has played in 56 games in four years with the Chiefs since they signed him in 2004 as an undrafted free agent from Northern Iowa.



Cont..

[osugrad21]

Canton

Browns looking at Steelers' Cliff Haggans to aid linebacking corps
Thursday, March 20, 2008
BY Steve Doerschuk
REPOSITORY SPORTS WRITER

Cleveland struck a little gold by playing rent-a-Steeler in 2002. Maybe it can happen again.

Needing to beef up the outside linebacker spot opposite Kamerion Wimbley, the Browns resumed courting Clark Haggans on Wednesday.

In 2002, the Browns made the playoffs with help from middle linebacker Earl Holmes, who had spent the previous six years with Pittsburgh and was a Brown for just a year. Haggans, an eight-year Steeler, is 31, roughly two years older than Holmes was when the Browns signed him.

A mad March dash through the player-acquisition market left the Browns with only two or three worrisome positions, one carrying the initials OLB.

Haggans' best year was 2005. Despite missing three games, he delivered a career-high nine sacks. During 2006 training camp, when Haggans was coming off a big Super Bowl, linebacker Larry Foote told Steel City Insider:

"Clark is definitely underrated. He should have made the Pro Bowl. He's ripped. He's a workout warrior, full of energy. Even if he's tired and everybody's dog-beat, you know Clark will be giving it 110 percent."

Cont...

[LitlBuck]

Haggans came into focus after Chaun Thompson opted to leave for Houston. Rosevelt Colvin, who played under Browns Head Coach Romeo Crennel when the latter was New England's defensive coordinator in 2003 and '04, is another free agency option.

From article posted above

[jlb1705]

cleveland.com: Everything Cleveland

"Once the Browns see that LeCharles is LeCharles again, they'll be very pleased," Feinsod said. "He's fully committed to playing this season."
In December, the Browns shortened Bentley's contract by three years and gave him the chance to become an unrestricted free agent after this season. He's signed through 2008 at the NFL minimum for centers with his experience of $605,000, but can make the $4 million he was originally set to earn through incentives. Bentley will receive $1 million bonuses after playing eight games, 12 games and 14 games.
The Browns are anticipating Bentley's return, but have also signed guard/center Rex Hadnot, an unrestricted free agent from the Dolphins, and lineman Lennie Friedman. Hadnot (6-2, 325) started every game the previous three seasons for Miami, at right guard in 2007 and center in 2006. In 2005, he started 13 games at right guard and three at center. The Browns haven't specified where he will play.