Cleveland Browns (2007 & prior)

[osugrad21]

DDN

Browns sign Dorsey to one-year contract

http://www.daytondailynews.com/s/co...ro/browns/2007/04/28/ddn042807brownsdig.html#​

By the Associated Press

Saturday, April 28, 2007

CLEVELAND ? Backup offensive tackle Nat Dorsey re-signed a one-year contract with the Cleveland Browns on Friday.
Dorsey played in 13 games last year for the Browns, including two starts at right tackle to end the season, filling in for Ryan Tucker and Kelly Butler on the team's injury depleted line.

Cont...

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

ABJ

Browns finally tackle big need

6-foot-6 lineman Joe Thomas should shade some of team's deficiencies from spotlight

By Terry Pluto

When the Browns drafted Joe Thomas, I thought I was about to pass out.
I mean, the Browns drafted an offensive tackle in the first round?
There are some things that I never thought I would live long enough to see.
I have often wondered what would come first: Would the Browns go to the Super Bowl, or would they actually use a high draft pick on an offensive lineman?
Could it be that the reason the Browns haven't been to the Super Bowl is they keep passing on offensive linemen?

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[OSUBasketballJunkie]

ABJ

Browns reel in two first-round whoppers

GM's catch of day twofold: Joe Thomas and Brady Quinn

By Patrick McManamon

Beacon Journal sportswriter

BEREA - Phil Savage called Saturday a day the Browns' fortunes turned around.
He called the first round of the Browns draft ``a scenario, quite frankly, that we could only have imagined in our sleep.''
``All of a sudden,'' he added, ``we're more legitimate than we've ever been.''
And he wasn't finished.
``We actually have a chance to do something,'' Savage said. ``All this luck and all this bunch of junk, it's ridiculous. I'm sick of it. We're gonna do it.
``Just give us a chance.''
Which was when coach Romeo Crennel, sitting next to the Browns' general manager, chimed in.
``I will second that,'' he said simply.
Such were the feelings after the Browns somehow pulled a first-round coup to wind up with two of the players thought worthy of the draft's top five.

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[OSUBasketballJunkie]

ABJ

Fisherman plans to anchor line

Joe Thomas confident that he will be perennial Pro Bowler for Browns

By Marla Ridenour

Beacon Journal sportswriter

BEREA - The fish weren't really biting Saturday morning on Lake Michigan.
At least not until University of Wisconsin left tackle Joe Thomas found out the Browns had selected him with the third pick in the NFL Draft.
The roar from the stern of his charter boat, the Foxy Lady, could be heard over Thomas' cell phone during his interview with local media as his buddy Joe Panos reeled in the biggest catch of the day.
``It's a brown trout,'' Thomas said.
A 14-pounder, no less. No word on whether it had orange stripes

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[OSUBasketballJunkie]

ABJ

Notebook

Agonizing draft wait OK in end for Quinn

Disappointed at first, QB happy to discover he's going to Cleveland

By Nate Ulrich and Patrick McManamon

Beacon Journal sportswriters

BEREA - Brady Quinn had to wait longer than he imagined to make the official jump from college football to the NFL.
Quinn, the Notre Dame quarterback whom almost all draft analysts projected as a top 10 pick, slid all the way to No. 22, where the Browns selected him after trading their 2008 first-round pick and this year's second-round (36th overall) pick to the Dallas Cowboys.
Quinn, who attended Coffman High School in Dublin, grew up cheering for the Browns.
``I'm so excited to be in Cleveland,'' Quinn said. ``This is a dream come true for me. Things were tough the way they worked out, but in the end, it worked out the best way I thought it could.''
General Manager Phil Savage certainly was pleased with the way things wound up after selecting Wisconsin offensive tackle Joe Thomas with the third overall pick, and then Quinn.

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[OSUBasketballJunkie]

ABJ

Browns' choices make an impact on party crowd

The Browns might have erased the ill feelings among their fans created by years of bad draft choices -- and even worse play on the field -- in the span of six hours Saturday afternoon.
A sellout crowd at the team's draft party at the club level of Cleveland Browns Stadium watched and listened as General Manager Phil Savage picked up two potential impact players in the first round of the NFL Draft. With the No. 3 pick, they chose Joe Thomas of the University of Wisconsin, passing on Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn, the player many prognosticators saw the team taking.
Thomas' selection brought cheers and a sense of calm over those at the party, who wanted nothing to do with Quinn's selection at that spot. They continued to watch as Quinn's worth fell faster than Enron stock.

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[OSUBasketballJunkie]

ABJ

NFL DRAFT: Thomas' decision to shun spotlight to fish no surprise

COLIN FLY

Associated Press

PORT WASHINGTON, Wis. - Joe Thomas' fishing trip on Lake Michigan was pretty typical.
He made a catch, had a few laughs and shared old stories with his dad and a close friend.
Oh, he also became a multimillionaire after being selected No. 3 in Saturday's NFL draft by the Cleveland Browns, with a camera crew in tow to record the moment for posterity.
"It was about as normal as a fishing trip you could have under these circumstances," he said with a smile.
So, it was a little out of the ordinary, when the 6-foot-6, 311-pound Thomas learned he would be the Browns' new left tackle through the satellite radio on Dan Fox's charter fishing vessel, the Foxy Lady.

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[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Canton

Browns land a big one in OT Thomas
Sunday, April 29, 2007
By Steve Doerschuk
repository sports writer

THOMAS
​

BEREA Here?s how the Browns see spending the No. 3 overall draft pick on Wisconsin left tackle Joe Thomas:
They didn?t get the jet, the fast car or one of the rockets.
They bought the refrigerator.
And for Browns fans starved out of their minds for a winner, it?s time to eat. The jet, Calvin Johnson, was gone. The fast car, Adrian Peterson, has some dings. The rockets? JaMarcus Russell was gone, and Brady Quinn?s launch was delayed.
Rockets take so long to build. Why not eat at Joe?s and say amen?
Who?d have guessed the Browns could start with the fridge and stock it with a rocket?

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[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Canton

Browns get tackle, then make sweet deal for Quinn
Sunday, April 29, 2007
By STEVE DOERSCHUK

AP Frank Franklin II
FINALLY Brady Quinn after he was chosen by the Browns with the 22nd pick of the NFL Draft on Saturday in New York. Cleveland acquired the pick in a trade with Dallas after choosing Wisconsin tackle Joe Thomas with the third pick of the draft.
​

BEREA The Browns didn?t spend a No. 3 overall pick on quarterback Brady Quinn ? in the name of Paul Brown, they hope they didn?t.
With a trade that had Browns fans roaring everywhere, Quinn followed left tackle Joe Thomas into an orange helmet Saturday.
After Thomas came aboard with the No. 3 overall pick, a dream stranger than fiction played out in front of Phil Savage?s sleep-deprived eyes.
?I could not have imagined Brady Quinn was going to fall back in our laps,? the Browns general manager said.
Quinn?s Notre Dame coach, Charlie Weis, won three Super Bowls as Tom Brady?s coordinator in New England. Weiss absolutely loves Brady Quinn.
?There are two top-line quarterbacks in the league, Tommy (Brady) and we all know about Peyton (Manning),? Weis said Saturday night. ?After those first two guys, it?s a crapshoot as to who is at the next level ... four or five guys.
?In the not-too-distant future, I think you?ll be talking about Brady Quinn in those pack of guys pushing up to the No. 3 spot.?

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[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Canton

Could this draft signal a change in browns? luck?
Sunday, April 29, 2007
BY TODD PORTER

The Browns stopped being the mistake on the lake Saturday. They went fishing and hooked Wisconsin left tackle Joe Thomas off the shores of Lake Michigan, then turned a whopper of a trade to get back in the first round.

Cleveland, devoid of a franchise left tackle, took Thomas, who was fishing with family when he got drafted. While Thomas spoke with Browns reporters during a conference call, someone on the boat reeled in the biggest fish of the day. Fittingly, it was a brown trout.

The Browns weren?t finished. They lured the 22nd pick from Dallas and cast a line for Brady Quinn. The Notre Dame quarterback flopped in agony on the stage at Radio City Music Hall. Once a projected top-five pick, Quinn sank to the Browns at No. 22. Cleveland drafted two big fish into its very small pond of success.

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[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Canton

Browns deal themselves into a cornerback
Sunday, April 29, 2007
By Todd Porter
REPOSITORY SPORTS WRITER

BEREA After rolling the dice on next year's first-round pick to draft Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn, Browns General Manager Phil Savage rolled them again.

This time on UNLV cornerback Eric Wright's character.

Savage traded two picks and flopped sixth-rounders with Dallas to get the Cowboys' second-round pick, No. 53 overall, and take the 5-foot-11, 190-pounder with baggage.

A rape charge, which was dropped, from Wright's redshirt freshman season at Southern Cal resulted in him dropping to the second round. Earlier this month, the NFL established a harsh conduct policy for players' conduct off the field.

Cornerback is a position of great need for the Browns, and Wright, many draftniks believe, has first-round talent. Veteran Gary Baxter is trying to come back from double patellar tendon surgery. Leigh Bodden is the team's best cornerback, but there are a host of suspect players behind him.

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[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Canton

BROWNS DRAFT NOTEBOOK
Sunday, April 29, 2007
BY STEVE DOERSCHUK

Hello? This is Baltimore

Just before the Browns and Cowboys completed a trade that allowed Cleveland to draft quarterback Brady Quinn, it looked as though Baltimore would get him. Quinn was on his cell phone with the Ravens when the Browns phoned on the other line.

"Once I clicked over, they said, 'Hey, it's the Cleveland Browns. We made a trade, and we're coming to get you right now,' " Quinn said.

Quinn spent about four hours waiting to get taken in the draft. There is no question he lost a great deal of money going from a top 10 pick to 22nd.

"I never had the money before," Quinn said. "People kept saying I was losing money. I was sitting back there with my wallet. I have a dollar in cash, and it's still in there. I didn't lose any money."

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[OSUBasketballJunkie]

CPD

CLEVELAND BROWNS

BROWNS INSIDER

Sunday, April 29, 2007 Mary Kay Cabot
Plain Dealer Reporter

Super-agent Tom Condon feels a lot better about sending his client Brady Quinn to Cleveland than he did Tim Couch in 1999.
Couch has been out of football for two years after undergoing surgeries on his elbow and shoulder, including one last June.
"Tim was the first pick of an expansion team, and obviously things didn't work out the way we hoped," he said. "But now the Browns have an offensive line with Joe Thomas, Eric Steinbach, Kevin Shaffer. They have Jamal Lewis, Kellen Winslow [Jr.], Braylon Edwards and Joe Jurevicius. That's a loaded-up offense with a lot of talent, and I think it's a great situation for Brady."

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

CPD

Notre Dame coach says Quinn can start


Sunday, April 29, 2007 Mary Kay Cabot
Plain Dealer Reporter
Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis is confident quarterback Brady Quinn can step in and start for the Browns right away.
"I don't think this is a guy who has to go to a program and be groomed for a year," said Weis in a conference call. "I think if ever there was a quarterback that was ready to go walking in the door - he got hammered for the last two years by me and can take it from just about anybody - he certainly would fit that description."
Weis, the former Patriots offensive coordinator who won three Super Bowls with Tom Brady, said Quinn already has two head starts on Brady, who was a thin, 185-pounder when the Patriots drafted him in the sixth-round.

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[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

BROWNS NOTEBOOK
Savage passes up risk of a fishing expedition
Picking up Thomas shores up leaky line
Sunday, April 29, 2007 7:13 AM
By James Walker


THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

BEREA, Ohio -- Wisconsin left tackle Joe Thomas went fishing during the NFL draft yesterday.

The Cleveland Browns did not.
General manager Phil Savage went with one of the safest players in the draft yesterday by selecting Thomas third overall. The Browns bypassed higher-profile prospects and shored up their offensive line, which has been a most pressing need for several seasons.
The Browns have picked five times in the top three since they returned to the NFL in 1999. Tim Couch (1999), Courtney Brown (2000) and Gerard Warren (2002) were major failures. Despite a knee injury as a rookie and several issues last season, receiver Braylon Edwards (2005) is still a work in progress.

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