Saw Shaun Smith on "Browns Red Zone" on SportsNet Ohio recently. I was
very impressed with him, his knowledge of the game, of the players on
his team and on other teams. He had alot of interesting comments to make
and even took a few phone calls.

A few things I remember him saying:
Grantham was a yeller. According to Shaun the players started tuning him
out because of the yelling.

He seemed a little surprised that Tim Carter started this season instead
of Travis Wilson. He said Travis dropped too many passes during training
camp, that's why he didn't get a shot during the season. But he added
that Wilson can fly and stretch the field, and he'd like to see him get
an opportunity next season.

The DB's, wanted to play more press coverage on the line of scrimmage to
slow receivers down, but Grantham wouldn't allow them to.

He said Quinn handled being a backup well, and never once complained. He
didn't seem to hate up.

He mentioned the obvious, that the Browns need depth EVERYWHERE, not
only on the D-line. I was surprised how often lack of depth at WR was
mentioned, by Shaun, the host of the show, and the callers. I thought
that was a fairly deep position. Heck, Carter couldn't even get the ball
thrown to him with Edwards, Jurevicious, and Winslow on the team (yes, I
realize KWII's a TE).

Cribbs - one of the sportswriters that was also on said he had a hard
time picking up the playbook for the WR position, which I found odd
since he was a college QB.

Gary Baxter - Shaun said he's been working very hard to try to make it
back. He practiced but was only about 80% which wasn't enough. He
thinks Baxter will get a shot at safety in '08 if he can come back at
all.

He brought up Jurevicious having bad knees which I didn't know. Thinks
he might only play one more year.

Callers brought up D-linemen from other teams wondering if the Browns
would sign any. On Haynesworth he said it's a character issue, plus he's
a penetrating D-linemen not a 3-4 type. Regarding Detroit's Shaun Rogers
he said Shaun has bad knees and his motor isn't always running.

He was even asked about Hawaii's WR's, and he knew about them as well,
pointing out that not all good college players are NFL material.
He's looking forward to the Colts coming to town during the '08 season.
He made some type of comment, "We'll have something for them." Have
to admit I hope they destroy the Colts!!!

Just wanted to share that with you dawgs. When the Browns first got
Shaun I was impressed with his aggressiveness on the field. But now that
I've had a chance to listen to him, I have to say he'll be a great
leader on defense for the Browns. Hope they don't let him get away.
After his playing days I could see him staying in the game in some
capacity. Coach or talent scout most likely.

Archived from group: alt>sports>football>pro>cleve-browns