Peyton Hillis has been downgraded to “out” this week for the Cleveland Browns after he re-aggravated his balky hamstring in practice on Friday. But, the term “out” could be applied to him in ways that he hasn’t imagined.

Sources tell Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain-Dealer that the Browns have about had it with Hillis’ antics and are prepared to let him walk after this season.

“It’s one thing after another, and what’s been out there isn’t even the half of it,” one source said.

And reports that the players are sick of Hillis have been confirmed as well. As an injured player, he spent warmups this past week against the San Francisco 49ers throwing passes from midfield to the cross bar.

“It was a bad look,” one veteran Browns player told Michael Silver of Yahoo! Sports. “And it did not sit well with any of us.”

“Yes, it did get on some people’s nerves that he was throwing balls when he was injured,” Seneca Wallace said. “But at the end of the day, it’s his last name on the back of his jersey, and he has to decide how he wants to represent himself.”

Wallace also confirmed a previous report that some players didn’t appreciate that Hillis went to Arkansas last Tuesday to get married instead of showing up and getting treatment on his injured hamstring.

“Of course we’re going to be a little upset if Peyton’s not in there getting his treatment,” said Wallace. “We’re a team, and we rely on each other. But if he felt he wanted to go get married that day, that’s his business. You never really know what a person is going through. You don’t know what type of influences a person might have. I don’t know the stuff that Peyton has going on in his life.”

According to a source, Hillis was also late for a team meeting this week. And then he missed a scheduled appearance at a Boys and Girls Club Halloween party on Wednesday, which he attributed to not having the right information.

“I think everybody’s noticed a little bit of a change in him, but he could have some family issues or something,” said Wallace. “Maybe his priorities have changed. We have a whole new staff, so a lot of things have changed. Maybe some of it’s overblown.”

Regardless, something seems to be up. Maybe he’s upset about his contract situation, but acting like this won’t get you paid.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” one veteran player told Silver. “Last year, Peyton was such a positive, inspirational force on our team — but now he’s like a different guy. It’s like he’s in a funk that he can’t get out of, and it’s killing us, because we really need him. And we’ve told him that. But we’re at the point where we just don’t know what to do.”

Second-round picks usually get a little bit of leeway in terms of how long it takes for them to contribute. But, then again, when a new coaching regime comes in and you aren’t getting done, time runs out much quicker.

Like it did for Brian Robiskie in Cleveland. The Browns just dumped him to make room for a running back. With Peyton Hillis and Montario Hardesty banged up, they signed Thomas Clayton, and they used Robiskie’s roster spot.

Remember back in the 2009 draft when Robiskie was assumed to be the most NFL-ready of the receivers? Yeah, that never happened.

He’s played in 31 games since being drafted and started just 14 games for a team with very little WR talent. He caught 34 passes for 441 yards and three TD’s. Again, that’s on a team just begging for someone to step up.

If Robiskie clears waivers he’ll be a free agent.

On Friday, New York Jets free agent WR (that doesn’t make a ton of sense, does it? If he’s a free agent, he’s not a Jet) pleaded guilty to a DWI charge. He said he was just hoping to put it all behind him. Well now, he may be looking to put his jail time behind him so that he can move on with his life.

Braylon was on probation in Cleveland at the time of his Sept. 21st arrest in Manhattan. He was arrested in 2009 for an incident outside of a nightclub and pleaded no contest. He was given a 180-day suspended jail sentence, which he wouldn’t serve if he completed his probation without another arrest.

Didn’t happen and now Braylon is due back in Cleveland to have a little tete-a-tete with a judge.

If the judge gets a little cranky, he could have to serve that jail sentence. The judge could also just give him a lesser punishment like a fine. But, OTR has learned that the judge could bypass the fine and the jail time and simply sentence him to return to the Cleveland Browns for a full season. However, the civil rights outcry regarding cruel and unusual punishment would be palpable, and the judge might not want to deal with the drama.

Braylon’s lawyer, Peter Frankel, says that he doesn’t think a judge will put him in jail considering all of his charitable exploits recently. He just gave $1 million to some Cleveland students for college.

“If he’s called to Cleveland he’s going to go, and he’s going to deal with whatever may come with that,” Frankel said. “But with everything he’s done over the past 18 months, the tremendous charitable contributions he’s made … I think that he’s ready to put this behind him and move forward.”

We know for a fact that Braylon does a good job with charitable work, based on the fact that we joined him in his Project ACT work with our “Drops for Tots” program. So yeah, don’t send Braylon to jail. Coordination Camp? Yes (a la Jake Reed). Jail? No.

The NFL has instituted new rules that will change the face of kickoffs. Specifically, they have moved the kickoff spot from the 30-yard line out to the 35, where it was years ago.

This is going to change things for kick return specialists to say the least. It’s going to affect guys like Josh Cribbs of the Cleveland Browns, who does a myriad of things on a football field, but really gets big marks for his work on kick returns.

As you may have guessed, he hates the new rules.

“I’m very upset about it,” Cribbs told Adam Schein and Rich Gannon of Sirius NFL Radio. “I highly disagree [with] the rule changes. Especially while there’s no CBA in place I’m just baffled by their reasoning behind it, you know, changing the rules. Of course I know the reasoning behind it. I just disagree. Trying to make the game safer, I commend their efforts. I just think it could’ve been handled a lot better. Changing those rules will affect a lot of people including myself and incoming college [players] as well.”

Cribbs thinks that this is the NFL’s way of posturing for an 18-game season.

“One of our main reasons for not having this two-game extension is because of our player safety,” Cribbs said. “We feel the season is long enough. That’s one of our biggest things, is our contracts aren’t guaranteed. So if we get hurt, if something happens to us, we’re like, hey, this two-game extension cannot happen. So their take is, hey, we’re gonna make the game a lot safer. If you look at the past eight years, all the rule changes with the wedge, hitting a guy defenseless and this, this and that, the rules, the games have been changing a lot so they can add this. But they’re not seeing how it is changing people’s playing styles. You’re asking guys to change up the way they’ve been playing their whole careers, their whole lives, and you’re asking them to do stuff that didn’t even get them into the NFL. This is a great sport already. We know what we signed up for.”

Cribbs thinks that this will just hurt special teams and diminish its role in a football game.

“They always say in basketball free throws win games,” Cribbs said. “Well, you know what? In football special teams win games. It doesn’t matter how good your offense or defense is, if they give up one kickoff return, one fumble on punt return, that changes the whole game drastically. You win and lose games on special teams and that’s what me and Devin Hester have been able to do for our teams. So if you take that out of it, I mean, you lose the excitement [of] all these 100-yard returns.”

Luckily for Cribbs, he’s good at a lot of things, so this won’t jeopardize his career. Now, if you’re a guy that just specializes in kickoffs? You might want to get your real estate license.

OTR has a staff full of nutjobs when it comes to sports. We probably spend way too much time reading, watching and writing about sports. Our wives can attest to this.

That said, how friggin’ stupid do you have to be to infringe on a player’s personal life? It’s sports, you morons. So, when we read Cleveland Browns CB (for now) Eric Wright’s comments about his treatment from local fans, it really irritated us.

According to Wright, he received death threats from fans because of his poor performance in 2010.

“I went from people expecting me to be a top cornerback in the league to receiving death threats,” Wright said. “It was a lot to deal with.”

Photo Caption: This one play given up to Santonio Holmes was the entire reason the Browns stunk last year.

Wright was excellent in 2009, and apparently he was expected to be Darrelle Revis from there on out. In 2010, he fell off a bit, starting with a Week 3 trip to behind the woodshed at the hands of Baltimore Ravens WR Anquan Boldin.

“It’s hard to dig yourself out of that type of hole when you have the worst game of your career,” Wright said. “Then, the team’s losing and we had a young corner in Joe Haden who looked great playing. There was a lot of negative attention around my struggles and it was hard to overcome.”

Wright was then handed too much blame for Terrell Owens’ 10 catch, 220-yard performance when the team played the Cincinnati Bengals. And there were other plays given up as well, and he was blamed again. Did no one else notice that the Browns stink as a team? How can you blame one guy?

“Whether others were there or not, it didn’t matter,” Wright said. “By that time, it’s going to be Eric Wright’s fault.”

Despite the fact that he was actually pretty good in other games, the fans had already turned their ire on him. But…to the point where you are threatening his life? What the hell is wrong with you?

“It was two or three games and a few other plays and it destroys everything you’ve worked hard for as far as making a name for yourself,” Wright said. “By the time people are saying, ‘He [stinks], get him out of there,’ it’s hard to shake.”

Wright is much braver than we are. He didn’t report any of the death threats to the police, because he figured that it was just the Browns fans being passionate. It turns out, he was right. He’s still alive, isn’t he?

“I wasn’t fearing for my life,” he said. “As serious as a death threat may be, I wasn’t going to let a few bad apples ruin the whole tree.”

Last year, Peyton Hillis surprised a ton of people (certainly fantasy football owners) by blowing up for the Cleveland Browns. He rushed 270 times for 1,177 yards and 11 TD’s. He caught two more.

But, according to head coach Pat Shurmur, per Jeff Schudel of the News-Herald, he would still like to go to a two-back system in his West Coast offense.

“#Browns Shurmur says West Coast offense will be based on 2 backs together. Likes the idea of Peyton Hillis and Montario Hardesty tandem,” Schudel tweets.

Hardesty was a second-round pick last year, but was lost for the whole season when he went down with an ACL injury. He suffered it very early, so there is a chance that he could be at or near full strength come training camp.

That groan you just heard is the fantasy football community reading about this.

Today it was announced that former Philadelphia Eagles secondary coach Dick Jauron has been hired as the defensive coordinator in Cleveland. He was expected to be a candidate for the same position with the Eagles, but apparently that ain’t happening.

So, this move to Cleveland means that the Browns will be switching back from Eric Mangini’s 3-4 defense, to the 4-3 that Jauron runs. The team will now face the same problem that just about every team faces when a new coordinator wants to switch the schemes.

They need almost all new personnel.

And who might have some 4-3 defensive linemen for them? The Eagles. He is very familiar with the Eagles players and I think they might add a tackle or an end from the Eagles since they are very disgruntled with the play of their front four.

So, why would Jauron want guys that aren’t that great? Well, they’ll probably come relatively cheaply and can be good enough for the time being until he can bring in guys that are of a much higher ilk.

Could the Eagles flip a guy like Brodrick Bunkley or Mike Patterson? It’s entirely possible. They aren’t stiffs, but they haven’t been terribly productive for the Eagles as of late. But, like I said, they could be stop gaps for the Browns as they try to build their defense.

And what about Juqua Parker? I could see the Eagles shipping him off.

And we all know the Eagles love draft picks. If they could get a couple picks from the Browns, they could use those to trade down and get more tweeners that they seem to love so damn much.

Seattle Seahawks (+6.5) over Chicago Bears

Two teams have never controlled their own destiny this early in a season more than the Chicago Bears and Seattle Seahawks. If either team wins out, they will win their respective divisions, which makes this Week Six match-up OTR’s Featured Game Of The Week. Unfortunately, for the Seahawks, Sunday’s game won’t be featuring Todd Collins, who completed six passes to his own team and four passes to the Carolina Panthers last week. His performance most resembled Damon Wayans’ 2006 stand-up routine Still Standing, entertaining and humorous. There was one play where Collins actually threw an incomplete hand-off, also known as a fumble, but I like my wording better.  Let me explain. Instead of gently laying the ball in the stomach of his running back, Collins flinged the ball to his gut with a weird front-handed wrist toss. There was no need for him to do that. However, nobody can question his toughness and fortitude. He was still standing at the end of the game with a win and 32 more passing yards added to his career totals. Bears fans can’t wait to see Jay Cutler back.  Chicago Bears 24 Seattle Seahwaks 20

Baltimore Ravens (+2.5) over New England Patriots

What happens when two teams square off on the same field they battled nine months before in the 2009 Wild Card playoff round?  It becomes, OTR’s Featured Game Of The Week.  However, two key components from last years 33-14 beat down will not be suiting up, Randy Moss and Ed Reed.  Randy Moss (five catches for 48 yards on Jan. 10th) was traded to the Minnesota Vikings less than two weeks ago and Ed Reed (four tackles and one interception on Jan. 10th) is still on the PUP list recovering from off-season hip surgery.  So, let’s turn our focus on their replacements, Baltimore safety Tom Zbikowski and New England wide receiver Brandon Tate.  Actually, let’s not.  Let’s discuss what’s going to happen in the game.  Tom Brady will get pummeled by never-ending blitz packages.  They will come from the right.  They will come from the left.  And some will actually come through the middle.  Who is New England’s threat anymore?  BenJarvus?  Aaron Hernandez?  Little Julian Edelman?  The Pied Piper of Hamelin?  Jack Bauer?  I’ll give you Wes Welker, but Baltimore will keep him in check.  Tom Brady is a great quarterback, but I just don’t see the weapons that can pick apart this Ravens defense.  Furthermore, the Ravens are not as sloppy as the Miami Dolphins, so you won’t see punt blocks, kick returns for touchdowns or any other special teams disasters.  It’s quite possible we might see a repeat of January’s playoff game.  Baltimore Ravens 33 New England Patriots 14

Pittsburgh Steelers (-14) over Cleveland Browns

In this super-exciting, lopsided rivalry, two quarterbacks will be getting their first start of the season.  Ben Roethlisberger is coming off his four-game suspension for doing steroids and smoking endless amounts of pot.  And rookie Colt McCoy will be under center for the Browns after the dramatic deaths of Jake Delhomme and Seneca Wallace.  You know the phrase ‘Any given Sunday’?  Well, the phrase doesn’t have anything to do with this game, which just so happens to be OTR’s Featured Game Of The Week.  Cleveland has zero shot to win this game, or to even cover.  There’s a better chance that the Philadelphia 76ers will play the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals this season.  There’s a better chance that Lindsey Lohan will stop snorting Red Bull and coke up her nose.  There’s a better chance that I won’t watch anymore episodes of River Monsters.  All I want to know is what’s on the end of his line and I’ll watch one full hour to see.  I’m hooked, no pun intended.  I’m lying.  That pun was most certainly intended.  I had ‘addicted’ but changed it to hooked.  There’s a better chance that the…..alright, we get the picture.  Cleveland is getting smoked like Santonio Holmes’ bong.  Pittsburgh Steelers 31 Cleveland Browns 10

Oakland Raiders (+7) over San Francisco 49ers

What?  The 49ers have proved week after week that they stink worse than a dirty hippie on a curry diet.  So, Vegas makes them a seven point favorite?  Granted, they are playing the Raiders, but a seven point favorite?  What this line tells me is that as bad as the 49ers are, the Raiders are that much worse, but I’m not buying it.  Did 49ers owner Jed York’s speech about them winning the division inspire the gambling nation?  Has everyone been taking the Niners, pushing the spread to minus seven?  Or are the Raiders this bad?  I’m confused with this game.  I also feel bad for the state of California.  All three of their NFL football teams stink.  They are a combined 4-11.  That’s how short Snookie from the Jersey Shore is…4’11”.  And that’s how tall Alex Smith plays at quarterback…4’11”.  You know what?  Oakland isn’t this bad.  This line is an insult to the Raiders and their fans.  And they will take their frustrations out on the miserable 0-5 49ers in OTR’s Featured Game Of The Week.  Alex Smith can kiss his starting job away.  Oakland Raiders 27 San Francisco 49ers 13

Season Record (5-3)

Odds based on Saturday’s NFL lines on Vegasinsider, MGM Mirage.

This isn’t surprising, but it is nice to get official confirmation. That is, if you consider someone reporting what someone else said – who refuses to put their name to it – is officially confirmation.

But, two sources tell ESPN.com‘s James Walker that Colt McCoy will be the starting quarterback for the Cleveland Browns this week as they attempt to keep it close against the Pittsburgh Steelers. This is of course, barring “something unforeseen,” according to the source.

Photo Caption: McCoy’s favorite audible is The Shocker.

Yeah, we had a feeling that they might not go with him as the starter if he were to be mistaken for a college girl (seen it happen) in a Western Pennsylvania bar, raped by Ben Roethlisberger, beaten up by some local bikers to within an inch of his life, and then dumped in the Cuyahoga River and left for death. In that case, he wouldn’t be the starter. Maybe the backup or emergency QB. Still not sure if that falls into the completely “unforeseen” category though.

But anyway, Browns head coach Eric Mangini had said that he was “leaning” in McCoy’s direction, but wouldn’t go ahead and name him as the starter. That tells you how truly excited he is to have such an elite talent finally playing the QB position.

Go Browns?

Looks like the grass is greener in Cleveland. In what is essentially an exchange of crappy RB’s, Jay Glazer of Foxsports.com reports that the Philadelphia Eagles have sent Mike Bell to the Cleveland Browns for Jerome Harrison. Harrison couldn’t take over the job when it was handed to him on a silver platter, and the Eagles are the third team to say “no thanks” to Bell since 2007.

Harrison kind of was anointed the starter in Cleveland when second-round pick Montario Hardesty went down for the year with a torn ACL. It wasn’t because he was playing so well, he was just kind of the next guy in line. That was until Peyton Hillis took over as the starter.

As for Mike Bell, he’s the kind of guy that you’ll see pop up on an Eagles clip five years from now and you’ll say, “oh yeah, that’s right! Remember they used to have Mike Bell?” But, he certainly won’t be remembered in Philly for much of what happened on the football field. He’s just never gotten it going.

Adam Schefter mentioned this last night on Monday Night Countdown or whatever the hell that six-hour show is leading up to Monday Night Football. But here is another person saying that Colt McCoy is going to start for the Cleveland Browns this Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Chip Brown of OrangeBloods.com tells us that his sources say McCoy will be the guy this week with injuries to Jake Delhomme and Seneca Wallace.

“My sources confirm former #Longhorns QB Colt McCoy has been told his first NFL start will come this week for Cleveland against Pittsburgh,” Brown tweets.

McCoy has been absolutely awful in just about every appearance he’s made this year. While he hasn’t really gotten into any real games, we can’t imagine that regular season games against the Steelers are easier than garbage time of preseason games. But that’s just a guess.

This one could be downright ugly.

Since you aren’t going to go back and actually check, you’ll have to take my word for it when I tell you I am 100% spot on in my NFL picks this season. This week, I yet again will pick the games that JA and Perry were afraid to. They like to pick “low hanging fruit.” As in, games that are easy. They get nervous just thinking about making the tough picks, with the top teams in the NFL.

I, however, am not. So here we go, let’s look at the big-time games this week with big-time implications on a big-time playoff run. And just so you know, all betting odds come from our good friends (they have no idea who we are) at FootballLocks.com (when we first heard of the site, we thought it was about NFL hairstyles, but we were wrong). And just to be crystal clear, Perry is way too terrified to use a big-time site like FootballLocks.com. He cringes in horror as he logs on to VegasInsider.com.

Oh right, the games:

-Cincinnati Bengals (-3) at Cleveland Browns

Many insiders are giving the Browns a 70% chance of covering the spread this week. But, there is only a 10% chance of that. In terms of all-around crappiness, Carson Palmer’s passing is surpassed only by his offensive line. The Bengals were very successful last year running Cedric Benson all day and filling in with passes here and there. So what do they do? Go to a pass-first offense! Makes perfect sense! Go Bengals!

The Browns have been competitive this year as they’ve piled up three losses in a row. That’s impressive, because who wants to get blown out?

But, the Browns lucky streak of three close losses comes to an end this week. While the Bengals have just barely scraped by to a 2-1 start, they all seem to be miserable over there. They get it together this week and more than beat the spread.

Bengals 24, Browns 13

-Denver Broncos at Tennessee Titans (-6.5)

Which teams will show up this week? The Titans team that looked focused in whooping the Giants? Or the one that looked horrific against the Steelers?

Which Denver team will show up? The team that looked awful losing to Indianapolis? Or the team that looked awful losing to the Jaguars? You just never know.

The Titans are 0-3 against the spread this year and the Broncos are a perfect 3-0. But, that’s only if you believe the stats that I just made up right now off the top of my head. Which you probably shouldn’t. And that wouldn’t weigh into my decision anyway, so why would we bother?

We like the Titans to cover here because we heard that Al Del Greco will be making an emotional return to the stadium to watch the game in Joey Lawrence’s executive suite.

Titans 24, Broncos 13

-Seattle Seahawks (-1) at St. Louis Rams

Wow, that must be pretty insulting to Pete Carroll. One god damn point? That’s it? Someone must not be drinking the Seattle Kool Aid, and that someone is everyone. This is going to be a classic battle between two juggernauts in the NFC West. Whoever wins this division is going to have blood on their jerseys. This is just knock-down, drag-out football at it’s best.

Seattle will be playing with heavy hearts as they mourn the loss of Chester Pitts, who was cut this week. Many were excused from practice this week. Some players even considered putting a decal on their helmet; it got that bad. But the Seahawks players will turn that negative into a positive, by wearing “13th Man” t-shirts under their jerseys. You have the 11 guys on the field, the 12th man is their home crowd (which travels very well) and then the 13th Man is Pitts. How can you beat a team with 13 players?

You can’t. Seattle takes this one down.

Seahawks 21, Rams 13

-Arizona Cardinals at San Diego Chargers (-8.5)

8.5 have points? We’d think you have to take the over on that. Awfully low, isn’t it?

The Arizona Cardinals are so bad, that we fully expect Norman Fell to come out of nowhere and walk through a wide-open door and find himself out on the 30-yard line during play. He’ll make a weird face and mug to the camera when he sees the disaster going on.

“Hey, you can’t be doing this stuff up here, Jack,” he’ll say, even though Jack isn’t the QB. “Look at this mess, they have no idea how to score!”

Then Audra Lindley will come in and say, “you’d know all about that wouldn’t you, Stanley?”

And then the crowd would laugh hysterically. Then the game would continue after Fell and Lindley left the field. And the problems would continue as well, proving that the Arizona offense was all a big miscommunication and misunderstanding.

Chargers 38, Cardinals 13

As I’ve mentioned before, OTR’s predictions for sports events are different than other sites, because we’ve never ever been wrong. Whether it’s a mock draft or just a regular season game, we are always 100% spot on. How many can say that?

So, with that in mind, let’s take a look a couple of the Week 3 matchups in the NFL.

Buffalo Bills at New England Patriots (-14)

I think the real question here is whether or not the Pats get out to a fast start. If they come out and quickly get themselves a 10+ point lead, it will probably be over by the end of the first quarter. If the Bills are forced to play catchup, it will be an all-out circus. If this battle was about who could write the best business plan the fastest, then I’d take the Bills and Ryan Fitzpatrick in a heartbeat. But sadly for Buffalo, it’s not. It turns out, they’ll actually be playing football this week.

The Bills have the horses in the backfield to run the ball and I don’t love the Patriots defense. If they can ground and pound it, they’ll keep the ball out of Tom Brady’s hands and keep the game close. I am convinced that their running attack is so potent that they can control the clock and keep this one close into the fourth quarter.

Not a chance, Patriots rout them.

Verdict: Bills 10, Patriots 34

Cleveland Browns at Baltimore Ravens (-10.5)

Jake Delhomme or Seneca Wallace this week? You really think it matters, Eddie?

10.5 points is a lot to cover though. And I have to be honest, I’m not in love with the Ravens offense the way everyone else seems to be. Is Joe Flacco a stud? Or a decent QB that is asked to manage the offense? Is the real answer somewhere in between? There is a 40% chance of that?

I’m not a Flacco fan and the Ravens secondary is horrific. Still, the Browns aren’t equipped to take advantage of either.

Verdict: Browns 13, Ravens 24

Detroit Lions at Minnesota Vikings (-11)

The Vikings are giving Detroit 11 points? Really? I’m taking Detroit to cover the spread. Does anyone in Las Vegas have DirecTV? Have they seen the Vikings yet this year? Their offensive line is atrocious and Brett Favre couldn’t hit Kim Kardashian’s ass with 10 water balloons at a carnival.

Verdict: Lions 21, Vikings 24

San Diego Chargers (-5.5) at Seattle Seahawks

Well, Brent, the Chargers are only as good as their quarterback, Steve Tricosek. If anyone can find the video to that SNL sketch, I’ll write a post all about how great you are.

But anyway. I thought Seattle would be a decent team this year, but a lot of people think a lot of things about Seattle. San Diego had a hiccup in Week 1 against the Chiefs, but should still be fine to take out the Seahawks and cover the spread. Vincent Jackson should have a huge game against a weak Seattle secondary. And Marcus McNeil will keep Rivers’ blind side clean all day.

Verdict: Chargers 28, Seahawks 2

The Cleveland Browns are being relatively quiet regarding Jake Delhomme’s ankle injury. But, we would expect as much from a Bill Belichick disciple.

However, the fact that Delhomme is still wandering around in a walking boot indicates a high-ankle sprain, according to the Canton Repository.

“Eric Mangini only will say Jake Delhomme is getting better, but Delhomme has spent a week in an ankle boot, an indication of a high ankle sprain and at least a two-week furlough from the starting job,” writes Steve Doerschuk.

So, expect more Seneca Wallace. And expect more bad football from the Browns.

The Cleveland Browns had high hopes for their second-round draft pick Montario Hardesty this year. But, those hopes will have to be shelved as Adam Schefter reports that the team fears that Hardesty has a torn ACL.

“Early diagnosis on Browns rookie RB Montario Hardesty: torn ACL. More exams today to confirm the news, but a blow to the Browns,” Schefter tweets.

Hardesty had microfracture surgery on his right knee in 2006, which is a pretty bad thing for a running back. And now for him to potentially have a torn ACL? Ouch. Not sure what they could expect from him moving forward.

Especially since he plays for the Browns, which means a staph infection is just right around the corner.

Move Jerome Harrison up your draft boards.

Former University of Texas star QB Colt McCoy saw his free fall finally end. Considered one of the top QB prospects in the draft, McCoy slid past the first round (pretty much expected) and then out of the second round (maybe expected) and fell past team after team that needed a QB. Finally, the Browns grabbed him in the third round.

But the Browns passed on him several times before they took him at #85, so clearly they aren’t in love with him. And many wondered how they could continually pass on a QB when they currently have Seneca Wallace and Jake Delhomme on the roster.

“We had too many other areas of the football team to try and build on that we just thought we had to go in a different direction now,” Holmgren said.

McCoy said before the draft that he thought he’d be a good fit in Cleveland. We think he said this after reviewing the Browns QB situation and comparing and contrasting that with the QB situations of other teams. Upon doing so, it was quickly apparent to him that he’d be 334x more likely to play in Cleveland as opposed 99% of other teams.

“My heart skipped a beat,” McCoy said in an interview on ESPN immediately after he was drafted. “I was so thankful to hear from coach Holmgren. . . . He just asked me if it had been a long day and I said yes. He said, ‘We want you to be a Cleveland Brown’ and I said, ‘You won’t regret it and we’re going to win a lot of games.’”

Cleveland Browns CB Sheldon Brown went on 610 WIP the other day to speak with Howard Eskin and Ike Reese. He made some comments that dovetailed with our report from a couple of days ago about Jeremiah Trotter being brought in to keep CB Asante Samuel in line.

“I just think, we as a defense in Philadelphia, you just have to believe in what coach McDermott preaches and follow the plan,” cornerback Sheldon Brown told Howard Eskin and Ike Reese of WIP radio in Philly this week. “You know, sometimes I look back at last year, the season, I feel that we had some players that really was questioning some of the things that were being done. And [we] never had that situation since I’ve been there. And first and foremost, you have to believe in the system, believe in the plan, or you lose before you even go out there. And if the guys can remember to do that, stick together, they’ll be fine.”

We think he’s referring to Samuel, who signed a $57 million deal in 2008. Samuel was known to be freelancing in the last two Dallas games and doing whatever he wanted.

“Sometimes when guys come from other places, and you feel as if some guys in house that have been working hard feel as they’re not appreciated, then obviously in any workplace, it’s gonna become a problem,” Brown continued.

Again, he’s probably talking about Samuel. This Eagles team is in trouble. We don’t think they want any parts of Samuel any more, but at the same time they simply can’t add another hole to the defense or lose another playmaker on that side of the ball.

Adam Schefter announced today that the Eagles and Browns have finalized their deal.

Schefter tweets:

“Filed to ESPN: Eagles-Browns make 5-player deal: Browns get CB Sheldon Brown, LB Chris Gocong; Eagles get 4th and 5th rd picks, LB Alex Hall”

That brings the Eagles to 10 picks for draft day: 1st, 2nd, two 3rds, two 4ths, 5th, 6th and two 7ths.

This is a brilliant trade by the Eagles, who have tons of great defensive players and can afford to part with guys like Sheldon Brown who can actually play. But it’s better that everyone is perfectly happy with their contracts. Who wants guys that can actually make plays?

Cleveland.com is reporting that Cleveland Browns DT Shaun Rogers has been arrested at Hopkins International Airport in Cleveland. Rogers was boarding a plane when they found a gun in his bag.

Police say that the gun was loaded and we have to wonder how on god’s green earth Rogers thought this was a good idea. One report says that he claims he forgot the gun was in his bag.

Uh huh. We don’t have any more details right now.

Rogers recorded 36 tackles and two sacks in 11 games for the Browns. He broke his leg in Week 12 against the Bengals and was done for the year. It’s not known if the gun is related to the broken leg.

The Cleveland Browns are busy beavers today, huh? First, they send Brady “The Stinkbomb” Quinn to the Broncos for a bag of rusty thumbtacks, and now they are shipping off another once-promising first-round pick. The team has traded OLB Kamerion Wimbley to the Oakland Raiders in exchange for a third-round pick.

Wimbley is durable and has started all but two games in four years with the Browns. He had 11 sacks as a rookie, which most likely had the Browns patting themselves on the back for making a brave choice in the first round. Well, he just hasn’t been the same since his rookie year and new president Mike Holmgren decided it was time to move on.

According to Chris Mortensen of ESPN (one of the most overrated NFL information people in the business), there were numerous teams interested in Wimbley’s services, but the Raiders’ had the highest third-round pick (surprise) so they won out.

Look for Al Davis to move Wimbley to tight end or wide receiver.

With the acquisitions of Seneca Wallace and Jake Delhomme, it didn’t take a genius to figure out that former first-round pick Brady Quinn was in trouble in Cleveland. And now we know for sure, as the Denver Broncos and Cleveland Browns have announced that Quinn was shipped to Denver for fullback Peyton Hillis, a 2011 sixth-round draft pick and a conditional 2012 draft pick.

That’s not exactly a large haul for a guy who supposed to be a stud in the NFL.

“I appreciate everything Brady did for us last year and in his three seasons with the Cleveland Browns,” head coach Eric Mangini said. “He is professional in the way he goes about doing his job and worked extremely hard at every aspect of his game. I wish him the best of success in Denver.”

We don’t know if he added, “and I’m the next to go,” but he should have.

So now the question becomes, who is the starter in Denver? Is it restricted free agent Kyle Orton? Or Quinn? Well, a league source tells Mike Klis of the Denver Post that Orton is still the guy. You never know what will happen in training camp, but as of now Orton will start. Quinn does have a one-time escalator bonus in his contract of $5.9 million if he were to take 70% of the snaps, but he never hit that while he was in Cleveland. Who negotiated this deal for him?

If Quinn ever remotely reaches his potential, this is a steal for the Broncos. But, we have a feeling that the Browns are well aware that they aren’t shipping off Joe Montana to Denver for a bag of footballs.

Former New England Patriots tight end Ben Watson has completely lost the spirit of winning.  Earlier today, the former first-round draft pick signed a three-year, $12 million deal ($6.35 million guaranteed) with the Cleveland Browns.

PHOTO CAPTION: Ben Watson signals for the alley oop dunk

Clearly, Watson’s decision was made easier when the Browns acquired Seneca Wallace earlier this week.  Sometimes a tight end needs a change of pace.  Too much Tom Brady can ruin a career.

After releasing Derek Anderson and signing Seneca Wallace, the Cleveland Browns are now shopping former first-round pick Brady Quinn.

PHOTO CAPTION:  After this pass was completed to the other team, one coach was heard saying, “Maybe Quinn’s left-handed?”

It’s being rumored that the Cleveland Browns are willing to trade Quinn and five-hundred dollars in cash money to any team for a hearty handshake and a thank you. 

After being drafted 22nd overall in the 2007 NFL Draft, Quinn hasn’t amounted to anything.  Furthermore, Wallace stated earlier this week that he thinks he is going to start for the Browns this coming season.

The early favorite to land Quinn is The Salvation Army.

Well this isn’t even mildly surprising. The Cleveland Browns have announced that they have terminated the contract of QB Derek Anderson. Anderson had a very good year in 2007 but then fell off of a cliff.

There has been a battle for the QB spot in Cleveland between him and Brady Quinn, but both are pretty bad. The Browns just traded for Seneca Wallace and that all but sealed Anderson’s fate.

All that said, he’s still good enough that he’ll land on another roster.

ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter is reporting that the Seattle Seahawks have traded Seneca Wallace to the Cleveland Browns.

Cleveland fans have to be partying in the streets right now.

PHOTO CAPTION: Seneca throws a touchdown pass

Seneca was the first woman to ever play in the NFL.  She has played in five seasons with Seattle after they drafted her in the fourth round of the 2003 NFL draft out of Iowa State.  She has played in 48 games and has a career QB rating of 83.1.  Wallace has thrown for 3547 career yards and 25 touchdowns.

Before the 2009 NFL season started, we announced that we were getting involved with Braylon Edward’s charity Project ACT, a charity which ensures that homeless children and youth in the Cleveland area have access to the same free and appropriate education all housed students receive within the district.

Braylon donated $1,000 to Project Act for every touchdown he caught last year.  The previous year he did the same; however, he only caught three touchdowns.

In 2008, he led the NFL with 16 drops, so OTR did some thinking.  We thought it would make more sense for Edwards to donate money based on his drops, not his touchdown catches.  Wouldn’t Project ACT benefit more?  That’s where we came in to play.

We decided OTR would donate $5 for every pass Braylon dropped during the regular season and increased it to $10 for every playoff drop.  At the time we didn’t think Cleveland had any shot at the playoffs, but who knew Edwards would be traded to the Jets and play in three playoff games?

PHOTO CAPTION: Was this a $1000 donation or possibly a $5 one?

Unofficially, we had Braylon dropping five balls in the regular season and two in the playoffs, totalling $45.  OTR rounded that number up and a $50 check will be sent to Project ACT on Monday.

We realize this donation is small, but every bit helps.  As our site grows bigger our plan is to continue donating to Project ACT and charities alike.

Please contact us with any other charity ideas or questions on how to donate to Project ACT.

According to Mike Lombardi of the National Football Post, no one in the Cleveland Browns organization believes that Brady Quinn is the short- or long-term answer at quarterback. They also most likely have no intentions of giving Derek Anderson his roster bonus, so all these reports that they are looking to trade for a QB are probably true.

We happen to agree. Anderson had one productive year and 2007 was a long time ago. We aren’t sure what anyone could see in Quinn at this point. He can’t stretch the field at all and is generally lousy.

With the connections between Mike Holmgren, Tom Heckert and Andy Reid, they are surely inquiring about Kevin Kolb, Michael Vick and perhaps even Donovan McNabb. Although, we aren’t entirely sure that they’d be interested in a 33-year old QB when they have so many other issues.

The only player that has any skill on the Cleveland Browns, Josh Cribbs could have a new deal with the Cleveland Browns as early as next week, a league source said Friday.

Cribbs, who is signed through 2012 for a little more than $1 million per year, is looking for a contract that will pay him closer to $4-$5 million per year.  The Browns and Cribbs have essentially agreed to a restructuring of his grossly underpaid deal.  However, sources say the two parties are still far away on a number of issues, including guaranteed money ($5 million apart) and escalators (Cribbs wants his own escalator as an entrance to Cleveland Brown Stadium).

The Browns say they want to include Cribbs more in the offense for the upcoming season.  This would be smart, considering he was the only offense during this past season.

It’s safe to move Jerome Harrison up your fantasy draft boards at this point. The Cleveland Browns have released RB Jamal Lewis, according to Adam Schefter’s Twitter page.

“Browns terminated the contract of running back Jamal Lewis, the team announced,” he tweets.

Lewis will be 31-years old in August and he suffered a pretty nasty concussion in Week 12. The Browns owed him a $1.5 million roster bonus and $2.4 million in salary this year. Cap or no cap, that wasn’t happening.

A league source tells PFT that former Cleveland Browns WR Donte Stallworth is working out for the Detroit Lions. Surprisingly, the Lions could use a WR. Tough to imagine since they took them high in the first round in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2007.

The Lions still have Bryant Johnson and Dennis Northcutt, but the problem with that is they have Bryant Johnson and Dennis Northcutt. They also have Derrick Williams who reminds too many people of Derrick Williams for him to be effective at the pro level.

It’s been quite a bumpy ride for Stallworth these last few years. In 2005, he was with the team that drafted him, the Saints. In 2006, he played for the Philadelphia Eagles. 2007? The New England Patriots. In 2008, it was the Cleveland Browns. And of course, in 2009 he was suspended by the league for killing Mario Reyes with his car while impaired.

So yeah, if he signs with the Lions, he’ll be the NFL version of Kenny Lofton.