Browns Make Couch No. 1 Pick

Sleepless nights, fights at office water coolers and months of hand-wringing have all ended. No more questions. No more guessing, and no more waiting.

The Browns made up their mind: Tim Couch is their man.

Cleveland, which begins a new era in the NFL as an expansion team in 1999, selected Couch with the No. 1 overall pick in the draft Saturday.

The decision to choose Couch ended months of rumors, speculation and overanalysis by all of Cleveland as the city's football-starved fans tried to figure out what the team might do with its first draft pick in three years.

Now it's safe to relax, Dawg Pounders. You won't have to suffer through another Mel Kiper Jr., interview. The Browns say they got their man, and before he's even played one game for Cleveland, Couch has already shown a knack for come-from-behind victories.

"Tim Couch has always been the guy," said Dwight Clark, Cleveland's director of football operations. "He's always been the guy. He's always been the leader. He's always been the one that rallied the troops. He set records in high school, he set records in college, and we expect him to set records here."

Couch only became the Browns' top pick after a strong workout last weekend and after his agent, Tom Condon of Cleveland-based IMG, had worked out a deal with the Browns early Saturday morning in a New York hotel.

"I'm ready to get started," Couch said after arriving at the Browns' headquarters. "I can't wait to get the playbook."

The Browns, who also considered using the top pick on Oregon quarterback Akili Smith or Texas running back Ricky Williams, said they wouldn't pick a player unless they had an agreement with him before the draft began.

Team president Carmen Policy said talks between Condon and Lal Heneghan, the Browns' contract expert, became "testy" Friday evening and at one point tempers flared before the bargaining session broke off for a few hours.

"I normally don't carry a cell phone with me, but last night I did," said Policy, who remained in contact with Heneghan most of the night.

Policy said it wasn't until 7:30 a.m. that the Browns and Condon had finalized the deal, a seven-year, $48 million package that included a $12.25 million signing bonus.

"The most important thing about doing the contract is that it is done," he said.

The Browns, who have 13 selections in the two-day draft, didn't decide Couch was the valedictorian of the class of '99 quarterbacks

five were taken in the first 12 picks until a private workout last weekend in Lexington, Ky.

Browns coach Chris Palmer, Clark, Policy and owner Al Lerner attended the workout. Palmer was so disappointed with Couch's first workout session for the Browns that Smith had leapfrogged him on the Browns' draft board.

"Going into the April 11 workout, Tim was definitely behind Akili," Palmer said.

BuCouch dazzled the Browns during the 90-minute, 115-pass workout, displaying an ability to throw deep, something he rarely had to do while smashing school and NCAA passing records at Kentucky. Palmer was also impressed by the way Couch had adopted a new throwing grip.

"I think last Sunday's workout was what really put me over the top," Couch said in New York before he and his family were flown here on Lerner's jet. "I threw the ball with a lot of velocity, and I think they saw what they wanted to."

Palmer knows he did.

"The difference in the workouts was night and day," Palmer said. "He wiped out any doubts we had and we walked away from that workout thinking that this is our guy."

Still, Palmer said he wanted to sleep on it for a few days, and it wasn't until Thursday that the Browns decided to make Kentucky's No. 2 the No. 1 choice for Cleveland.

The 6-foot-4, 227-pound Couch decided to skip his senior season at Kentucky when he knew he would have a chance to be the No. 1 pick in the draft. He openly courted the Browns, even after the team acquired veteran Ty Detmer in a trade with San Francisco.

"I've heard a lot of great things about Ty," Couch said. "I look forward to learning as much as I can from him. As far as when I'm going to get into a game, I'm just going to work as hard as I can, and I'll leave that decision up to coach Palmer."

Palmer said the Browns' starting quarterback job would be contested like every other position, and that right now it was "Ty's job to lose and Tim's job to win."

A classic pocket passer, who Palmer says doesn't get enough credit for his mobility, Couch was a first-team All-America last season after passing for 4,275 yards and 36 touchdowns. He passed for at least 300 yards and one TD in each game, and finished his career by throwing for 336 yards and two TDs in the Outback Bowl against Penn State.

And now with his contract resolved, he and the Browns can begin a relationship they hope lasts well into the new millennium.

"Now let's just play football," Couch said. "And do what got me here."