Expansion Browns Build Team
With bronzed Hall of Fame busts of Jim Brown, Lou Groza and Leroy Kelly reminding them of their rich NFL past, the new Cleveland Browns continued to build with no-name players.
Priming for their return this season after a three-year absence, the Browns selected Detroit center Jim Pyne with their first pick in Tuesday's NFL expansion draft.
And with its final pick, Cleveland brought back one of the old Browns, taking San Francisco cornerback Antonio Langham.
Pyne's selection set the tone for a draft in which the Browns spent wisely -- only two players have salary cap costs over $1 million -- and loaded up on young offensive lineman and defensive backs. Cleveland used 10 of its 37 picks on defensive backs and nine on the offensive front.
As expected, Cleveland avoided high-priced players like Denver's Darrien Gordon and Washington's Gus Frerotte, opting instead to take players it considers to have long-term potential while saving money to use on free agents.
"The idea today was to give coach (Chris) Palmer and his staff a foundation," said Browns president Carmen Policy. "I think what we did was build a foundation."
Pyne, 27, started all 16 games for the Lions last season after spending his first three years with Tampa Bay. His versatility made him attractive to the Browns, as did his salary cap number of $1.885 million.
The NFL required the Browns to take 30 to 42 players or spend 38 percent ($21.77 million) of their salary cap ($57.288 million) on players they take in the expansion draft. So Cleveland had to equally weigh a player's character, expense and potential before making him part of its future.
The Browns figured to be frugal, and they made some penny-pinching picks. They were also expected to favor youth, and selected only one player over 30 -- San Francisco linebacker James Williams.
Before taking Langham at a cost of $3.02 million against the cap, Cleveland had chosen only four players with price tags of over $500,000.
Pyne's selection fit perfectly into this day when history was on everyone's mind. He is part of the only three-generation NFL family in history. His father, George III, played for Boston in 1965, and his grandfather, George II, played for Providence in 1931-32.
"I"m excited," said Pyne, a 6-foot-2, 297-pounder from Virginia Tech. "Cleveland is a great place. I'm glad to be here. I wanted to be here. I grew up watching the Browns."
So it seemed did everyone else at the Canton Civic Center.
More than 4,000 fans, including members of the famed Dawg Pound, were on hand for the nearly three-hour, made-for-TV event.
It had been more than three years sinc Cleveland fans could scream for their football heroes. And with all the barking and "Here we go Brownies" chants, it was as if the Steelers were in town.
The NFL held the draft in pro football's birthplace to trumpet the rebirth of Cleveland"s tradition-rich franchise. A high-tech stage, complete with scoreboard, was ringed with the 13 bronzed busts of Browns in the Hall of Fame.
Cleveland invited its first five picks -- Pyne, Dallas defensive end Hurvin McCormack, New England tackle Scott Rehberg, Cincinnati wide receiver Damon Gibson and San Francisco center Steve Gordon -- to the event and each was greeted with a rousing ovation as they made their way to the stage to be presented a Browns' cap by Policy and Cleveland owner Al Lerner.
"I can't wait to play in front of the Dawg Pound," said Gibson. "I want to beat Cincinnati now. Nothing personal, that's just the way it is. I'm a Cleveland Brown now."
Offensive lineman are important to any team, but particularly to the Browns, who could take Kentucky quarterback Tim Couch with the No. 1 overall pick in the college draft.
"It would be wonderful to block for a guy like Couch," said Rehberg. "But I'll do my job for whoever is back there."
Just because a player is with the Browns today doesn't mean he'll be wearing an orange helmet very long.
NFL expansion has taught fans this: Don't get too attached to your team.
The 1999 Cleveland Browns won't look anything like they will in a few years, maybe even in a few months.
Some of the 30 or so players the Browns select could be cut before the team opens training camp in July. Others could be traded as Cleveland attempts to secure more draft picks. Some will get injured; some will retire.
The Browns used the expansion blueprints left by Carolina and Jacksonville in preparing for this year's draft.
Carolina took 35 players in the draft, and 15 made their roster for the start of that season. Four years later, just one - wide receiver Mark Carrier, a former Brown - remains and he was released at one point and came back as a free agent.
Of the 31 expansion players selected by Jacksonville, 22 made its opening roster. There are now just three original Jaguars remaining.
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