That seems to be what head coach Romeo Crennel was intimating at the Pro Football Hall of Fame Luncheon Club Monday. Bentley has missed the last two seasons with a serious patellar tendon injury he suffered in the Browns' first 11-on-11 practice during training camp in 2006. I was at camp that day and it was clear Bentley was in big trouble. However, I never expected him to miss quite this much time.

Whether or not he can return to being the Pro Bowl player he was for the Saints in 2005 is tough to say. The Browns don't require current center Hank Fraley to move around much, so maybe Bentley can fit back in.

Notes…
The headline "Chudzinski looking for better results in 2008" from this article in the Plain Dealer caught my eye. The Browns had one of the better offenses last season and it say a lot about the offensive coordinator that he didn't think it was good enough.

ESPN.com recently released its first set of NFL power rankings for the 2008 season. They rank the Browns ninth, which is great. That translates into the team being sixth best in the AFC, but just behind the Steelers (7th). James Walker writes about the Browns: The 2007 darlings face high expectations. The offense will score. Can the D, anchored by additions Shaun Rogers and Corey Williams, hold up its end?

Troubles for defensive back Kenny Wright continue. If one of the undrafted rookies looks good this offseason, there is no reason Wright should remain on the team. Character should always supersede average depth.

Still don't know much about fourth round pick Beau Bell? Here's a video of the linebacker:

By now, you're probably aware of Matt Walsh, the former New England Patriots lackey accused of taping coaching signals. The whole mess — not-so-cleverly referred to as SpyGate — began when the Patriots were caught spying on the New York Jets.

Eventually, the Boston Herald wrote that Walsh taped the Rams prior to the 2002 Super Bowl. A whole can of worms was sitting waiting to be opened, yadda yadda yadda, a senator got involved, yadda yadda. You know the story. It's pointless for me to re-hash the whole thing.

Anyway, Walsh just handed over the other tapes he made to the NFL. One of them is of the Browns in 2001. That's right, someone was taping the team during its juggernaut 7-9 season. Clearly, Patriots coach Bill Belichick wasn't trying to get coaching tips from Butch Davis.

Notes…
This season will be the last for outside linebacker Willie McGinest. The Browns signed McGinest to a three-year contract in 2006. Some consider the signing a flop, but it's neither that or a boom. McGinest is just kind of there. He has some impact on young players and does a good job on running downs. The problem is that he's been injury prone and has clearly lost a step.

The Browns will have OTAs next week. They're not open to the public. It should be interesting to hear how new defensive linemen Corey Williams and Shaun Rogers adapt to the new team and the 3-4. Braylon Edwards missed the first day of last year's OTAs and it caused a bit of a stir. Hopefully nothing like that happens this year.

Among the tryout players during minicamp, the Browns signed the following seven players:

OL Nathan Bennett (Tennessee)
WR Nate Hughes (Alcorn State)
CB Mil'Von James (Nevada-Las Vegas),
CB Damon Jenkins (Fresno State)
LB Asa Matthews (Northern Colorado)
LB Xavier Mitchell (Tennessee)
RB Austin Scott (Penn State)

I'm not too familiar with any of those, outside of Scott. He's a hard runner, but isn't very fast. Also, he's had some serious legal problems.

Because those seven guys were signed, seven had to be cut. On the chopping block were:

RB Kory Chapman (Jacksonville State)
LB Jermaine Dias (Virginia)
CB Jerrid Gaines (Miami, Ohio)
CB Justin Harrison (Illinois)
QB Craig Hormann (Columbia)
OL Robert Powell (Purdue)
OL Eric Young (Tennessee)

So, nothing really severe with who was cut. Chapman was on the Browns' practice squad last year. This has no impact on this year's draft picks for the guys brought in as free agents. They were already under contract and on the team's league-mandated 80-man roster.

Notes…
Since I rip off his notes style, I might as well advertise for my old pal Mike Rasor. If you're interested in Zips recruiting, he always does a great job of seeing who the Zips are looking at. Here's his latest update. And! Congratulations to Rasor as he's about to close out 1L in Akron Law School. While I'd rather take him as a journalist, he's going to be a heck of a lawyer.

Tony Grossi of the PD has some tidbits from minicamp. Interestingly, he mentioned the duo of new Browns from UNLV that Phil Savage took a liking too while scouting cornerback Eric Wright. A tip to Savage: Scout Southern California.

The Browns are holding mandatory minicamps this weeked. They're mostly ho-hum events that allow teammates to reacquaint themselves with other and for drafted rookies to meet their new teammates.

The weekend can be a make-or-break one for the players brought in on a tryout basis with the team. Last season, fullback Charles Ali helped win a roster spot during minicamp. This year, there are 54 tryout players (see list here). That means there's always a lot of inspirational stories by Browns beat writers.

For instance:
- Scott Petrak of the Chronicle-Telegram writes about Chris Schubert who is from Oberlin College.

- Marla Ridenour of the Beacon writes about 29-year-old rookie linebacker Todd DeLamielleure.

- Zac Jackson of ClevelandBrowns.com says that tiny running back Tony Temple is one of five running backs trying out this weekend.

Notes…

Phil Savage was extended through 2012. Good move by the organization. It seems like Savage has finally filled the roster with a team he likes after ripping it to shreds the last few years.

If you're a draftophile, at New Era Scouting, we're launching our 2009 rankings on Monday. I got a sneak peek (re: I put some of them together), and things look good in the next draft at offensive line, inside linebacker and safety.

If you haven't yet, check out this video from Ridenour on the team's draft. Some attractive guy (re: me) shot it.

To my knowledge the Browns will bring in the following as undrafted free agents:

Xavier Mitchell, DL, Tennessee
Austin Scott, RB, Penn State
Craig Hormann, QB, Columbia
Lance Leggett, WR, Miami (Fla.)
Jason Reda, K, Illinois
Brian Schaefering, DT, Lindenwood
Chase Ortiz, DE, Texas Christian
Xavier Mitchell, OLB, Tennessee
Tony Temple, RB, Missouri
Darnell Terrell, CB, Missouri
Robbie Powell, C Purdue
Brandon Copeland, WR, Bridgewater
Nick Moore, LB, Toledo
Bradely Glatthaar, RB, Cincinatti
Travis Thomas, RB, Notre Dame
James Lee, OT, South Carolina State
Jonathan Zenon, CB, LSU
Brian Stamper, OT, Vanderbilt
Jermaine Dias, OLB, Virginia
Justin Harrison, SS, Illinois
Kolo Kapunal, TE, West Texas A&M
Gerard Lawson, CB, Oregon State
Jerrid Gaines, CB, Miami (Oh.)

There may be more, but I haven't gotten word on any others. Almost none of these players will stick. Maybe one of the cornerbacks like Terrell or Zenon and maybe Ortiz and one of the offensive linemen.

After picking a linebacker, tight end, nose tackle and wide receiver, the Browns took defensive end with what should be the final pick of the draft. The pick was Alex Hall, a defensive end from St. Augustine.

I'm not going to lie, I've never heard of Alex Hall or St. Augustine. His official profile calls the 6-foot-4, 250-pounder a "rangy and athletic defender." To me, that means he's an outside linebacker candidate.

Overall, this seems to be an average group of draft picks. The Browns didn't address cornerback or safety, arguably their two biggest needs. Fortunately there are undrafted free agents that can be brought in.

After trading up in the fourth round to draft linebacker Beau Bell and back into the fourth for tight end Martin Rucker,t the Browns stayed at pick 190 in the sixth round to select Athyba Rubin, a defensive tackle from Iowa State.

Rubin, at 6-foot-3, 321 pounds, could be a backup for new nose tackle Shaun Rogers. He doesn't do a whole lot. Rubin is mostly a space filler who can take up multiple blockers. Hey, the guys at Mistake by the Lake are probably happy.

The Browns also traded to pick 191 in the sixth round to take Wisconsin wide receiver Paul Hubbard. I don't understand the pick. There's no way he's going to play. That pick was traded from Philadelphia who actually obtained the pick from the Browns in the first place.

Hubbard is a big player at 6-foot-3 and 221 pounds. Here's a video of Hubbard:

Just an FYI, the Rubin draft pick came from the Charlie Frye trade. The Hubbard pick came via the Hank Fraley trade. Not sure what the Browns gave up to give it back. Not a problem, though, Fraley has been a sound player.

With the 119th pick in the draft, the Broncos selected Kent State cornerback Jack Williams. As an Akron guy, it pains me to admit that Williams is one of my favorite players in the draft. Williams will give them good depth.

Browns beat writer Marla Ridenour reports that the Browns gave up this year's fifth-round pick to move up and take Beau Bell. Not a bad move.

By the way, the Sporting News has Bell rated the 19th best player in the draft; Martin Rucker the 84th.

Buffalo just took Akron Zips cornerback Reggie Corner. He's a solid player, but I'm surprised he went in the fourth round.

I publicly apologize to Zips fan Robert Ake about this one. I remember at an Akron game last year he turned to me and asked if Corner would be drafted and I said "no way." Whoops.

Corner is in a good spot. Even though Buffalo took Leodis McKelvin yesterday in round one, he'll easily make the team.

The Browns have just traded into the fourth round again. With pick 111 in the draft, they took tight end Martin Rucker from Missouri.

No word on this or the previous trade. Both were with Dallas, who the Browns traded with last year to pick Brady Quinn in the first round.

The Rucker trade is a little questionable. Clearly Kellen Winslow is the starter, but Steve Heiden has been a very good backup. Yes, he just had back surgery, but it's nothing serious.

Here's the skinny on Rucker from my site:

Rucker is one of the top 15 seniors in the 2008 NFL Draft class. His size, experience and production make him an intriguing prospect. Before his junior season, Rucker was stuck in an offense built around the running of Brad Smith. Since Chase Daniel has been the quarterback, Rucker has flourished and graduated as the most prolific receiver in the history of the university.

The Browns supposedly gave up next year's third-round choice to take Rucker. Earlier in the season, Phil Savage referred to Rucker as a first round player, so I'm sure he's happy with the pick. Some Browns fans on Scout.com are not so happy. Most wanted a cornerback.