See Marla Ridenour's story here.

This will not adversely affect the Browns in the least. Some Browns fans (like most Cleveland fans are known to do) are probably freaking out right now.

"The Browns will now have a losing season and the line is going to fall apart."

"Derek Anderson is going to get destroyed."

"He's just the first LeClevelander that'll leave town."

Hogwash. (Fine, maybe not that last one)

Face it, Bentley probably wasn't going to be a starter this year. In fact, some doubted he'd even be able to play this season despite passing a physical Monday night.

It's not because he might be good, which is questionable. It's because Hank Fraley is that good. Bentley was never interested in playing guard for the Browns. "Well, I came here as a center. I would like to stay there," Bentley told reporters yesterday.

Wrong. At the end of the day, Bentley came here to make $16 million and not play a down. Not even in the preseason. Sure, getting injured forced the signing of Fraley, which made the line better, but that says nothing about Bentley.

Even after Bentley missed the past two years, fans seemed to rally behind him yesterday. They believed in the former local prep superstar.

All he's done in return is further fuel the paranoia and doubt of Cleveland sports fans.

Update: Make sure to check out Ridenour's latest article following General Manager Phil Savage's comments.

Not much going on lately with the Cleveland Browns. This is probably the slowest time of the year for football news.

However, that doesn't mean the Browns are safe from injuries. You probably know by now about starting right guard Ryan Tucker breaking his right hip last week. That just sounds painful. It will cost him two months, during which he's been told by doctors to not sit down too much. Seriously, I know it's a physical sport, what on a football field during practice leads to a broken hip? It's not like Ted Washington is still around.

Anyway, this shouldn't be much of a concern for the team. Tucker was a nice little bonus last season moving over from tackle. The job will now go to either Seth McKinney or Rex Hadnot, who was signed in the offseason. I loved the signing of Hadnot. He was arguably the best player on the Dolphins' offense last season, and it was a surprising to see him come here to be a backup.

Notes…
Former star cornerback Hanford Dixon was busted Saturday for drunk driving. It's his second drunk driving charge since October. Dixon refused a Breathalyzer test, so his license was suspended immediately, which could last one to five years. In his October arrest, Dixon blew a .17. The legal limit is .08. That's quite a bit of booze.

Phil Savage recently spoke at a Little League Football foundation and answered questions about scouting. Some interesting stuff if you're like hearing about the scouting life.

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.

Steve Doerschuk of the Canton Repository so well. On Sunday, he did an in-depth analysis of the moves made by general manager Phil Savage. It's a good read and a little difficult to sum up here, so check it out.

He starts discussing the trades of draft picks this year. Although these trades will cost the Browns a lot of money, they were sound moves. How many teams will come out of the draft this year with two guaranteed starters and a possible future star at a skill position? Not many.

From the Associated Press:

CLEVELAND Browns General Manager Phil Savage won't have many picks on draft day. He will, however, have a contract extension.

Savage and Cleveland owner Randy Lerner recently met and made progress toward an extension, which is expected to be completed before the April 26-27 draft.

As for the draft, the Browns don't have a pick until Sunday's fourth round. During a radio interview Thursday, Savage said it was unlikely that he would trade a player to move up in the draft.

"To go up and try to get into the first day, it would have to be a player who would be very attractive to us," Savage said. "I don't think it would involve certainly any players we have on our current roster. It would probably involve more picks for next year, something in the future."

Savage has earned an extension based solely on how he handled this offseason.

When the Cleveland Gladiators play the Colorado Crush Friday night, the rivalry between former Browns quarterback Bernie Kosar and former Denver Broncos quarterback John Elway will be rekindled. See a Denver Post preview here.

The two classically matched up several times in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The Browns lost consecutive AFC Championship games to the Broncos in 1987 and 1988.

Both a are presidents of Arena League teams now and Kosar is finally getting the better of Elway. The Gladiators are selling more tickets than the Crush, so at least Kosar has that.

ESPN.com has a video interview with Elway and Kosar for the time being on their Browns page. The Plain Dealer also previewed the game here. I like the lede to that one a lot.

Update: See a game preview from George Thomas of the Akron Beacon Journal.

Notes…

Browns General Manager Phil Savage has again reiterated it is unlikely the Browns will trade into the first day of the draft. He told WTAM (1100-AM) today that the team will probably take the best player available with its first pick, No. 122.