TE Steve Heiden, who tore the anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments in his right knee last December expects to be cleared to practice when Browns veterans take the field on July 31, his agent, Jack Wirth, recently told PFW. “He’s made great progress,” Wirth said, noting that Heiden has told him the only limitation he could have in training camp is that he might be limited to one practice a day.

Notes…
Steve Doerschuk of the Canton Repository makes the case for Gary Collins to be in the Hall of Fame. Collins was a star receiver for the great Browns teams of the 1960s.

Chris Steuber of the expansive Scout.com network breaks down the team's top 10 prospects. He classifies a prospect as "a player entering his third-year or under 25 years old." Because of that definition, Joe Thomas is still a prospect.

Quarterback Graham Harrell, whom the Browns invited to mini camp, will play professionally for the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League. If you remember, Harrell is probably most famous in Cleveland sports history for eliciting this comment from blog reader "Julio Franco":

Forget about Derek Anderson and whatzizname from the Jets. Graham Harrell is the only QB the Browns have who can come close to competing with Quinn for the QB job.

This is an astounding pickup for the Browns. For those who say Harrell was merely a product of the system at Tech, mebbe you should consider implementing the system with the Browns!

Ah, that made me laugh all over again. Good work, fake Julio Franco.

Steve Heiden is hurting.

Darnell Dinkins is the Browns player rep.

Martin Rucker is playing?

Curious about Rucker?  Here is what Matt Miller of New Era Scouting had to say about him pre-draft last year:

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 will graduate as the most prolific receiver in the history of the University.

This reported was completed in December 2007, but Matt had the chance to scout Rucker in person several times, and has always sung his praises.  Rucker is an explosive pass catcher, and works well out of the slot.  Thankfully the Browns have been craving a slot receiving option this year, a spot that they didn't feel Winslow was good at. 

Look for this week's game against the Jaguars to be interesting.  The Jags have trouble defending quicker, more athletic tight ends.  Who knows, maybe something exciting will happen.

Replacing Sanders on the 53-man-roster was former Bronco safety Hamza Abdullah.  Abdullah is a veteran who started eight games in 2007 for Denver.  He's pretty much the same as the other safeties the Browns have right now:  special teams players with limited coverage skills.  It would be surprising if he finishes the year on the Browns.

In other less than thrilling news, Kellen Winslow is sick, and not in the good way.  The Browns star tight end has missed two practices and was sent to the doctor.  It's possible it's just the flu or some other bug, so don't go overboard with this one.

And finally, are you unsure of what to vote for?  Brady Quinn and Joe Thomas say vote John McCain.  The 2007 first round picks were at a rally in Strongsville, OH to support the Republican Senator.

"According to a source close to the club, Browns WR Braylon Edwards, who has only two years left on his contract, is in line ahead of TE Kellen Winslow when it comes to getting a new deal. Winslow, whose contract has been the source of offseason speculation, has three years left on his rookie deal."

So the question is, why Edwards before Winslow?  Who knows, but apparently taking a helicopter ride to an Ohio State-Michigan game and then missing a team meeting ranks lower as a transgression than crashing your motorcycle. 

In other news, K1 (Kellen Winslow Sr.) is the finalist for Central State's Athletic Director job, per Kyle Nagel of the Dayton Daily News.

And while we all know about the ongoing knee issues of Joe Jurevicius, people may not realize how important he is to the Browns offense.  Terry Pluto talks about how efficient Joe was at moving the chains.  That's something that Donte Stallworth likely won't be doing. 

Finally, the schedule for Training Camp has been released. 

Just in, good thing the Browns didn't trade for Jaguars wide receiver Matt Jones.  He was arrested on felony drug charges in Fayetteville, AR.  Jones was in a car cutting up cocaine with a credit card, and at the time of his arrest admitted to officers that their was cocaine on his credit card.