Cleveland Browns wide receiver Donte’ Stallworth has been released from a Miami jail after serving 24 days for DUI manslaughter.

The 28-year-old Stallworth served 24 days of the 30-day jail sentence after pleading guilty to DUI manslaughter.

Stallworth’s car struck and killed a pedestrian, 59-year-old Mario Reyes, in an early-morning crash March 14. In a recorded interview, Stallworth told police he drank up to four shots of premium tequila while partying with friends at a Miami Beach club, but did not feel drunk in the hours before he struck Reyes.

Lab tests later showed Stallworth had a blood-alcohol level of .126, above Florida’s .08 limit.

Stallworth also reached an undisclosed financial settlement with Reyes’ family, which factored into his relatively light sentence.

The receiver has been suspended indefinitely by the NFL. He signed a seven-year, $35 million contract with the Browns before last season but was injured much of the year, finishing with 17 catches for 170 yards and a touchdown.

Story via ESPN by the Associated Press – http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=4318550

The Browns had a terrible season in 2007-08 to be polite. They then proceeded to turn down an offer for two first round draft picks for Brady Quinn, traded arguably their best offensive player in Kellen Winslow, kept Braylon Edwards, passed on Michael Crabtree, and Donte Stallworth’s future is in lingo as he’s in the mist of trying to salvage his freedom, let alone his NFL career. Not to mention the coaching position and general manager position have new faces. What’s next for the Browns? Most likely we’ll see Brady Quinn start off the 2009-10 NFL season as the as the starting quarterback for the Browns. His weapons are limited and it’s not as if he has a reliable defense to give him good field position to start with.

Maybe under new head coach Eric Mangini, the Browns can get a fire lit up under them and actually come out and play up to and beyond their potential. In the past, former head coach Romeo Crennel simply was too nice and didn’t seem to have that firey passion that a team who’s not mentally strong needs to have on their sideline igniting them and getting the players amped up.

After watching the Browns opener today, I think they are in BIG trouble because of the ineptness of Romeo. I have never been a Charlie Frye fan, but to pull him today REALLY opened a can of worms. WIth Anderson getting only 1/4 of the snaps this week, how was he suppossed to be effective? They are now going to be in a BIG TIME quarterback contriversy and Quinn is going to get KILLED. This team was completely unprepaired to play in every aspect of the game. This has to be blamed on coaching. THey will bow to the pressure to play Quinn (fan pressure) and by the 4th game he will start. I hope he will survive. NOthing is going to help this team unless the coaching staff is completely removed an they start ALL OVER AGAIN!!! Welcome to Cleveland Brady!

The Final Game

If you ever went to a Browns game you would know that we loved the Browns. You would know we would stay even if things looked grim. But only one thing did silence us.
         If you ever wanted to name the most hated man in Cleveland you would just simply say Art Modell. After playing nearly half a century in Cleveland owner Art Modell announced that they will be moving to Baltimore.
         The fans could not belive it there beloved team might be going. The city of Cleveland tried to stop the move but it was no hope. Soon the Browns would be playing in another city.
          The game was about to start. Sad and angry Browns fans watched as the Browns were playing their final game. While Browns fans were chanting to save their game the players tried to give it their all in their final game in a Brown’s uniform.
          As the final ticks went of the clock it didn’t matter what the score was. Sadened Browns fans watched in miseary as the Browns left the field for the final time. Outraged Browns fans ripped their seats of the stadium they would never sit in again.
          Asking former Browns fans who drove to the game if they will ever rebound replied,” Always have, always will.”
People remember that game as the saddest day in the Browns history. You could see some people crying and others putting their heads down. Some were angry but at the end they all slowly and silently left the stadium in sorrow and tears.
         In reality it was more than a game but a city losing a tradition and a part of them so that one man could have more money. But the thing is this is about rivals like Pittsburgh that also lost tradition of playing.
          But all hope was not lost in 1996 the NFL announced that they will continue the Browns

tradition with a new stadium in 1999. Browns fans erupted all over the country with joy.
When the Browns returned to the stadium to play the Browns they got a standing ovation from both Browns and Steelers fans. But some feel the Browns will never be the Browns they once cheered for.

I can’t really believe there is serious debate going on in the Cleveland sports scene as to which guy should be the starting quarterback next year.  This is not a Couch v. Holcomb debate.  This is more of a Zeier v. Philcox debate, as in “who cares?”.

Exhibit A.  Charlie Frye

His best qualities are that he is tough and that he is mobile.  These are good qualities for a Cleveland QB to have because the line is below sub par so he’s going to have to move and he’s going to have to be able to take a hit.  Unfortunately for Mr. Frye these are the only traits that he possesses.  There aren’t any other discernible QB abilities in his body.  Also, Charlie Frye can only successfully throw 3 types of passes.  The first pass is a short out (usually to the tight end), this is a play the Browns seem to run 35% of the time.  I don’t know if that is good for Charlie or if it is indicative of his abilities.  The second pass is a streak that goes to the sideline but only 20 yards downfield.  Charlie is really good at this.  If you ask him to throw it any farther with accuracy, though, no dice.  The last pass he can throw is to people that are standing still, which is tantamount to playing catch. Good for him.

Exhibit B. Derek Anderson

Derek Anderson’s best quality as a QB is that he is not Charlie Frye.  He looks like a QB, acts like a QB, and can make plays like a QB, but he just isn’t that good of a QB.  According to statsinc.com: Derek Anderson threw 1,277,332 interceptions while playing at Oregon St.  He is mistake prone and has yet to show any signs that he can play without throwing INTs at any point in his career.  What I think Browns fans see in him is that he make plays that a capable QB should make, plays that Charlie Frye can’t make.  However, that isn’t saying much.

Epilogue

All this short exercise in futility does is show one thing: The Browns do not have a QB with the capability to start games in the NFL on their roster.  “What should they do, Mr. Brown?” you ask?  The answer, sadly, is I don’t know.

One good thing is that the Browns have a buttload of cap space available next season, althought that is partially because they aren’t paying a starting QB salary to anyone on the team right now. The free agent QB crop isn’t that glamorous right now, definitely no Drew Breeses out there right now, there aren’t even any Culpeppers.  However, there should be a good number of veterans that can come in and play better than the 2 currently playing. 

Another good thing is that the Browns will have a high draft pick that they could use on guys like Brady Quinn, Troy Smith, or Brian Brohm.  If I could put on a red wig and be in charge of the Brown’s upcoming draft, then I only look to the QB position in the 2nd round at the earliest.  The lines (both offensive and defensive) are an absolute mess.  Throwing a QB to the wolves behind a bunch of rejects doesn’t work, ask Tim Couch.

I have been a Browns fan my entire life.  I would say that my formative years were greatly impacted by gut wrenching losses to the Denver Broncos while the Browns were on the verge of the Super Bowl.  I’m sure those losses have a lot to do with how I follow all sports to day.  Generally, I’m pessimistic.

With this blog, I just want to talk Browns (and Cleveland sports in general) or whatever topic is currently rolling around in my brain.  Hopefully, some of it will be readable.