BEREA, Ohio — Browns cornerback Sheldon Brown, who’s seen a lot in his 10 years in the NFL, held court on a getaway day Monday and said he’s not waiting for a college star such as Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III to come in and be the savior of this 4-12 team.

“I’m definitely not, and if you are, you’re crazy,” he said.

Brown stressed that one or two rookies — the Browns will have the fourth overall pick in the April draft and the Falcons’ first-round pick in the 20s, aren’t going to change the fortunes of this rebuilding team, at least not overnight.

“My thing is, if you’re dependent on a draft pick to come in here and change your life, then you’re kidding yourself,” he said. “This game is too hard. There’s too big of a jump to come from college and think that he’s going to come in … who does it? Maybe Randy Moss did it. So you already know the pattern. It’s not that.”

So what will it take for the Browns to compete in the AFC North, where their three foes are skipping off to the playoffs?

“The guys here have to step their game up to another level because they’re experienced,” said Brown. “When you lose close games, you can go back and maybe point to one or two drops, or one or two miscues. When things like that happen, I bet you go back and you say ‘ah, [it was] a young player [who] hadn’t been in that situation. Hadn’t experienced it.’ Well now he’s experienced it and he won’t do it again.

“Most rookies, anyway, they get hurt because they get tired and they don’t understand the speed and the strength of this game at the professional level. So I’m never sold on high draft picks.”

Brown said he’s not spewing lip service when he says the Browns are close to being a good team. They lost six games by seven points or less, and went down to the wire most games with their division rivals, although they finished 0-6 in the division for only the second time since 1999.

“We’re very close,” said Brown, who went to the playoffs with the Eagles six times, including one Super Bowl. “It’s one or two plays each game. You just have to find the playmakers and they just have to understand the sense of urgency and make the play.”

But don’t Browns fans hear the same thing every year?

“I didn’t tell you this last year,” he said. “I thought we were way off last year, from a lot of other things we were having to deal with. You can say whatever you want to say, but I do believe that and I came from an organization where we’d start 0-4 — sometimes 0-3 — and we were one or two plays out, and we found a way to start making those plays. Then we’d run off eight in a row, and then the people that were laughing, they don’t seem to laugh any more.”

Brown is convinced coach Pat Shurmur — who took a critical beating by some fans and media this season — is the right man for the job.

“I think he did a tremendous job, dealing with being a head coach for the first time,” said Brown. “Everybody thinks it’s an easy job, everybody wants to sit in a room and say, ‘I can do this better, I can do that better.’ He dealt with the situations the best he could, and he kept this football team fighting. For me, that’s how I judge a head coach.

“If a football team goes out there and competes week in and week out, through thick and through thin — and it was very thick this year — but we didn’t quit. So that tells me that the leader is in place and the guys believe in him and they will fight. If you put a football team out there that’s giving up 40 points, scoring nothing and they’re quitting, that tells me that the leader in place is not the guy.”

Can he make the jump in year two?

“He can definitely make a jump,” said Brown. “But the most important thing is that the players have to make the jump. And the players have to make the plays.

“I think this coaching staff is in place for a while. The worst thing that I’ve known of the history of the Browns is, one or two years and they want to blow it up. People want to think that it changes in one or two years. There’s a process that you have to go through in this league and you have to be patient to do it.

“The coaching staff did the best [they could] with their knowledge of the players, not having an off-season to really get to know the guys. They put them in the best positions that they knew how to make plays on the field, and I think it’s heading in the right direction.”

As for the defense, which finished 10th overall, Brown is certain it’s on solid footing.

“Anytime you have a [middle] linebacker like D’Qwell Jackson, your foundation is in place,” said Brown. “Anytime you have a starting defensive tackle — and I’ve played with some good ones — like Ahtyba Rubin, motor doesn’t stop, intense guy, angry player, studies, and he brings the young guys like Jabaal Sheard and Phil Taylor along with him, it’s in place. You’ve got Joe Haden, T.J. Ward, young players in the secondary, the foundation is in place.

“We had to go through the growing pains of being young, but the foundation is in place and I think it’s going in the right direction.”

While losing teams such as the Rams and Bucs fired their coaches Monday, other Browns agreed that this is a 4-12 team on the rise.

“My rookie year I played for Green Bay and we were 6-10 and there wasn’t a whole lot of turnover on that roster,” said tight end Evan Moore. “They had a lot of young guys that they let grow up in that system and look at them now. Granted, that team has a lot of talent and I believe we do, too. We have a lot of young guys I think are only going to get better.

“I think it goes without saying that a foundation needs time. Guys need time to mature and I think we have the makings here of something that could be pretty impressive if guys are given time to mature.”

Said kicker Phil Dawson: “We were in a lot of games. It’s death by inches, though. How are you going to look at that? Are we that close, or is that just the nature of the league? It depends on your personality, how you’re going to view that.

“In my little world, if my plant foot misses the spot by a quarter-inch, I miss the kick. That will probably tell you how I look at it. Everybody looks at themselves critically and figures out how they can improve. If we do that, now these close games are coming out in our favor. Hopefully that’s the way guys respond to it.”

On Twitter: @marykaycabot

The Browns will not be disciplined by the NFL for their handling of the Colt McCoy concussion injury in Pittsburgh on Dec. 8, according to league spokesman Greg Aiello.

The Browns put McCoy back in the game without testing for a concussion.

The NFLPA has not decided whether to file a grievance against the club, said union spokesman Carl Francis in an email reply.

The incident spurred two changes in league protocol. Teams were notified on Wednesday that starting with this weekend’s games:

* A certified athletic trainer paid by the NFL will monitor the game from an upstairs booth and will notify both teams’ medical staffs if it feels an injured player needs special attention. The trainer will not have the authority to remove a player from a game, but will provide information to a medical staff that might not have seen the hit or injury absorbed by a player.

The Browns contended McCoy was not given the sideline concussion test because he displayed no symptoms and their overtaxed medical staff did not see the hit by Pittsburgh linebacker James Harrison.

* Team medical staffs will be able to use cell phones during games to obtain information relating to the care of an injured player. This will not be limited to concussion injuries.

McCoy has not been cleared to practice 13 days after suffering the concussion on the hit.

Harrison returned to practice on Wednesday and delivered another shot on the Browns. He believes they should be disciplined for their handling of McCoy. 

“If he was hurt so bad I don’t know why they let him back in . . . two plays later,” Harrison told the Associated Press. “Something should be done to them I would think. I got a game, what should they get?

Another sit-down: Quarterback Seneca Wallace had a sit-down with running back Peyton Hillis last week.

“We had a long talk,” said Wallace. “I just told him don’t get discouraged and don’t ever lose the happiness you got from playing football. Don’t let the media, whatever else, take away from what you love to do. Just make sure you come out and have fun with it.”

Hillis went on to have the highest-yardage rushing game of his star-crossed season. Hillis ran 26 times for 99 yards and one touchdown in Arizona.

He said he felt healthier than at any point since Week 2, in which, coincidentally, he produced similar numbers — 27 rushes for 94 yards and two touchdowns — against the Colts.

Wallace and Hillis have bonded because if the Browns are going to make anything of the remaining games at Baltimore and home against Pittsburgh, they are going to have to be the main cogs on offense.

Wallace will make his second start on Christmas Eve in place of McCoy.

“I don’t want to overstep my boundaries,” he said. “I understand if somebody has to step up and speak their mind and say what they have to say, if it’s for the best of the team, you’ve got to do it.”

Hillis said the Wallace talk hit home. It was: “Just go out and enjoy football, enjoy the game, the guys you’re around, because any game can be your last. Every game’s precious.”

Hillis might have only two games left in a Browns uniform. His contract expires after the season. General Manager Tom Heckert recently said of re-signing Hillis, “That’s another one we’ll have to decide once the season’s over.”

Injury roundup: Besides McCoy, six other Browns did not practice on Wednesday — linebacker Ben Jacobs (concussion), receiver Jordan Norwood (concussion), safety T.J. Ward (foot), receiver Mohamed Massaquoi (foot), defensive lineman Scott Paxson (hand, foot) and cornerback Joe Haden (thigh). . . . Coach Pat Shurmur said the team has discussed shutting down Ward, who will miss his seventh consecutive game.

Now batting: Josh Cribbs’ recurrent groin injury will result in possibly more kickoff return opportunities for Buster Skrine, Shurmur said. Skrine had a 32-yard return in Arizona after Cribbs’ injury acted up.

Skrine was the lone returner when Arizona kicked off in overtime, but Jay Feely’s kickoff sailed into the end zone and went as a touchback.

Skrine is hoping to have some returns in Baltimore. The Ravens signed veteran Shayne Graham as a temp for Billy Cundiff, who has a calf injury and hasn’t practiced for the third week in a row. Cundiff is second in the AFC with 42 touchbacks.

Cribbs, who still may get some returns in Baltimore, has not had a return over 37 yards in six games. He hasn’t had a kickoff return for touchdown in 32 games.

“We’re doing what we can to get him blocked up so that we can get those,” Shurmur said.

Precinct report: Fan voting for the Pro Bowl ended on Monday. Joe Thomas finished fifth among AFC tackles, D’Qwell Jackson placed third among inside linebackers, and Cribbs was third among kick returners. Voting among coaches and players — which comprises the other two-thirds of the vote total — is completed today. Pro Bowl teams will be announced on Tuesday.

BEREA, Ohio – Colt McCoy still hasn’t been cleared to practice since suffering a concussion on Dec. 8.

“He was here this morning,” coach Pat Shurmur said. “Did a little physical activity.”

Still, Shurmur would not official name Seneca Wallace the Browns starting quarterback in Baltimore on Saturday.

“Not yet, but it’s going to come soon, I’m sure,” he said.

Shurmur has been reluctant to say whether McCoy has seen a head trauma specialist, as tight end Benjamin Watson did after his third concussion of the season.

“You can’t say he hasn’t seen one,” the coach replied. “He’s been evaluated just like Ben, by all the proper people. They’re all doctors. No real difference.”

In other pre-practice news:

* Receiver Jordan Norwood (concussion), linebacker Ben Jacobs (concussion) and safety T.J. Ward (foot) won’t practice, Shurmur said. The following players will be limited: cornerback Joe Haden (thigh), receiver Mohamed Massaquoi (foot), and defensive tackle Scott Paxson (hand, foot).

* Rookie Buster Skrine will continue to get reps at kickoff return in Baltimore, Shurmur said. Skrine had a 32-yard return in Arizona after Josh Cribbs’ groin injury acted up. Browns kickoff returners got an early Christmas present this week when the Ravens signed Shayne Graham to possibly replace Billy Cundiff on Saturday. Cundiff, second in the AFC with 43 touchbacks, has a calf injury and has missed three of his last five field goal attempts.

* Shurmur said he expected newly signed tight end Dan Gronkowski to be force-fed as a run-blocker in Baltimore because of the loss of Watson and Alex Smith to season-ending injuries.

“We’re getting him ready to play,” Shurmur said. “We feel we’ll teach him the gameplan, not the system.”

Browns running back Montario Hardesty still hopes to salvage what’s left of his lost season.

“I definitely want to finish out these two games strong,” said Hardesty, who’s carried the ball in one of the past seven games because of his torn calf muscle. “I’ve been really frustrated with this calf injury. It really hindered me a lot this year, but I have two more chances to go out and play.”

Hardesty made the trip to Arizona and was active for the game, but stood on the sidelines and didn’t play. Meanwhile, Peyton Hillis rushed for 99 yards.

“The calf was sore last week,” said Hardesty. “I was ready if they needed me, but they didn’t.”

On Tuesday, Hardesty practiced full-go, and is hoping to see the field in Baltimore — against the Ravens’ second-ranked run defense.

“It feels a lot better” Hardesty said of the calf. “I got a lot of reps [Tuesday] and it felt good. Hopefully it will continue to improve throughout the week.”

Hardesty said he never dreamt the calf would cost him most of his season when he felt a twinge on Oct. 30 in San Francisco. He carried the ball 11 times for 24 yards at Pittsburgh on Dec. 8. But he emerged sore from that game and had to rest again.

“I’d love to have a chance to play against Baltimore and Pittsburgh,” he said. “Both are great defenses. We have to find a way to win these games.”

Two new players: As expected, the Browns placed linebacker Titus Brown on injured reserve with his right knee injury and tight end Alex Smith on IR with his shoulder injury.

To replace them, the Browns signed linebacker Brian Smith off their practice squad and signed tight end Dan Gronkowski as a free agent.

Gronkowski is the brother of Patriots’ tight end Rob Gronkowski, who has set the NFL record for TD receptions by a tight end with 15 this season. Their other brother, Chris, is a fullback for the Colts. Dan Gronkowski spent five games with the Patriots this season, with one start. He was waived Nov. 8.

“I stayed in Foxborough,” said Gronkowski. “I had an apartment with my brother and was training. It paid off I guess, I felt pretty good out there. I didn’t feel like I’d been out that long.”

Gronkowski (6-5, 255 pounds) a seventh-round pick of the Lions in 2009 out of Maryland, said he used his time off to get bigger, which should help his blocking.

“I definitely can help in that area,” he said. “I’m definitely built to be a blocker, a little heavier. In the next two games I’ll do what I can.”

Gronkowski said he’s happy for Rob, who’s having blockbuster season.

“My brothers and I, we’re all best friends and we root for each other,” he said. “When he does good, it makes us all feel good and I mean, he’s a great player and I say that he’s learned everything from me. He set records this year and stuff and he’s an amazing player and he’s just going to get better.”

Brian Smith was signed by the Browns as an undrafted free agent out of Notre Dame, but waived at the end of camp. In Week 12, he was signed to the practice squad.

“It’s a blessing to be back and I’m just the kind of guy that stays resilient, keeps working at it, and when I get my shot I’m going to take full advantage of it,” said Smith.

Concussion update: Browns fullback Owen Marecic practiced Tuesday and is expecting to play in Baltimore despite suffering his second concussion in four weeks on Dec. 8 in Pittsburgh. He said no one has discussed shutting him down for the season.

“It never really came to my mind,” he said. “I can’t speak for anybody else, but it never came up in conversation.”

Marecic said he changed helmets in hopes of preventing another concussion. Eight Browns players have suffered 11 concussions this season.

In other concussion news, receiver Jordan Norwood and linebacker Ben Jacobs both sat out Tuesday with theirs. With Norwood likely to sit, Carlton Mitchell figures to get some playing time.

“I think there’s definitely a chance,” said Mitchell.

Other injuries: Cornerback Joe Haden sat out practice with a thigh bruise, but said he’ll play in Baltimore. . . . Safety T.J. Ward (foot) also sat out, but is still hopeful he can play Saturday.

Read More: Kerry Rhodes (S – ARI), Sean Considine (DB – ARI), Tony Pashos (OL – CLE), Dave Zastudil (P – ARI), Artis Hicks (OT – CLE), Brandon Keith (OT – ARI), Shawn Lauvao (OL – CLE), Colt McCoy (QB – CLE), T.J. Ward (DB – CLE), Cleveland Browns, Arizona Cardinals

The Arizona Cardinals are playing their best football of the season and they will look to continue their winning ways this Sunday against a struggling Cleveland Browns team. Fortunately for the Cardinals, it appears they will have most of their starters healthy and ready to go for Sunday. Beanie Wells is reportedly healthy and ready to go for Arizona, while quarterback Colt McCoy will miss the game with a concussion.

Here is the full injury report from Friday:

Cardinals:

• Did Not Participate In Practice: S Sean Considine (foot)
• Limited Participation: T Brandon Keith (ankle), QB Kevin Kolb (head), LB Joey Porter (knee), WR DeMarco Sampson (ribs), P Dave Zastudil (biceps)
• Full Participation: LB Clark Haggans (hamstring), TE Rob Housler (shoulder), S Kerry Rhodes (foot), RB Chris Wells (knee)

Browns:

• Did Not Participate In Practice: RB Owen Marecic (head, ankle), QB Colt McCoy (head, left hand), DT Brian Schaefering (ankle), S T.J. Ward (foot), TE Benjamin Watson (head)
• Limited Participation: WR Joshua Cribbs (groin), RB Montario Hardesty (calf), G Artis Hicks (shoulder), G Shawn Lauvao (ankle), T Tony Pashos (ankle), LB Quinton Spears (hamstring)
• Full Participation: DE Jabaal Sheard (forearm)

For more on the Cardinals, head on over to Revenge Of The Birds.