Ross Jones, FOXSports.com
Trent Richardson arrived at Escambia (Pensacola, Fla.) High School as a physically gifted running back who needed a bit of seasoning.
“He showed up as a man-child. He was very muscled up physically and was well-developed for a kid that was 14 years old,” Escambia football coach Derrick Boyd told Laces Out.
“He was bigger than any of the running backs that we had on campus that were 11th and 12th graders.” Keep Reading…
The Steelers cut loose five-time Pro Bowler James Harrison in early March. Since then, rumors have swirled that the linebacker could join another AFC North team. Keep Reading…
Links of the day
Super Bowl scam artist, who sold fake tickets for $5900 on Craigslist, has been arrested. What a price to pay. [Mercury News]
NFL scouts applaud Marcus Lattimore following impressive performance at pro day. Gotta love it. [USAT]
Rob Gronkowski tries his best to be a Sportscenter anchor … and fails miserably. [Awful Announcing]
Browns offensive coordinator Norv Turner “really likes” Matt Barkley. [USAT]
Tweet of the day
Seems like the Cowboys wide receiver is always good for a tweet. This time he took offense to ESPN’s Skip Bayless after the TV talent took a shot at him.
My bad skip I forgot you and your buddy get paid to twist up stories whenever you already know the truth @realskipbayless
— Dez Bryant (@DezBryant) March 27, 2013
Instagram of the day
Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive lineman Adrian Clayborn is spending his offseason in France. Who can blame him?
Video of the day
Brian Billick and Taylor Jones on the AFC West and how teams have done thus far in Free Agency.
Birthdays
1988: Junior Galette, DE
1984: Jonathan Wade, DB
1983: Domonique Foxworth, DB
1976: Chike Okeafor, DE
1963: Randall Cunningham, QB
We love the NFL here at Laces Out, but even we can’t get everything. Why don’t you sit back, kick your feet up and take a peek at what the World Wide Web has to offer on this day. Keep Reading…
The Browns thought that kick return specialist/wide receiver Josh Cribbs was expendable. Maybe he was, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t deeply rooted with the Cleveland faithful.
Cribbs, who reportedly inked a deal with the Cardinals on Wednesday, decided to reflect on his eight years with the Browns on his Instagram account @joshcribbs16.
The former undrafted free agent from Kent State mentioned how important the community was to him and how he’s leaving the Browns in good hands, with a picture of T.J. Ward and Joe Haden.
Minutes later, Cribbs summed it all up in one tweet.
Love u Cleveland….
— Josh Cribbs (@JoshCribbs16) March 14, 2013
Classy move by a classy guy.
Chip Kelly was one of the hot names coming into this week of organized chaos of firing and hiring NFL head coaches. The coach of the offensively high powered Oregon Ducks was scheduled to meet with the Cleveland Browns, Philadelphia Eagles, and Buffalo Bills, but Ian Rapoport of NFL.com reports that Kelly and the Browns are close to a deal.
Chip Kelly might be the perfect fit for the Cleveland Browns. Since returning to the league in 1999, the Cleveland Browns’ average offensive raking has been 24th. The Browns’ offense has only been ranked higher than 23rd once, when they were 8th in 2007. In the seasons since 1999, the Browns offense ranked 29th or worse eight times (remember, three of those years there were only 31 teams in the NFL). The Browns have been bad on offense.
Chip Kelly and his high powered spread offense struck fear into the hearts of defenses across the country for his entire career at Oregon. Many believe that Kelly possess the skill to tailor his offense to the pro game and to the personnel on his roster. This match of a terrible offensive team and arguably the best offensive coach in college football is a more obvious fit that Ross and Rachel, Sunny and Cher, or even Carrie and Brody. This seemingly perfect fit could end up making the Browns look like Charlie Brown kicking the football yet again.
The Browns are a franchise riddled with plenty terrible hires, injured players, flat out bad luck, and even one relocation/expansion under their belt. Cleveland loves their team but continually get their hearts broken by the lack of continuity in the front office and at head coach. Kelly becomes the perfect hire because most people think he can do the job but there is still a long history of college coaches struggling in the NFL. Going after a college coach has gotten less scary after seeing the success Pete Carroll, Jim Harbaugh, and Greg Schiano had recently. However, each of those coaches spent time in the NFL before experiencing success as a college head coach. The list of coaches coming from college and failing in the NFL is much long. The list includes, Lou Holtz, Nick Saban, Steve Spurrier, Bobby Petrino, and oh ya, Steve Carroll. Chip Kelly is a sexy hire this off-season that could energize the Browns’ fan base, but we still need to wait and see if he can break the mold and win in the NFL coming from college. If Kelly is not one of the few college coaches who makes a successful transition to the NFL, the Cleveland faithful are getting set up for another perfect storm of heartbreak.
[NFL.com]
During today’s game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cleveland Browns, running back Chris Rainey showed us all just how bad Cleveland is at football. Keep Reading…
The Cleveland Browns waved the white flag on a proposed white towel promotion sponsored by Ticketmaster. The organization planned on giving every fan in attendance an inflatable white flag complete with the Browns name and an orange helmet on it. When someone in the organization finally remembered that the white towel is an international symbol for surrender, they thought it best to cancel the promotion.
Browns spokesman Neal Gulkis said Saturday:
“After further and careful consideration, we felt it was in the best interests of everyone involved that we not have a giveaway item at tomorrow’s game. It is something that was intended to be fun for our fans and that they could rally around, and we regret that some didn’t perceive it that way. We want to thank all of our fans for their tremendous support and we look forward to seeing them out in force at the stadium tomorrow.”
Browns linebacker D’Qwell Jackson was’t exactly a fan of the promotion either:
“I try not to get caught up in what goes on outside, tend to focus on the steelers, but I’m not a fan of the white flags,” he said. “That’s the simplest way I can put it. I’m not a fan of it whatsoever knowing that we’re going to see the Terrible Towels flying. It’s just not a message that I like and I’m sure a lot of other guys don’t approve of.”
Having a reliable kicker is a high priority for NFL teams. In fact, kickers can be the difference between teams winning and losing many games each season. But if your kicker is your team’s star player, you’re in trouble.
The Cleveland Browns found that out on Sunday.