Old-time and modern day Cleveland Browns fans should be familiar with running back Leroy Kelly, who played with the team from 1964-1973. His son, Leroy Kelly Jr, tried out for the Browns back in 2008, but did not get signed by the team. In an article by Mary Kay Cabot of the Plain Dealer, it is revealed that Kelly is receiving another tryout from the Browns.

Kelly Jr., 27, is an NFL hopeful at safety and returner who will get a tryout with the Browns on Monday, he told The Plain Dealer Wednesday. If they like him, he could stick around for the minicamp June 5-7.

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The previous caption contest featured Cleveland Browns rookie quarterback Brandon Weeden and head coach Pat Shurmur looking at each other, with Shurmur making some form of a gesture toward Weeden. The winning caption goes to BornAKardiacKid, who kept it simple with Shurmur:

Hey Brandon, what’s another word for battle?

Unfortunately, pwndabear's equally-rec'd comment about Steelers fans did not make it, since it was not a caption for the picture, but rather a response to a troll. Nonetheless, here is the shout out one user requested for him.

I was hoping there would be some fresh OTA photos today for me to use, but there are not. Instead, I will go with a member's suggestion to feature the lovable Romeo Crennel, who is now the head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs. The caption contest standings are after the jump.

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Cleveland Browns head coach Pat Shurmur spoke with the local media after the team's OTA session on Wednesday. Among the topics he talked about heavily were the size difference of wide receiver Greg Little, the expectations for running back Montario Hardesty, the plan for the second set of OTA sessions, and more. The news conference is organized by topic after the jump.

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The second session of organized team activities (OTA) began today, and all eyes were expected to be on the quarterback position. The media got their answer early, as first-round draft choice Brandon Weeden was leading the first-team offense for most of practice. During the last OTA session open to the media, Colt McCoy was running the first-team offense. It was of no surprise that head coach Pat Shurmur tried to make nothing of the change at today's practice:

"I don’t think you can read into [Weeden taking the first-team reps]. I think last week Colt started all the team drills. This week -- or at least today -- and it’ll change throughout the week, we let Brandon start the drill. But they all got similar amount of reps with guys that are competing at the skill positions to be starters. So I wouldn’t read into that."

In addition to Weeden, running back Trent Richardson continued to take reps with the first-team offense, this time (apparently) with less splitting of time with Montario Hardesty. Second-round right tackle Mitchell Schwartz ran with the first-team offense over Oniel Cousins. The other big news? Second-year safety Eric Hagg continued running with the first-team defense at safety, while Usama Young remained with the second-team defense. The fill first-team offense and first-team defense can be found after the jump, per Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon Journal:

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According to a tweet by Aaron Wilson of Scout.com, the Cleveland Browns have released cornerback Mike Allen. Allen, who was from James Madison University, was one of the 15 undrafted free agents who the team had in rookie training camp and the first set of organized team activity sessions. I guess I can scratch him from the mini-profiles on undrafted free agents that I was compiling. The Powhatan Today ran an article a few weeks ago on Allen and his time in camp with the Browns; unfortunately for him, he'll have to catch on elsewhere.

The team has not officially announced the move yet, and there is no word on who was signed to take his place. One can imagine that the Browns made the transaction in order to have an extra body available for the second set of OTA sessions, which kick off today at 11:00 AM EST and are open to the media.

As we have reported over the past few days, the Cleveland Browns second set of organized team activities (OTA's) will begin on Wednesday, May 30th. During the last set of OTA's, all of the "juice" (i.e. note-worthy information) came from the first day of the three sessions because it was the only day open to the media.

Based on tweets from Tony Grossi and Fred Greetham of The OBR, it sounds like Wednesday's session will be open to the media again. If you are around in the early morning, be sure to check out Twitter around 11:00 AM EST and later to see if there are any interesting news and nuggets coming out from camp. Later in the day, we'll have a recap of everything that reportedly went down, as well as highlights from any news conferences. After this set of OTA's is over, the team will proceed to the only full-squad minicamp, where attendance is mandatory (meaning Phil Dawson will be there).

In an article by Pat McManamon of Fox Sports Ohio, Cleveland Browns sixth-round draft choice Emmanuel Acho was interviewed to talk about the opportunities that being a player in the NFL provide other than playing the game:

"I just like what football allows you to do as far as what platform it puts you on," the Browns' sixth-round draft choice out of Texas said recently. "For no other reason, people respect you because you’re talented at playing a game. It allows you to impact people’s lives for the better. ...being able to play football will give me that platform to do more impactful things than winning games."

In other words, being a part of the league puts him in a better position to make a difference off the field, especially in his parents' home country of Nigeria, where Acho has witnessed first-hand the difficult living conditions he could have been in had he not been more fortunate. Check out the rest of the article to gain some more background information on Acho, who will battle for a spot at outside linebacker in training camp.

Another nice thing about these caption contests is that we are getting some new members to join. Congratulations to Danthrax, who on his first day as a member of Dawgs By Nature, out-witted all of the other newcomers and veterans to capture a victory with this caption about running back Trent Richardson in a pose:

"This is how I want my statue to look in front of the stadium."

Today, we get Cleveland Browns head coach Pat Shurmur in on the action, as he is doing/saying something to/with quarterback Brandon Weeden at rookie minicamp a few weeks ago. The caption contest standings are after the jump.

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We have ran polls on Dawgs By Nature in the past, asking whether the Cleveland Browns would be a good fit for HBO's "Hard Knocks," an all-access documentary that chronicles a team's progress through the entire duration of training camp. There was a recent discussion about it again in a FanShot. No matter where the players go, NFL Films is there to film them. It last drew popularity during the 2010 season, when loud-mouthed head coach Rex Ryan and the New York Jets were featured. In 2011, the show was cancelled due to the lockout.

There wasn't any real sign that Cleveland was a candidate for the show, but now we can officially rule them out: the Miami Dolphins agreed to be featured on the show this coming season. Miami has some intriguing storylines this year as they try to make a splash in the Patriot-dominated AFC East. First, new head coach Joe Philbin, formerly the offensive coordinator of the Green Bay Packers, will be installing a new offense. There will also be a three-way quarterback competition between Matt Moore, David Garrard, and Ryan Tannehill (that sounds similar to the Jake Delhomme, Seneca Wallace, and Colt McCoy competition from two years ago). Running back Reggie Bush, who revitalized his career a year ago, is sure to be a prominent face for the show too.

What do you think? Are the Miami Dolphins an intriguing enough of a selection to get you to watch?

Eight teams finished at the bottom of their division each year in the NFL, but that does not mean you should always count them out in the following year. Over at SBNation.com, Joel Thorman wrote an article that looked at which teams had the best chances of going from "worst to first" in their division from 2011 to 2012. If you think SB Nation is any more optimistic than ESPN was in their 2015 future power rankings, though, then you are fooling yourself:

8. Cleveland Browns: Sorry, Cleveland. The Ravens and Steelers are both in the AFC North, and they're both significantly better than the Browns. Both Baltimore and Pittsburgh are two of the most consistent teams in the league, and even a great season from the Bengals wasn't enough to finish ahead of either them in the AFC North. The Browns are building a solid foundation with Trent Richardson and Brandon Weeden, but they have a while to go before they can start talking about winning the division.

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When you think of "baseball" and this year's draft class for the Cleveland Browns, first-round quarterback Brandon Weeden should immediately come to mind. The player taken after him by the Browns, second-round offensive tackle Mitchell Schwartz, also had a thing for baseball, though.

In an interview with Steve Doerschuk of the Canton Repository, Schwartz explains how he grew up playing baseball as a pitcher. He later made the transition to football, trying out as a quarterback for his high school team.

Mitchell was a pitcher and first baseman. His favorite sports team was the San Francisco Giants, tracing to the fact his father had grown up in Giants country, in Santa Rosa. Mitchell wasn’t a great hitter, but he could bring it from the mound. His father and his big brother brought him along.

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Our previous caption contest featured a showdown between OSUMoneyBall and Dawg Nuts, but in the end, Dawg Nuts captured a few more rec's and came away victorious. Here is what Dawg Nuts' caption was in the picture that featured former Browns running back Peyton Hillis in a Chiefs uniform:

Hillis: "Just keeping throwing that ball like you don’t know anything. This place is crawling with KGB agents."

On to the next caption contest! Today, we go back to a Cleveland Browns photograph from rookie minicamp a few weeks back. This photograph features first-round draft choice Trent Richardson looking at...something. The caption contest standings are after the jump.

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In this week's edition of Monday Morning Quarterback, Sports Illustrated's Peter King brought up an interesting scenario: how different would things be today in the NFL had the trade deadline extension been implemented last season instead of this upcoming season? (Note: the change in 2012 has not been officially confirmed yet, but it seems likely to be approved).

In King's "butterfly effect," everything could have changed because of one player: Kyle Orton.

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It will be another hot and humid day in Cleveland, with temperatures reaching the low 90s. I hope everyone has a pleasant Memorial Day, as we remember those left behind.

In terms of Cleveland sports, you can check out Let's Go Tribe today for the Minnesota Twins vs. Cleveland Indians game, which gets started at 4:00 PM EST. It is Photo Day at Progressive Field, and the first 15,000 fans will also receive replica Justin Masterson jerseys.

This week's OTA sessions for the Cleveland Browns begin on Wednesday, May 30th, and will conclude on Friday, June 1st.

In his Sunday Blitz column, Dan Pompei of the National Football Post talked about how the Cleveland Browns' front office and coaching staff valued Trent Richardson compared to Adrian Peterson, and how former second-round draft choice Montario Hardesty still fits into the mix.

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First off, my apologies to pwndabear for featuring a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers front-and-center on a Browns blog, even if it was just a caption contest. I hope he'll forgive me for featuring the Steelers at the top of Around the AFC North too, but I won't hold my breath.

It looked like Brownie's Year was going to win the previous caption contest with simplicity, but all of a sudden, Scenery came through with yet another top-notch caption to come away victorious. With only three caption contests being held so far, Scenery already has a big advantage over most members. Will anyone be able to conquer him? Here is his most recent winner:

Pittsburgh linebacker James Harrison stretches in preparation to eat the pancakes he hears Cleveland’s Joe Thomas is bringing to their next game. Teammates acknowledge that he might not understand the term.

Tip to everyone: a Joe Thomas reference against a rival will usually yield some pretty good results.

Today's caption contests does not feature a current member of the Browns, but it does serve two purposes: it gives you a chance to see what Peyton Hillis looks like in Chiefs attire, and it gives you another chance to poke fun at some of the storylines from a year ago. Current standings are after the jump.

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In tonight's edition of Around the AFC North, we take a look at linebacker James Farrior possibly returning to the Steelers to retire, another Bengals player with legal issues, and former Ravens running back Jamal Lewis filing for bankruptcy.

Pittsburgh Steelers: LB James Farrior Talking to Team About Retirement

We're saying goodbye to a couple of long-time Steelers this offseason. First, it was Hines Ward. Now, it looks like linebacker James Farrior is next. Farrior played for the Steelers from 2002-2011, but he was not re-signed this offseason. Now, he's looking to return to Pittsburgh to retire, according to reports:

Ralph Cindrich, the agent of former Steelers LB James Farrior, said his free agent client is in discussion right now with the Pittsburgh Steelers about retirement.

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We all know that the issue of concussions has become a big topic in the NFL. The Cleveland Plain Dealer decided to post a boatload of articles today regarding concussions and former members of the Cleveland Browns. You might get dizzy trying to digest so many concussion-related articles all at once (you would think they'd space them out), but here is the list of them:

NFL could face thousands of lawsuits from ex-players over brain damage from concussions
Former Browns running back Jamal Lewis faces uncertainties of brain injuries from concussions
Reggie Rucker on football concussions: "It's about time players acknowledge what's happened to them"
Charley Harraway paying a price for long-ago football collisions
Joe DeLamielleure, forgetfulness and a 'short fuse' are concussions' lingering toll

I paid particular attention to the first two articles. The first one includes the numbers on the high volume of current and former players who have filed lawsuits in the past year:

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In his weekly Sunday column, Cleveland Plain Dealer columnist Terry Pluto talked about the Browns' depth at the cornerback position, whether Joshua Cribbs could take some playing time away from Mohamed Massaquoi again, the early reviews of the team's pair of young defensive tackles, and how the veteran coaches added to the staff this offseason has not gone unnoticed.

After the jump, we highlight what Pluto said about John Hughes and Billy Winn, and how his current impression of the team's safety position differs from what I wrote in The Sunday Five this morning.

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Miami Dolphins QB Matt Moore.
New England Patriots LB Rob Ninkovich.
New York Jets OLB Aaron Maybin.
Baltimore Ravens DT Pernell McPhee.
Cincinnati Bengals DE Carlos Dunlap.

If you have heard of each of those players in the past, then give yourself a little pat on the back. Pro Football Focus is in the process of labeling certain players as "secret superstars," and as of Saturday, the players above were the ones featured for 2012 so far. On Sunday, PFF added Cleveland Browns safety T.J. Ward to the list, who, "despite finishing the season on injured reserve, has given Browns fans further hope that the franchise is turning around."

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"The Sunday Five" is a loosely-titled piece where I talk about five NFL- or Browns-related topics related to this past week. In today's edition, we take a look a look at the next set of OTA sessions, a look forward at possibly having Eric Hagg as a starting safety, and whether Marcus Benard will get caught in the numbers game or not.

Head coach Pat Shurmur decided to keep the veteran players with the first-team offense during the first organized team activity sessions last week. Technically, we only know that when it comes to the first day of OTA's, which was open to the media. The other two days took place without the media in attendance. The question is not if, but when, the likes of Brandon Weeden and Mitchell Schwartz will be running with the first team offense. Will it be during the next OTA sessions? The second set of OTA sessions are from May 30 to June 1, which is from Wednesday to Friday of this week. I am not sure which, if any, of the sessions will be open to the media.

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We didn't have a definitive winner in the previous caption contest, which featured quarterback Colt McCoy and an assistant (with Seneca Wallace in the background). As of this post, The New Kardiac Kids had the only caption that went green, so he will be deemed the winner.

Colt: Come on, let us have a turn. Ball boy: Ha ha yeah right, coach said only Weeden gets the ball.

The current standings are after the jump.

Today, we jump from the Browns' OTA's to the Steelers' OTA's for a second, with linebacker James Harrison featured front and center. Personally, I'd be a little afraid to say anything too negative about the guy, but feel free to have at it!

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In another feature in the pilot-testing phase here at Dawgs By Nature, the "Week in Review" will try to give a brief snapshot at what happened during the past week related to the Cleveland Browns (or important NFL news). After the jump is a recap from the week of May 20 - May 26.

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We just took a look at the best individual defensive performances for the Cleveland Browns, as deemed by Pro Football Focus, in which four players received recognition. What about the offensive side of the ball? I almost laughed to myself when clicking on the quarterback, running back, and wide receiver links, because I did not expect there to be any members of the Browns in those categories. Sure enough, I was right. In total, two members of the Browns' offense were recognized. Was left tackle Joe Thomas one of them?

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Over the past few weeks, Pro Football Focus has been highlighting, position-by-position, the best individual performances from the 2011 season for particular games. Let's take a look at which members of the Cleveland Browns defense received some recognition:

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The winner of yesterday's caption contest was Scenery, who came up with the following comment about wide receiver Travis Benjamin being unable to catch a pass at rookie minicamp:

Rookie receiver Travis Benjamin proves he fits into the Browns’ offense. Coaches reportedly impressed how quickly Benjamin picked up the system.

Thanks to all who participated in the first edition, but Scenery is now ahead of everyone in the standings (side note: my personal favorite caption belonged to wharf_rat, but I only get one vote!). Today's caption contest features quarterback Colt McCoy at the team's first OTA sessions, standing alongside an assistant. Seneca Wallace is also looming in the background. Remember: post your caption, and/or rec the caption that you think is the best!

Cantor Gaming became the first Nevada bookmaker to release NFL season win totals on Wednesday (hat tip to J.W. for posting about it as a FanShot). The teams with the highest win totals are the Green Bay Packers and the New England Patriots, each of whom were given 12. The Cleveland Browns, along with the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Indianapolis Colts, are tied for the lowest win total at 5.5.

Cleveland Browns Win Total for 2012 NFL Season

Over 5.5 wins Even
Under 5.5 wins -130

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Last year, it was the players association. This year, it could be the referees association...or not. According to the Washington Post, the NFL Referees Association and the NFL are heading to federal mediation. Unlike last year, in which the lockout would have prevented the season from being played, the league would simply find alternative referees is an agreement is not reached in time:

The current deal expires at the end of this month and the NFL has instructed its scouting department for officials to begin preparing for the possibility that replacement officials could be used during the upcoming season if a deal is not struck.

According to the report, both sides are "intent on reaching a deal," so this will probably end up being a non-issue when everything is all said and done. In the event that things don't get resolved, though, where would the league look for replacement officials? In a report from earlier this month by ESPN's Adam Schefter, he explains a possible scenario:

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Today, ESPN's Jamison Hensley took a look at the top five quarterbacks in the AFC North. Yesterday, we saw that a first-round running back for Cleveland was able to immediately snatch the No. 2 spot in the division at that position. Would Cleveland's first-round quarterback be able to do the same? This shouldn't be to anyone's surprise, but the answer is "no," as Brandon Weeden was ranked at No. 4 on the list, behind veterans Ben Roethlisberger and Joe Flacco, and second-year quarterback Andy Dalton.

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Welcome to a new (potentially daily) feature that you will see on Dawgs By Nature over the next couple of weeks in order to kill some time while highlighting some pictures from the Cleveland Browns' offseason activities. In the comments section, come up with a caption that you believe other readers will enjoy.

Readers: if you like a caption, "rec" it; whichever user gets the most "rec's" by the time the next caption contest is posted will be deemed the winner of that contest. We'll try to keep a running tally of how many wins members have to see who is the wittiest person on DBN.

Today, we begin with rookie receiver Travis Benjamin attempting to catch a pass at rookie minicamp a couple of weeks ago.