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"Little, a receiver out of North Carolina whom the Browns selected in the second round of the NFL draft, received 93 parking tickets while driving five different vehicles that had nine different license plates registered to car dealers while he was in college. That’s the word today from the News & Observer, which is continuing to investigate the scandal surrounding the North Carolina football team. Little was suspended for the entire 2010 season because the NCAA found that he received travel accommodations and jewelry, then lied about it to investigators in three separate interviews. Little’s tickets were among nearly 400, worth $13,000, that North Carolina players racked up from 2007 to 2010."

"Local 4 reports that Edwards, who is from Detroit and was a star at Michigan, crashed his car on Belle Isle. Police said Edwards was driving too fast. They do not think he was under the influence of drugs or alcohol. The Detroit Free Press reports that Edwards lost control of his 2011 Audi at about 3:40 a.m., drove onto the grass and struck a pylon. Edwards had a 25-year-old male passenger in the car. He was also not seriously hurt."

The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports that Jim Brown, who was an executive adviser to Browns owner Randy Lerner, contacted someone close to Tressel to gauge his interest in coaching the Browns in 2006. Tressel apparently wasn’t interested, and it’s not clear whether the Browns were ready to offer him the job or just wanted to see if he might be interested, but it’s fascinating to consider what might have been different if Tressel had coached the Browns.

"The owners and players can’t decide what to do with an extra billion dollars between them," Lanci said. "I have the perfect solution. That one billion should go to all cities that gave them money to build football stadiums they couldn’t afford to build. This would give these cities badly needed tax relief."

Decent enough veteran Tackle who has played multiple positions on the line. Good depth. Replacement for St. Clair perhaps?

A league source tells us that Jay Gruden, currently the head coach of the Virginia Destroyers of the UFL, will become the next offensive coordinator of the Bengals. The source says the deal is done.

The Rams added an offensive coordinator, but are now minus a quarterbacks coach. At a press conference Wednesday to formally announce the hiring of Josh McDaniels as the team's new offensive coordinator, coach Steve Spagnuolo said that assistant head coach/quarterbacks coach Dick Curl is retiring. ---------- He is 70 years old, so maybe retire means retire in this case, but it kind of sounds like maybe he was forced out in order to make room for McDaniels' brother.

Fanshots are now listed above Fanposts on Dawgs by Nature. When did this happen, and how does it affect the Browns hopes for a productive offseason?

Mike Adams of the Buckeyes, that is. He and four others (Pryor, Posey, Herron, and Thomas) will miss the first five games of the 2011 season (assuming they are still Buckeyes next year). "Adams must repay $1,000 for selling his 2008 Big Ten championship ring and Herron must repay $1,150 for selling his football jersey, pants and shoes for $1,000 and receiving discounted services worth $150. Posey must repay $1,250 for selling his 2008 Big Ten championship ring for $1,200 and receiving discounted services worth $50, while Pryor must repay $2,500 for selling his 2008 Big Ten championship ring, a 2009 Fiesta Bowl sportsmanship award and his 2008 Gold Pants, a gift from the university. Solomon must repay $1,505 for selling his 2008 Big Ten championship ring for $1,000, his 2008 Gold Pants for $350 and receiving discounted services worth $155." Does this men Pryor enters the draft this year? Is he a top ten pick? What does this mean for the Browns?

"Browns cornerback Eric Wright's tumultuous season has come to an end. Wright, who re-injured his left knee in Cincinnati, will be placed on injured reserve and miss the final two games of the season. Wright, who limped through the locker room with a brace on his knee, is not expected to undergo surgery. "We'll know more later in the week,'' said coach Eric Mangini."

Hodges averaged 48.7 yards on those nine punts, with a net average of 43.3 yards. He landed two of his punts inside the 20-yard line, including one that was downed at the 1-yard line. Hodges leads the league with 13 punts inside the 10 this year.

Deuce Gruden (Jon Gruden's son) appeared on the Sporting Rave podcast, and Deuce said that the family could be heading for San Fran or Cleveland. "He was going to let me finish high school," Deuce Gruden said. "They were talking about going to San Francisco, but that’ll probably be in the next two years . . . or maybe Cleveland."

"I was watching the tape on the plane ride home and it was just frustrating," said Mangini. "There's a range of emotions that you go through. Then you watch a guy like Rubin, and his effort throughout the course of that game from start to finish was just impressive. "He made a ton of plays down the field last week, and they're just hustle plays," said Mangini. "Those big guys usually don't do that and when you see it, it charges you up. It wasn't just one play. It was like play one, two, three, four and five. He constantly shows up on the screen." "He's in a class by himself," said Ryan. "There's nobody that plays the way Rubin plays. Nobody in the league plays defensive tackle the way he does."

"Growing up in Toronto, the Ryan brothers played backyard football, with Jim, older by six years, pitted against the twins. Their games had one rule: if you did not dispense cheap shots, you were penalized. In one contest, Rex or Rob, Jim cannot remember which, slid down a snowbank into a moving vehicle. In another, Rob celebrated before he reached the goal line, then turned smack into a tree. After hundreds of such games, the twins reached high school, and the days of Ryan versus Ryan and Ryan ended. In their final meeting, Jim said, "Rex dropped me and Rob kept laughing at me while stepping on my face." The Ryans played all sports with similar abandon, much like the defenses they coach, which are physical and tough. They played hockey (Rex as goalie, Rob on defense), basketball (camped underneath the basket and fouling on every play) and football, at least when they were allowed. They were booted from their youth football league in Canada for tackling too hard." Great article. Highly recommended read.

"As the San Francisco 49ers deliberated whether to give quarterback Troy Smith, who joined the team in September, a crack at starting last weekend in London, the team relied on a coach who knows Smith far better than anyone in San Fran does. According to the Columbus Dispatch, Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said Thursday that 49ers coach Mike Singletary called Tressel when Singletary was trying to decide whether to start Troy Smith or David Carr in the absence of Alex Smith."

Mike: Patriots quarterback Tom Brady will see a familiar looking defense as the Browns have some Patriots-like qualities to them. This is a 3-4 defense that is somewhat stingy, ranking in a tie for 12th for fewest points allowed in the NFL. Tedy: This defense reminds me of the early stages of the 3-4 defense that was played here in New England, the two-gapping, being physical, being aggressive, man-on-man, winning one-on-one battles. One player who stands out to me is Scott Fujita, who they signed in the offseason via New Orleans. I think he has brought some championship attitude to the team, veteran leadership, and he's out there making plays. He wasn't a big two-gapping 3-4 guy before coming to Cleveland and it looks like he's made a nice transition. When they went into New Orleans two weeks ago, they came away with four interceptions against Drew Brees, they are making big plays and sometimes that can be contagious. Mike: The Browns used quite a few different looks in their upset win over the Saints two weeks ago. At one point, when we reviewed the action, we saw a two-man rush with nine players dropping into coverage. Other times, it was more of a true blitz, with six rushers. Tedy: This is a team that will make the quarterback think -- two-man, three-man rush at times. Then, right when you think they might be showing a three-man rush, they'll bring seven. They show different looks and disguise coverages, and that's something Eric Mangini always stressed in defensive meetings -- "don't tell the quarterback what you're about to do, don't give him the answers pre-snap." That was a Mangini mantra when he was Patriots defensive coordinator and as defensive backs coach."

"Edwards noted a sense of "arrogance" among Jet receivers Monday and felt they needed to return to fundamentals and see the ball into their hands."

"Michael Lombardi of NFL Network is reporting that the Vikings waived Moss on Monday, one day after he followed an unproductive game in a loss to the Patriots with a bitter press conference in which he questioned the Vikings' coaches and suggested that he'd rather be back in New England."

"So many thoughts. One: It's time to start ejecting and suspending players for flagrant hits, which I thought the Meriweather one was, and perhaps also the shot of Harrison on Massaquoi. Two: the league had better train its officials better considering there was no penalty on the Harrison hit on Massaquoi. The league had as a point of emphasis to officials this year that launching into a defenseless receiver would be a penalty and subject to discipline. So emphasize it. Three: Eighteen games? Are you serious? Tell the six Eagles who've suffered concussions this year -- we're six weeks into the season -- that adding two games is no big hazard to your health. Right. And four: Don't tell me this is the culture we want. It might be the culture kids are used to in video games, but the NFL has to draw a line in the sand right here, right now, and insist that the forearm shivers and leading with the helmet and launching into unprotected receivers will be dealt with severely. Six-figure fines. Suspensions. Ejections."

On Monday, the Chargers cut defensive back C.J. Spillman. On Tuesday, a pair of teams made a claim for Spillman. In the end, the 0-5 49ers beat out the 1-4 Browns for Spillman's contract.

The Browns traded him last year for a sixth round pick (Clifton Geathers -- also cut).

Titus Brown signed off of Denver's practice squad.

"You can debate the best NFL draft well into the night. The 1964 draft produced a record 10 Hall of Famers, the 1974 draft paved the way for a Pittsburgh dynasty, and the 1983 draft gave the NFL an unprecedented class of quarterbacks. But the worst draft ever? There’s no need to debate that one. The 2009 draft is swiftly moving into a class of its own." Continue Reading

"There's nothing going on in Cleveland," Edwards recently told Greg Bishop of the New York Times. "There's no real estate. There's no social life, no social networking. All the people who have something going on leave Cleveland. So Cleveland has nothing, and I came in there with a New York-type of essence. So what? That was the attitude I came in with. Like, this is who I am. They didn't like the flash." ... Edwards' mother also chimed in on her son's struggles in Ohio. "He came from a team that was always looking for a savior to a team that knows how to win," she said, apparently under the impression that he'd been traded not to the Jets, but to the Giants. "No one would understand what he's been through unless you've been drowning," she added.

Two years later, Tuba Rubin is the only player from our 2008 draft class that still has a job. Nice work Phil.

What an idiot. Update: Mangini warns team about Twitter McDonald to be disciplined Player gets fined $1700 for cell phone ring http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/38633403/ns/sports-nfl/

The agent for Cleveland Browns rookie cornerback Joe Haden says the seventh overall pick in the draft expects to be signed and ready to go before training camp starts. "We've been in contact with the Browns and expect to begin negotiating next week,'' agent Malik Shareef told the Cleveland Plain Dealer. "Our main objective is to get Joe in camp on time so he can perform to the best of his abilities. A holdout would not be in anyone's best interests.'' The Browns have indicated that they plan to work Haden in slowly in training camp, but realistically, it would be a disappointment if Haden doesn't earn a spot in the starting lineup. Haden is expected to compete with Sheldon Brown for a starting job in training camp. Eric Wright will be the Browns' other starting cornerback.