DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum Bentley's BACK!!

Blue Diamond Phillips?

With a response like that, maybe he needs an enema instead.

That's how I feel... Our line is in a position that we don't need Bently... it'd be nice as hell to have him though... but I'm more happy that he's made it back this far. Coming from almost losing your leg to being cleared to practice for a NFL team is pretty impressive.

thank you, in fact, IMO we are better of w/o him.
Sorry, JMO

Thank you for that post.

Great post!

Exactly why most of us want to see him do well.... to have any Brown go through what he has and still continue to fight to be on this team says something.

Love your attitude on this GM.

I am done being superstitious and not getting excited....

I wish LeCharles the best of luck.

His arms are friggin' enormous.

I'd hate to run into him in a dark alley.

yay!

finally....

nice post.....see my sig....

this dude gets it...

i'm happy as hell he'll get a chance to even practice....

Nuff said bro. Great post!

Nuff said. We gotta get this guy. If nothing else, put him in a slot or the backfield.
Go Browns! Get some notches!

check out this interview with Bentley on the NFL network

http://www.nfl.com/videos?videoId=09000d5d808c3bdb

there are also so other videos here:

http://www.clevelandbrowns.com/multimedia/mediaplayer.php

Man, he looks ripped!!! I don't know what he weighs, but it doesn't look like a lot of fat. Sure good to see him in a Browns uniform. I see him as backup center for now, but possibly starting right tackle. Time will tell. Would like to see him get 00 like he wants.
WELCOME BACK LCB!!!

I don't see any way that he would be at Tackle. He's Center or Guard.


I can't wait to get enough good news to be convinced that he's gonna be with us in '08 so I can order myself a Bentley '00' jersey

UR right. I typed right tackle but meant right guard. I guess I was just thinking about Tucker and typed tackle. By the way, Bentley has a 4 million dollar incentive to move into one of those positions as a starter. I don't think he worked this hard over two years just to be at league minimum.

This piece is from Steve Doerschuk's blog covering the interview that Bentley had with the media:

"A while later, I asked Bentley if working his way into contact drills will be a big hurdle. He offered surprising detail on that matter, saying:
“Little do you all know that I had full contact back in October. We brought out the D-linemen, the linebackers. I had full contact then and did very well.
The issue wasn’t about my performance as a player. The issue was about the mechanics in my running. Some people thought that it wasn’t where it needed to be. But I’m not going to go into all that.

“But as far as me being a football player, that was never the question. As far as my knee holding up, I’ve established that I know that it can happen. I’ve had full contact. That’s not the issue.
“If you don’t believe me, we can go get the pads, and you can put your pads on, and …”

Quote:

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“If you don’t believe me, we can go get the pads, and you can put your pads on, and …”

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I don't know if he's physically ready, but mentally,, Oh yea, he's all there

J/C Daman.

Now let's hear the next feel good story of the year in Gary Baxter. Where's the news on him and how's he doing? C'mon media, where are ya? Post the feel good story on him too?

It's just way too good to hope for and I surely don't believe it, but just perhaps he is why Phil has said that he is comfortable with our Safeties as-is.

starting to get a bad feeling about this....like maybe he isnt going to be with us after all

It is a business..IMO I think if he's able to play it really won't be fulltime till 09..
This year will be a time period to work him up to speed..I keep saying wait till the second year when a player comes back from a knee injury..
But heres some food for thought..

Bentley didn't exactly enamour himself to the club by rehabbing in Arizona.
I can understand his fear (dude was at near death in there) at being in the same zip code as the Cleveland Clinic ..kinda makes U wonder if there's a microscopic ALIEN waiting to bite and inject some poision into your wound

But things got a little... frosty between the club and Bentley in all this time. It was hardly the club's fault that he went down on the first play from scrimmage at Berea.
And it was the Cleveland Clinic, not the Cleveland Browns, that put him further in the hole.


Yet the result was that Bentley pretty much kept the club at a distance. He could claim that he trusted his own people over the Browns staff. Yet the club could as easily argue that it trusted its own people more than whoever Bentley had taking care of him.

So every few months, the Browns would be asked about Bentley's condition, and they sheepishly had to shrug their shoulders and point to the desert..

It was the Browns call as to whether Bentley could play, not LCB's.

He forced the issue last summer by pronouncing himself fit to play, that his doctor cleared him and he was good to go.

Of course the Browns were more cautious about that estimation, but Bentley in essence put the ball in their court. If he wasn't going to play, it wasn't going to be on him. Nope, it would be the mean old club being overly cautious or simply avoiding payment of his considerable contract, or having insurance cover it instead of the club. And since the Browns weren't overly desperate to fill holes as it had in the past, they could be perceived as pulling the rug out from under the player who was supposedly healthy and ready to play.

Today's lunch time presser has LB talking about emotion versus business decisions as some veiled threat for playing elsewhere after this year.

The Browns have stood by two very good players with significant injury histories. They bent over backwards to accommodate Kellen and LCB-- not because the club was a bunch 'o swell guys.

They were more than patient to wait it out because these were championship level players, and the club wanted to show the rest of the players around the league that it didn't cut and run like so many other teams when a veteran went down (something to think about for any player come free agency time).

What the Browns have gotten for their patience is a demand to have a contract renegotiated, and a veiled threat to move elsewhere.

So..lets see how it plays out ..

Yep, read my comments at the top of this page.

Raleigh

well the quote

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much stronger, much more explosive than I've ever been." He said there is "zero doubt" that he will be "playing somewhere, starting, in '08."

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could just simply be a guy saying "i'm healty, in shape, and i'm confident in my ability to start are center or guard this year"



imo this is just more of grossi trying to look smart....and read between the lines for an angle that nobody else saw....

Business or not, if the Browns trade him against his wishes this is one fan who will scream loud and long.

Some things can be done in the name of "it's just business" and be sloughed off. The FO sticks it to LCB and they can stick their PSL and season tickets where the sun don't shine. And I'll say it to Phil's face while I'm doing it.

Can you tell this really pisses me off?.........

j/c

Beyond the personal aspect of it, I have always stood by that it doesn't matter who we have playing for us (outside of real problem children), I just want this team to win.

If Bentley is with this team and performs well, then that is great. If he is traded or released because we feel we don't need him and we have success without him, well, that's great, too. Because, in the end, what would we all rather have? A guy on the team who is a huge fan of the team and who makes us all feel good, but who isn't performing at a high level, or a roster spot filled by a talented player who helps us win games?

Hopefully it can be a roster spot filled by that guy who makes us feel good because he's a true fan of the team. But, in the end, we want to win championships. We've all gotten over the fact that Jamal Lewis played for the Rats for a number of years because he performed well for us last year. We'd all get over the fact that Bentley wasn't with us if we continued to have a successful OL without him.

That being said, I'd love this guy to earn his spot and get back to his old self. But, if it doesn't happen and we're no worse off for it, then so be it. Savage and Crennel are building a winner and they're going to do what's best for this organization. If it's keeping Bentley, that's what they'll do. If it isn't, they'll do that. I trust them.

JMHO

Perhaps you misunderstand me. I assume that if Bentley is practicing (and he is) and can excel, once he shakes the rust off, that he will be a very desirable asset to this team.

Assuming that this is true (and only time will tell) then I see no reason to even consider trading LCB. Our line is not so good that a former Pro Bowl player, even at, say, 80% of his Pro Bowl prowess cannot be an asset to this team.

If he cannot hold up his end of the bargain he'll know and so will we. Until then talk of him leaving is, well, stupid. And irritating, to say the least.

I'd also like to address the feeling that Phil is somehow this genius that can do no wrong....... Phil is a good GM. Even good GMs screw the pooch occasionally. I'm just hoping that this doesn't turn out to be one of those times.

I wasn't directing my post at you. Hence the "j/c"

I agree with you that if Bentley can contribute to this team, he belongs on it. That goes for anyone. I don't see us sending someone away that is a contributor unless we're keeping someone who can contribute more and better.

And I know that Savage makes mistakes. I think he did with bringing Baxter in in the first place. But, I think he is a good GM who makes proper moves.

I understand.....but it does sort of sound like Bentley is auditioning for someone else.

I agree. That is what it sounds like. And that is what is jerking my chain.

For the life of me, I cannot see why you'd even consider dumping this guy if he can get back to even 80% of his former skill level.

He may not start (especially early in the season) but I gotta believe that if he's actually playing well enough to be tradeable in the first place then he's certainly good enough to earn a decent amount of quality playing time.

Our Oline isn't THAT good.........

There is some strain in the relationship.

I just don't know who caused that.

If we feel that Bentley would not sign again, which it sort of sounds that way..I wouldn't keep him either..at least at the expense of someone else.

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Bentley said he feels "much stronger, much more explosive than I've ever been." He said there is "zero doubt" that he will be "playing somewhere, starting, in '08."

Somewhere?

That was an interesting choice of words.

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I'm not sure what anyone was expecting him to say? I mean, it's a pro, he wants to play, he wants to start.

Sounds like he hopes it's here. All that remains is one question... Can he?

We'll see when camp starts.. Hell, I'm just happy the guy can walk much less play.

I love how the media is doing what they do best- stirring the pot.

Grossi gets off on it. Just like I'm sure he had like 10 stories all laid out on the table that he pre-wrote about Winslow had he not shown up.