By now, we all know the story: the Browns drafted left tackle Joe Thomas with the third-overall pick, and then traded back into the first round to grab quarterback Brady Quinn. After all the high-fiving subsided among fans, talk quickly turned to whether Brady Quinn should be given the starting job.
Frankly, quarterback Charlie Frye hasn't done much to distinguish himself in his first two seasons, but let's be honest, that's a tall order when you're playing for a Browns team that didn't exist before 1999. Head coach Romeo Crennel refused to hand anybody the starting job -- publicly, at least -- but that didn't keep wide receiver Braylon Edwards from speaking up:
"I want to go on record. Charlie is our guy" ... The competition with Brady Quinn, the second of two first-round draft picks, will be "a great one [but] Charlie is our guy, and with the new (offensive) system, Charlie could be looking at a big year."
So there you have it. The team's No. 1 wide receiver is in the Frye camp. Edwards has been immature at times during his first two seasons, but to his credit, he seems to have grown up a little this off-season. Sticking up for his teammate -- a guy from his draft class -- shows some of that.
And while it's easy to criticize Edwards, it's encouraging to hear comments like this: "[I'm] trying to be a better man, be a better team player.... I want to be the guy that they drafted. I want to be the guy Romeo Crennel deserves. I want to be the guy the city expects me to be."
