Kellen Winslow Jr. knows what some fans and skeptical sports writers were thinking as Browns training camp approached.
"I'm sure you thought I wasn't coming, but I'm not that type of guy,"
Winslow said after practice Thursday morning. "I don't want to be a distraction. My job is to help this team win and come out here and play to the best of my ability. I'm not going to be a distraction."
He flashed a mischievous grin as he spoke and vowed his contract situation will not affect the way he plays or the effort he gives this season.
Not that concerns were unfounded. Before last season, Winslow fired the Poston brothers as his agents and hired Drew Rosenhaus, who is notorious for taking over players under contract and holding them out of training camp.
And, the fact is, Winslow isn't just any player. He caught 89 passes in 2006, 82 last season, and though he has done everything he can to shake the image, until he scores the winning touchdown for the Browns in the Super Bowl, fans will always remember him as the Miami Hurricane who referred to himself as "a soldier" after a game against Tennessee in the fall of 2003. He was 20 at the time.
During the NFL scouting combine in February, Rosenhaus announced he would seek a new contract for Winslow, even though Winslow had three years left on a deal renegotiated with Kevin Poston after Winslow's motorcycle accident. The Browns countered by saying they were open to talks, but they were in no hurry to give Winslow an extension.
Adding to the intrigue was Winslow's decision to rehab from his fourth knee surgery in five years at home in San Diego. But Rosenhaus promised Winslow would be in minicamp in June, and he was. Rosenhaus promised Winslow would be in training camp, and he is.
"Drew is a great guy,"
Winslow said. "He's a family oriented guy, and he'll do anything for his clients. I respect him to the highest level."
"I just want to be a Cleveland Brown for a long time, so my agent and the organization are in talks. If they don't do it, they don't do it. If they do it, they do it. My job is to get out here and play."
Winslow knows honoring his contract doesn't earn him any pats on the back, but he would like to think it might be a way to prove those "I'm a soldier" days are in the past.
"I'm 25 now,"
he said. "That stuff was a long time ago, and just like everyone else you, have to grow up. I'm older now, married, and just grown up."
Romeo Crennel's first season as head coach was Winslow's second with the Browns. Less than three months after Crennel was hired, Winslow suffered a motorcycle crash that ended up costing him the entire 2005 season. Crennel did not find much in the way of talent when he arrived, and then he got the bad news one of his best players would not be available.
Just as Braylon Edwards has matured under Crennel, so has Winslow. Just getting older might be the bigger factor for the two players, but Crennel's coaching roots go to Bill Parcells, and just like Parcells, Crennel will not let a player be bigger than the team.
"We all go through that maturation process and he's in the middle of it,"
Crennel said. "We've seen him settle down from the first year I was here and he can manage himself better than he used to. He has a better understanding of how the team works and how he fits in the team and what's expected and required of him as we try to build this team."
Winslow said his right knee and left shoulder, which bothered him most of last year, feel fine now. Surgery was performed on his knee but not on his shoulder. Winslow did not use injuries as an excuse for any mistakes he might have made last year, but if he stays healthy he could have the most productive season of his career.
"I left a lot on the field last year,"
he said. "I watched the film from last year, and saw things I can do better. I probably could have caught 100 balls. That's 18 more than I caught last year. Touchdowns, I only had five, so I can get a lot better in each category."
