Training Camp Just a Month Away

With the Cleveland Indians tanking for various reasons (I'll let Let's Go Tribe remain your digest for that), more and more fans are looking forward to the start of the 2008-2009 Cleveland Browns season. I've been holding off my position-by-position training camp previews in hopes that the Browns would sign all of their draft picks already, but unfortunately they've made me wait. I'd hate to write up a preview of the quarterback position, knowing we'll bring in a fourth guy the day after I write it (sure, he wouldn't make the team, but it'd be frustrating not to include him still).

With that said, today is June 25. Training camp for the Browns starts on July 25, just one month from now. The only newsworthy items between those dates should be:

-Training camp practice-by-practice dates/times

-Official signing of draft picks

-Whether or not we trade to acquire a cornerback (none of this "WR" talk)

ESPN's James Walker has a write-up today on the Browns, which basically outlines the final point, and the thing that the media will be picking on whenever anyone mentions "playoffs" and "Cleveland" in the same sentence. For the sake of picking on something, here's something that made me chuckle in Walker's piece:

Wright and McDonald flourished in their old roles, but it unknown if both players can make that kind of jump simultaneously. It is quite a risk playing in a division that includes Chad Johnson and T.J. Houshmandzadeh in Cincinnati, Derrick Mason in Baltimore, and Hines Ward and Santonio Holmes in Pittsburgh

I understand that it'll be tough on our corners to defend a healthy Johnson and Houshmandzadeh. I'll even live with the Ward and Holmes combination. However, to even mention the Ravens as having a receiving threat is a mistake in my opinion. Don't get the wrong idea -- Mason is a great veteran player. However, on a team that is so inept, with probably one of the least deep receiving groups in football, Baltimore should not have been included as a concern for us. If Walker wants to include Baltimore, then he's basically saying we'd be taking a risk at the cornerback position against any of the other 31 teams in the league.

We're not in great shape at cornerback, but that's where the other defensive help will come in handy.