"The Sunday Five" is a loosely-titled piece where I talk about five NFL- or Browns-related topics related to this past week. In today's edition, I take a look at some bright spots with the NFL and some dull spots in other sports.
This past week, details of the proposed CBA were unveiled by ESPN. The thing that will impact the upcoming season the most? The fact that tendered restricted free agents will be able to sign with anyone as unrestricted free agents. For Cleveland, Phil Dawson should be safe because he had the franchise tag slapped on him. I'll go back through and check who the Browns tendered prior to the lockout and have a post on that later.
I really feel the lockout is coming to an end in a couple of weeks. That probably stems from my always-optimistic attitude, but the major hurdles that held back negotiations in the past seem to be disappearing. The quotes from both sides seem more optimistic. This whole lockout has sucked the life out of offseason football discussions. For example, who wants to get into arguments about the merit of Greg Little's parking tickets? Mark your calendars -- I think one month from today, we're going to have our first session of Cleveland Browns training camp.
When the lockout started, there were positive stories in other Cleveland spots that kept some fans happy. The Cavaliers had a terrible season, but they looked on the right track for the prime spots they had in the NBA Draft. The Indians were off to an unbelievable start record-wise.
What has happened the past couple of days? I personally don't have an issue with the Cavaliers' draft, but the selection at No. 4 seemed to lead many fans to believe Dan Gilbert and company really dropped the ball. The Indians have had offensive woes, sparked by injuries to players like Travis Hafner, Grady Sizemore, and Shin-Soo Choo. They are still in first place somehow, but the confidence factor among fans has to be thinning. I was watching the U.S. soccer team in the Gold Cup tournament, and seeing them blow a 2-0 lead over Mexico last night was not a pleasant thing to watch. At least we can still be happy that the Dallas Mavericks beat the Miami Heat a couple of weeks ago!
Here's another prediction: Colt McCoy has been talking about a potential fullsquad workout coming soon, but a date has not been revealed. A fourth offensive camp is planned toward the beginning of July. If the players feel confident the lockout will end by July 15th, I don't see them rushing to get a fullsquad workout together before training camp. Once training camp starts, all the players will be moving back to the Northeastern Ohio area in all likelihood. I don't see all those players spending money on airfare and hotels for a workout that would basically end up being meaningless in another week or two when the "real" training camp begins. If a fullsquad workout was something the team wanted to do together, it should've been booked a couple of weeks ago.