In his weekly Sunday column, Terry Pluto of the Cleveland Plain Dealer talked about the importance of the players on the Browns getting used to their new coaching staff. What if things don't click right away between the players and Pat Shurmur/Dick Jauron? As Pluto states, Shurmur was wise to retain some of the team's coaches from last season rather than gutting everything and bringing in his own staff.
Good communication is critical. Shurmur did retain some coaches from Eric Mangini's staff: Gary Brown (running backs), Jerome Henderson (defensive backs), Steve Hagen (tight ends), George Warhop (offensive linemen), Kent Johnson (strength coach) and Rick Lyle (assistant strength coach). That can help with the players, and it also is a good sign about Shurmur -- too many guys become head coaches and then want to fire the entire staff.
Pluto speculates that the Browns will sign between 10-15 undrafted free agents when the lockout ends. He notes that the original plan was to have rookies report to training camp July 25 and for everyone to report on July 28. Under The Transition Rules that were discussed earlier today, rookies probably wouldn't even be signed by July 28, so you can forget about that earlier preparation camp for the youngsters.