"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 the Browns' next offensive minicamp, Joe Thomas being idolized by Cleveland fans, and how close we are to the lockout deadline.
I hope everyone is having a good 4th of July weekend! It was scorching hot in Cleveland yesterday; I felt the effects of playing basketball outdoors for several hours in the morning by not wanting to get out of bed the rest of the day (heat exhaustion). The forecast for Cleveland and the Northeastern Ohio area seems to be a bit cooler with no chance of rain the next two days, so that is great news. I'm not sure if NFL players usually have this period of time off to spend with their families, but if they don't, I'm sure they are enjoying the lockout for moments like this.
If you recall, Colt McCoy had previously announced that the next offensive minicamp would take place in Austin, Texas from July 7-9. That would be from this coming Thursday (which is also the day that my favorite summer TV show, Big Brother, debuts), to this Saturday. The latter date would put everyone about a week away from the "first lockout deadline" of July 15th.
Are the talks positive heading into that deadline of July 15th? In short, the answer is yes. I'll have another post later today that goes into more detail as to what has been going on over the past week to build off of the positive news from the owners meeting a couple of weeks ago. I'm really starting to get into the football mood now that July is here, so the closer we approach to the deadline, the more important we'll be covering the details of the lockout here on DBN.
Joe Thomas and Colt McCoy went fishing and fans loved seeing this picture. That is great team bonding there, as emily put it when she posted the FanShot. I imagine it is also one of the few times Thomas and McCoy have gotten together this offseason -- remember, only the receivers, running backs, and tight ends have been attending Camp Colt. Whether Thomas was told anything or needed to know anything about the West Coast Offense during the get-together remains to be seen.
We did a free agent review on linebacker Matt Roth this past week, and I was surprised to see how much support there was for him returning next season. For all intents and purposes, the vote was split 50-50 between "yes" and "no." I wouldn't be upset if he was brought back next year, but Roth seemed to speak genuinely this offseason when he did not trash Cleveland, but stated that he preferred going to a team with a 3-4 defense. I'm sure he'll get offers from teams playing a 3-4 too; Roth isn't chopped liver we're talking about.