The Browns are "worth" $263,520,000 (19th NFL)

Stadium (56)

Roster (1) !!!

Support (92)

Economy (33) 

I fired the existing coaches and hired a new head-coach Martin Force and a new scout Erik Hart (both are very young, 38 and 30 years old). 

"With the 1st pick of the '99 draft, the Cleveland Browns select : 

QB Blaine Davies, university of Utah ! 

Amateur Draft Report: 

Rnd 1 - Blaine Davies, QB, Utah

Rnd 2 - Lamont Foley, RB, Florida State

Rnd 3 - Corey Rollins, K, Louisville

Rnd 4 - Barry Schneiderheinze, LB, Southern Methodist

Rnd 5 - Ted Ridgway, LB, Westminster

Rnd 6 - Tim Tumbleson, C, North Texas

Rnd 7 - Quinn Slay, P, Idaho 

Blaine Davies is signed for 6 years, $16,67M (including $10M signing bonus).

He'll be the starter immidiately, the backups being Koy Detmer and Alex Van Pelt. 

Pre-season : 

We go 2-2, which is not that bad regarding the overall talent of the team.

1st pick of the draft QB Davies has played pretty well in those games, throwing only 2 INTs in 4 games...

2nd rounder RB Lamont Foley has been very impressive...look for him not to be far away from offensive rookie of the year. Thus far he looks like the real deal. 

I think we definitely have a QB for years to come in Blaine Davies, and drafting Lamont Foley with the 1st pick on the 2nd round is a good move as he should (hopefully) be a very good asset to our offense also for the next few years. The only think missing on offense for us to have "future stars" is a WR.

I decided not to trade a future draft pick so that i can draft a great stud WR in 2000, hopefully there will be one available...if not, then i made trade for a guy like Keyshawn Johnson or Eric Moulds. 

Notable Injuries : our top G Jerome Daniels is out for 2/3 months with a broken wrist. This doesn't help with us starting a rookie QB right away but we'll deal with it.

our 2nd best CB Tony Bouie is also out for 2/3 months with a sprained back. 

Overall, this team is not a talented one on paper, let's face it. But i really think our draft ha been very good so -at least- we can prepare the future with Blaine Davies and Lamont Foley.

For the rest, we will see during the season. There weren't any good players available in free agency and, as i said, i didn't want to let future draft picks get away from us, not in this inaugural season.

WE NEED TO BUILD, and i'm confident it will pay soon. 
 

Roster Cohesion : 

passing (48) last NFL

Off Line (55) last NFL

Deff front (52) last NFL

secondary (16) last NFL 

Now let's get on to the regular season : 

Week 1 Vs Pittsburgh (Steelers are a 9pt fav) : L 17-27

The Steelers offense didn't do much but rookie QB Blaine Davies had all wrong in his first career start.

awful day for the rookie 18/44 for 248yrds 0 TD and 5 INTs !

Davies showed some good things though, passing for a lot of 1st downs but his INTs killed us...RB Lamont Foley was uneffective, rushing for 18yds on 10 carries before being injured.

Backup RB Raymont Harris had the play of the day, a 91 yard TD run after Foley went out.

WR Brian Alford is out for 2/3 months with a torn calf muscle, placed on injured reserve. 

Week 2 at Titans - 9pt underdog : L 11-30

Another poor outing from Davies and Foley though Davies threw his first NFL TD pass, a 31 yarder to Mike Pritchard. But he was intercepted 3 times.

WR Pritchard had 151 yards and 1 TD on 5 catches. Eddie George ran for 187 yards... 

Week 3 at Ravens (1-1) - 8pt underdog : L 3-20

Nothing happened in this game, Davis was 14/24 but had 2 INts. Foley had 46 yards on 17 attempts, his best game so far.

Ravens QB Eric Zeier was sharp 21/34 212 yards 2 TDs 0 INT. 

Week 4 Vs Patriots (3-0) - 8pt underdog : W 20-17

1st win for this franchise and against previously unbeaten New England. A great win for us as the Patriots were 3-0 prior to that game. Davies had a TD and 2 INTs but RB Lamont Foley had his first 100yrd game (rushing for 110 yards on 17 carries 6.4/c) and his first NFL touchdown. 

Week 5 Vs Bengals (3-1) - Even : W 20-16

Corey Dillon has just 23yards on 10 runs for the Bengals. RB Lamont Foley rushes for 62 yards and a TD while QB Davies throws for 237 yards (18/29) with a TD and an INT.

It seems as our first two draftees are playing much better, adapting themselves to the NFL. 

Week 6 at Jaguars (3-2) - 5pt underdog : L 10-47

Davies attempts 1 pass before being pulled out with a bruised sternum. He is questionable for the next 3/5 weeks but will still start the next game. Devastating injury as he seemed to have more of a grasp of the offense. his replacement in the game Alex Van Pelt, was 10/22 with a TD but 4 INTs...RB Foley had a solid 75 yards on 13 carries (5.7yrd/c). WR Chris Sanders had 9 catchs for 86 yards. 

Week 7 at St Louis (1-4) - 1pt underdog : L 14-27

Blaine Davies goes 4/6 70 yards and a TD pass before going out, too much injured to continue to play, too bad he seemed poised.

Koy Detmer takes over and goes 18/38 with 3 INTs. WR Hatchette has 9 catches for 110 yards and a TD. 

Week 8 at New Orleans (3-3) - 5pt underdog : L 14-20

Foley rushes for 72 yrds and backup QB koy Detmer goes 13/22 176 yards, a TD and an INT, replacing Davies after one series.

I decide to rest Davies for our next game. No need to hurry him back in there, the season is probably already gone and i want him healthy to play some games towards the end of the year. 

At midseason we are 2-6, last in the NFC Central. 

Week 9 Vs Baltimore (3-4) - Even : W 21-14

3rd straight home win for us. Davies was rested this week and Koy Detmer did a fine job throwing for 3 TDs (a season high for us) and just 1 INT. He only had 137 passing yards though. RB Foley was very good rushing 18 times for 110 yards. Our defense limited Ravens RB Priest Holmes to only 13 yards on 11 carries ! 

QB Blaine Davies is rested one more week as Detmer had a good game last sunday. 

Week 10 Vs Steelers (5-3) -9pt underdog : L 16-29

Detmer throws 2 TDS but also 2 INTs and Lamont Foley is held to a ridiculous 14 yards on 9 carries. Steelers RB Jerome Bettis runs for 90 yards in the game. 
 

Week 11 Vs Carolina Panthers (2-7) -5pt favourite : W 38-17

most convincing win of the season so far. We enjoyed the return of Blaine Davies at QB at earned our 4th straight home win.

Though still hampered by his injury, Davies was 19/29 247yards 1 TD and no interceptions for the first time in a full regular season game he played in.

RB Raymont Harris stole the show with a career day 131 yards and 2 TDs. 

Week 12 Vs Tennesse Titans (7-3) -Even : W 38-14

3rd win in 4 games a 5th straight at home.

QB Blaine Davies had a career day and was the game MVP completing 24/35 for 347 yards, 2 TDs and 0 INT.

RB Lamont Foley had 85 yards rushing and 3 TDs !

WR Hatchette had 8 catches for 137 yards and 1 TD.

We clearly played another great game for the second week in a row and this time against a Tennesee team that was 7-3 prior to the game. Things seem to get together a little bit :) 

Starting Center Jim Sweeny was placed on injured reserve. 

Week 13 at Chargers (5-6) -5pt underdog : W 27-24

1st road win !...and 4th win in 5 games for a much improved Browns team !

QB Davies was 22/41 262 yards 2 TDs and 1 INT and RB Foley had 128 yards on 20 carries.

QB Blaine Davis was once again the game's MVP. 

Week 14 at Bengals (7-6) -5pt underdog : L 34-40

ouch...that one hurts.

we almost made it ; RB Foley had a career day rushing for 159 yards and 3 TDs whil QB Blaine Davis was as sharp as ever completing 20 passes out of 27 for 265 yards and no interceptions.

Still, the Bengals managed to win that one thanks to Jeff Blake (26/43 430 yards 4 TDs an) and Carl Pickens (10 catchs 207 yards).

RB Lamont Foley was named Offensive player of the week for his performance  

Week 15 Vs Jaguars (9-4) -2pt underdog : L 15-21

Nothing particular in that game, our two offensive "stars" were ok but did nothing great as we were used to seing from them over the last few weeks.

on the other hand, Jaguars RB Tavian Banks had 109 yards rushing ; this is what helped the Jags win that close one... 

Week 16 Vs Colts (9-5) -2pt favourite : W 37-17

a great win to end the season on a positive note. QB Blaine Davies shows that he deserved to be the n°1 overall pick in the draft, he is the game's MVP by throwing 24/36 for 366 yards 3 TDs and no interceptions !

RB Lamont Foley had 93 yards and 1 TD on 14 carries.

QB Blaine Davis is named Offensive Player of the week in the NFL ! 
 

Cleveland Browns end its inaugural season with a not so bad 7-9 record (5th NFC Central, 3 teams in the division make the playoffs).

The second half of the year was a huge improvement and our young players became much much better. 

Rookie QB Blaine Davis end up with 2730 yards 12 TDs and 15 INTs for a 71,4 rating (14 games played) but if you only consider the 2nd half of the season, his rating would have been around 105.

Rookie RB Lamont Foley has 1089 yards on 228 attempts (4.7/c) and 10 TDs. Him, as well, had a boost in the 2nd half of the year.

The receivers did somehow of a terrific job :

Chris Sanders : 73 catches 870 Yards 5 TDs

Mike Pritchard : 70 catches 1015 yards 6 Tds

Matt Hatchette : 61 catches 929 yards 4 TDs  

Offensively, we finish 7th passing and 12th rushing.

Deffensively : 25th Vs the rush and 23rd Vs the pass. 

New England Patriots win the SuperBowl 24-7 against Detroit.

(We had won against New England 20-17 in the regular season) 

Only 19 players are "secured" for next season, the others becoming free agents with no possiblitiy to sign them to extansions before the SupeBowl. This will be a tough offseason but if we can keep most of them (and i'm confident we will) we will have a playoff caliber team for our 2nd season.