2 Cleveland Browns

Now that the quarterback controversy has been settled, with Kelly Holcomb winning the starting job, it's time to answer another important question regarding Cleveland's prospects this season: Who in the world are those new starting linebackers, and can they play?

Early in the off-season Browns coach and defensive architect Butch Davis cut last year's starters—Darren Hambrick, Earl Holmes and Dwayne Rudd—plus rehabbing pass-rush linebacker Jamir Miller. In their place he penciled in three 2002 second-day draft picks: Kevin Bentley (fourth round) and Ben Taylor (fourth) on the outside with Andra Davis (fifth) in the middle. None of the three have started an NFL game. Which leads to yet another important question: Coach, have you gone mad?

"I knew the purge was coming, I just didn't know it would be this soon," says Butch Davis. "Then I saw how we played at linebacker last year. Our starters were a nonfactor on special teams, and we needed more speed and versatility at the position. Did you know that our starting linebackers totaled one sack and one interception last year?"

Holmes is a great run-stuffer, but how effective could he have been if Cleveland ranked 27th in rushing defense last year? Plus, the NFL game now requires more speed at the linebacker spots than ever before. Until this season Philadelphia, for example, favored huge middle linebackers in its scheme; the Eagles signed a quick, small Falcons backup, Mark Simoneau, to be their defensive quarterback this season. Similarly, Butch Davis and his new defensive coordinator, Dave Campo, have embraced speed and youth at all three linebacker slots.

Of the three, Bentley got the most playing time in the regular defense last year. Taylor, the defensive leader at Virginia Tech for three years, played well early in camp. Andra Davis is a technically sound player with more quickness than his 255 pounds would suggest; he had 24 tackles for a loss in three seasons at Florida. "I understand why people are wondering about us," he says. "None of us have been battle-tested, but we know we can play. Why not put us out there now and let us grow?"

"In our scheme," says Taylor, "the defensive line keeps the offensive line off the linebackers. We're supposed to be the playmakers. Coach Campo is on us every day, telling us there are no excuses. No one cares that we haven't played before. We know we have to get it done now."

The new linebackers will be challenged early: Cleveland plays four explosive offenses—Indianapolis, San Francisco, Pittsburgh and Oakland—in its first six games. Yet it's hard to predict how they will perform when there are also questions about the effectiveness of the front four. In making defensive end Courtney Brown the No. 1 pick in the 2000 draft and Gerard Warren the No. 3 pick in '01, the Browns expected to have a dynamic pass-rushing duo by now. Instead, Brown and Warren have a combined 18 sacks in 63 career games. Brown is recovering from risky microfracture surgery last December (a hole was drilled in his left knee to stimulate the growth of cartilage that would cut down on bone-on-bone contact in the joint), and he says he'll be ready opening week. He missed the first two preseason games, however, because he felt that the knee wasn't in game shape. With the exception of brief flashes of dominance in the last month of his rookie year, Warren's tenure has been marked by an alarming lack of productivity. Never was that more evident than this preseason; he had zero tackles in the first three preseason games.

The new linebackers will have their hands full in September whether Brown and Warren are on their games or not. "I hope the young bucks can step it up," says Warren. "We need them. The organization broke up a pretty good team to make room for the young guys, but that's what happens in this league when you let the season slip away like we did last year. Change happens."

[This article contains a table. Please see hardcopy of magazine or PDF.]