The Next Step Is The Hardest

The G.M. laid out these priorities: re-sign power back Jamal Lewis; retain Anderson, a restricted free agent, while developing 2007 first-round draft pick Brady Quinn; and fix a defensive front that allowed 4.5 yards per rush in '07.

FEBRUARY 11
BEREA

CORNERBACK Leigh Bodden, a sixth-year vet, met with Savage and Crennel, looking for a new contract (he was due $4.47 million over the next two years) or a trade. Though losing Bodden would further weaken a poor secondary, the Browns didn't love him. Now they'd have a bargaining chip in any deal for a defensive lineman.

FEBRUARY 27
BEREA

RETURNING FROM the NFL combine in Indianapolis, where, in addition to sizing up draft prospects, he queried other G.M.'s about available veterans, Savage identified two defensive linemen he has targeted for Crennel's 3--4 scheme. Green Bay wanted a high draft choice for relatively unknown end Corey Williams, who's had two straight seven-sack seasons; Cleveland's mid-second-round pick would be enough to get him. Detroit's Shaun Rogers, a two-time Pro Bowl nosetackle, was on the block as well. The book on Rogers: plays great when he wants to; weight fluctuations between 355 and 395; smart guy with a reputation for being not totally committed to football. Browns staffers checked into Rogers and decided he was worth the risk. Savage thought he could get him for Bodden and a third- or fourth-round pick.

Cleveland didn't have a first-round pick, having used it in 2007 to trade up to draft Quinn. Yet this raffling of high draft picks was heresy to Savage. To be without a pick in the first three rounds scared him. To keep his picks and miss out on Williams and Rogers scared him too.

Savage convened his kitchen cabinet: Crennel, assistant head coach Rip Scherer, defensive coordinator Mel Tucker and offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski, director of player personnel T.J. McCreight, pro personnel director Steve Sabo and cap analyst Trip MacCracken. "To make the Browns as good as we can be this year, we're going to have to sacrifice something—and it could be the draft," he told his staff. "If we could sign Derek Anderson and trade for Corey Williams and Shaun Rogers, would we be willing to get rid of Bodden and not draft till the fourth or fifth round?"

All eight men in the room said yes.

That night Savage offered Lions president Matt Millen a third-round pick and Bodden for Rogers.

FEBRUARY 28
BEREA