BEREA, OHIO -- Five observations on the 2003 Cleveland Browns, gleaned from training camp practices of Aug. 1:

	Johnson

1. Since we touted the Cleveland wide receiver corps as the deepest in the league in a column last month, maybe this is redundant, and the equivalent of beating a dead (race) horse: But the pass-catching group assembled here is an impressive one, tutored by one of the best receivers coaches in the NFL, in longtime aide Terry Robiskie. Yeah, head coach Butch Davis is, by nature, a smash-mouth kind of guy. But it might be awfully tempting, with the receiving talent amassed by the Browns, to simply spread the field as often as possible and dare opposing defenses to try to match up. That is essentially what happened in the playoff game at Pittsburgh last season and, while Cleveland indeed squandered a big fourth-quarter lead, backup quarterback Kelly Holcomb strafed the Steelers secondary for 429 yards and the Browns' top four wide receivers averaged 23.4 yards per catch. Of the quartet, only Quincy Morgan failed to register at least one reception of 30 yards or more. This heads-up to fantasy football fans: Second-year speedster André Davis, who had six touchdowns on just 37 catches in 2002, has fluid on his right knee, the result of linebacker Andra Davis (no relation) falling on it a week ago. It's fair to assess the young wide receiver will miss prolonged field time, just as fair to acknowledge that Browns officials are concerned about the situation. But this is a receiver corps that has some intriguing players even beyond the No. 4 spot on the depth chart. Third-year pro Andre King, despite only 16 catches his first two seasons, has nice physical tools. The annual camp phenom, Frisman Jackson, might one day stay healthy enough to fulfill the potential coaches keep insisting he's got. And here's a dark horse, a guy the Browns are trying to hide and would love to stash on the practice squad for a year, to put into the "futures" file: Undrafted free agent C.J. Jones of Iowa, who played well in the Saturday morning scrimmage against the Bills, and who has some kickoff return skills. No matter who wins the starting quarterback job, he is going to have a cadre of sprinters, basically an Olympic sprint-relay wannabe team. The most pedestrian of the Browns wide receiver bunch, Kevin Johnson, demonstrated again here in Friday's combined practices that he might have the surest hands of any player in the league. More quick than fast, "KJ" would be a real monster if he were just one-tenth of a second more explosive. Morgan, who had all kinds of problems adjusting to the league when he was drafted two years ago, really has become a far more confident player and could have a breakout season.

2. It's way too early to even glance at the panic button, and the Browns are still breaking in first-round center Jeff Faine, but the offensive line certainly wasn't a highlight area of the weekend workouts. Butch Davis doesn't like losing any physical battles, but he can't have been pleased with the way his unit performed against the Bills, with shortcomings in both the running and passing games. In defense of Cleveland, it was the first time that the projected starting unit worked together, since Faine just signed his contract on Monday, and guards Shaun O'Hara and Barry Stokes have been flopping around and logging time at other positions. But the Bills out-quicked and out-muscled the Browns in both Friday practices and also in the Saturday scrimmage and that won't sit well with Davis at all. The coach likes his linemen big and ponderous, at 300-pounds plus, and the starting five averages about 310 pounds. Girth hasn't yet translated into greatness with this bunch. Left tackle Ross Verba hasn't looked particularly good yet and tight tackle Ryan Tucker, much hyped during the offseason, isn't special. Everyone talked about how massive second-year guard Qasim Mitchell, one of the highest paid undrafted free agents in the NFL in 2002, would push for playing time. Granted, the 370-pound Mitchell is a pretty intriguing guy, and might become a Nate Newton-type road-grader in time, but even Davis acknowledged he has a long way to go. The key is probably Faine, who had a difficult baptism in his first few snaps against Bills defensive tackle Sam Adams during the first Friday session, but then more than held his own. Faine is a tough kid, a guy who, despite his callowness, won't take crap from any veterans. Once he gets settled in, maybe the rest of the pieces will fall into place, and this will become a formidable quintet. But for now, the puzzle pieces are scattered, and the Browns didn't open many running holes on Saturday or pass protect very well, either.

	Gardner

3. Cleveland either released or declined to re-sign all three starting linebackers from 2002 -- Darren Hambrick, Earl Holmes and Dwayne Rudd -- and couldn't reach an agreement with Jamir Miller, who missed the season with an Achilles injury. Miller subsequently retired when his rehabilitation came up short. So Davis is gambling that a trio of '02 draft choices, none of whom started even a single game as a rookie, can take over the position en masse. Given his coaching lineage, having worked as defensive coordinator for Jimmy Johnson in Dallas, where linebackers weren't paid very well and were not seen as critical to a scheme that accented front four players and cornerbacks, it was just a matter of time before Davis made such a move. In fact, he allowed on Friday that his plan in choosing the three linebackers in 2002 was to enhance the speed at the position, and to perhaps move them all forward together. And so Kevin Bentley (draft pick No. 4a in '02), Andra Davis (No. 5) and Ben Taylor (No. 4b), presto, are now starters. Well, sort of, at least. There is still lip service being paid to the possibility that former Eagles player Barry Gardner, essentially the only veteran of consequence signed by the Browns this spring as a free agent, can win the middle linebacker position. Don't bet on it. Gardner hasn't been a starter since 2000. Last year, when the Eagles allowed Jeremiah Trotter to escape in free agency, Gardner got first shot to replace him. Not long into the audition, the Eagles were forced to sign Levon Kirkland, because Gardner couldn't handle the No. 1 job. Pencil in Gardner as a special teams contributor and the top backup at two of the linebacker spots. The guy that the coaches want to win the middle job, and so the guy who will, is Davis. The young player who has best adapted to his new starting role, though, is Taylor. The coaches last week moved him from the strong side to the weak side, to take advantage of his ability to play out in space, and they like what they have seen to this point of the experiment. At least over the weekend, the young linebackers demonstrated precisely the elements that Butch Davis and new coordinator Dave Campo are seeking from them. They ran to the ball, were a presence in coverage at times, and made tackles at the line instead of four yards up the field. Sure, there are offensive coordinators around the NFL licking their chops at the prospect of attacking the Browns youngsters, who figure to be tested early and often. Then again, the three new starters can't be much worse, from a big-play standpoint, than their predecessors. The '02 starters combined for one interception, one sack, one forced fumble and one recovery last year. That's the kind of symmetry no team really wants.

4. In part because they needed salary cap room, in part because defensive end Courtney Brown was one of the most overpaid players in the league given his production (or lack thereof), the Browns recently restructured the contract of the guy who was chosen with the first overall pick of the 2000 draft. His base salary was dropped from $5.5 million to $2.5 million. Brown can recoup the difference in playing time, sack and roster bonuses, but no one should count on that happening. Nor should anyone really bank on Brown ever living up to his draft status. This is definitely the do-or-die season for Brown, one of those guys who might simply be too smart to be playing football, and the guess here is that his career in Cleveland is about six months away from expiring. The former Penn State star has missed the equivalent of one full season during his three years in the NFL, 16 games he sat out with injuries, of a possible 48 appearances. He has three multiple-sack contests, two outings with three sacks each, and another with two. And in the other 29 games Brown has played he has, drum roll, please, a piddling three sacks. Some of his supporters, what few remain, like to point out that Brown still plays the run pretty well. Isn't that nice? Look, the Browns didn't pay him all that money to be a run-stuffer. A player they picked up off the street two years ago, defensive end Mark Word, posted eight sacks in 2002. Or, like, six more than Courtney Brown recorded. Brown is coming off the controversial microfracture knee surgery, a procedure whose success is mixed, at best. He can practice only once a day and that might be the case the rest of his career. Brown has yet to participate in anything beyond individual drills so far, looked as if he was favoring his knee in Friday's practices, didn't dress for the Saturday scrimmage. Here's a hint as to how the organization views Brown: When the team reworked his contract, it only altered the 2003 portion of it, leaving the ensuing three seasons untouched. How come? Because he probably won't be around to collect the $20 million he is due in base salaries 2004-2006. And if he is, the Browns will restructure again, knocking down the base salaries again. One bit of good news is that the franchise's other overpaid and underachieving defensive lineman, tackle Gerard "Big Money" Warren, looks pretty good in camp. After two years of carousing, an admission he made during the offseason, Warren finally seems serious about developing into the player he was supposed to be when Cleveland chose him with the third overall pick in 2001. Warren, who came to camp at a career-low 324 pounds, had two superb plays in the scrimmage, including a sack, and certainly appears motivated.

5. Butch Davis is touting fourth-year cornerback Lewis Sanders as a player who could emerge, at last, in 2003 and perhaps even push Anthony Henry for a starting job. Maybe that's what the daily videotape from practices reveals to the Cleveland staff. But to these eyes, for what it is worth, Sanders looks like the same guy to us: A corner with prototype size, but who is often injured. A corner who isn't very aggressive, plays kind of stiff, does not look good in change-of-direction situations, and whose speed is mostly linear. There is a suspicion around here that Davis is mentioning Sanders because he is trying to light a fire under Henry, whose interceptions dropped from 10 in 2001 to just two in '02. Henry found out it's a lot harder to make interceptions as a starter than as a "nickel" defender. He is not a player who necessarily closes well on the ball. Most of his "picks" in 2001 came on overthrows and quarterback misreads. In the Saturday scrimmage, he picked off Drew Bledsoe, when the Bills quarterback either threw an awful pass or the receiver cut the wrong way. Want a youngster, though, who could make some noise at cornerback? Try rookie Michael Lehan of Minnesota, a fifth-round draft choice, and a player whom the coaches here really like. Well, now that he's signed and in camp, that is. Lehan has size, speed and toughness, and we're betting he gets a ton of playing time as a rookie. Speaking of rookies, a Cleveland draft originally panned by we alleged "experts" sure looks better four months removed from the '03 lottery. Faine will be a starter at center. Linebacker Chaun Thompson (No. 2), very raw, might play on third down. Lehan and third-round corner Chris Crocker, who could play safety in "dime" situations, will be starters in time. Davis is fond of pointing out that his recruiting classes at Miami were never highly regarded but that the Hurricanes seemed to nonetheless do pretty well. Point made, Butch, point taken.

Len Pasquarelli is a senior NFL writer for ESPN.com.