The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Haley: No star status in Berea
Bryant should be ready to work if he signs
Dez Bryant will get no superstar treatment if he ends up signing with the Browns, offensive coordinator Todd Haley says.
The out-of-work wide receiver will be in Berea for a visit and possible physical on Aug. 16, a day before the Browns host the Buffalo Bills in their second preseason game.
Bryant played eight seasons in Dallas before being released in April. He was a magnet for attention and controversy with the Cowboys, often drawing focus to himself by screaming at coaches and quarterbacks on the sideline.
Bryant also caught 531 passes for 7,459 yards and 73 touchdowns. The only current Browns receiver that comes close to those numbers is Jarvis Landry, who in four years with the Miami Dolphins caught 400 passes for 4,038 yards and 22 touchdowns. The Browns acquired Landry on March 14 for a fourth-round and a seventh-round draft choice.
part of his treatment program for battling substance abuse. Gordon remains absent with no timetable for his return.
Five of the wide receivers on the roster who will face the Bills in FirstEnergy Stadium are rookies. C.J. Board and Blake Jackson are firstyear players. Rashard Higgins is in his third year.
Jeff Janis, like Landry, is in his fifth season, but Janis had only 17 career catches and one career start in four seasons with the Green Bay Packers.
“I’m excited about these young guys, I really am,” Haley said. “That being said, if guys are willing to come in here and guys with the pedigrees and resumes like somebody like him, of course, we’re going to accept him and coach the heck out of him.
“But the young group is
a group to be encouraged about. It’s not just one or two, there’s a group of them. We’re just looking again for a couple guys to kind of separate themselves from the others.”
Landry has been trying to recruit Bryant for more than two weeks. It doesn’t seem to bother him that Bryant would take away passes that otherwise would be targeted for Landry.
Landry said he hasn’t spoken directly to Bryant. They have communicated primarily through social media.
“If he’s here or wherever it is, I support him as a friend,” Bryant said. “Wherever he goes, I’m happy for him.”
Bryant at various times has been linked to the Ravens, Packers, Patriots and Redskins, but those have all lost steam.
It has been Landry’s show since his first practice with the Browns. He demonstrated that again in practice on Aug. 15. He caught three touchdown passes on a drill that started with the ball on the 3 and later made a spectacular catch with only his left hand on a left sideline route with Briean Boddy-Calhoun in tight coverage.
The crowd in the bleachers paralleling the sideline cheered. Landry grinned and threw them the ball.
“(That energizes) coaches, players, fans — everybody,” Coach Hue Jackson said. “He does things almost every day that we go ‘Wow!’ Those are the plays we’re going to have to make in key moments this year as we go. He’s going to be one of those guys that have to make those plays.”
“We’re going to coach the guys that are here,” Haley said before practice Aug. 15.” If Dez Bryant, who obviously has been a good player in this league, is in that mix, he’s going to be coached like everybody else.
“I tell everybody that shows up here, ‘We don’t care about what means you get here, if you’re willing to put your hand in the pile and work and be part of moving forward and having success, I’m all for it.’ ”
The debate on whether the Browns need more of a veteran presence among the receivers has been going on since Josh Gordon announced three days before training camp started he would be absent as