Thursday, May 24, 2001

Ravens re-sign LB Cornell Brown

Buchsbaum: Brown is a strong, aggressive run defender who often would play in Peter Boulware’s place on running downs. His strength is playing the run at the point of attack. He’s a physical player. He can rush the passer off the edge, but he struggles in pass coverage because he’s stiff and has a hard time turning his hips. He gives the Ravens enviable depth. He’s someone they like to use in their defense quite a bit, and he’s a good re-addition to the team. He just signed for one year because he’s expected to get a big contract, and with so many teams up against the cap this year, all that was being offered was the minimum wage for a veteran.

Bills name John Guy pro personnel director

John Guy, who has 26 years of football coaching and scouting experience, was named the Bills’ new pro personnel director. Guy spent the last three years with the Browns and fills the vacancy left by A.J. Smith, who followed former general manager John Butler to San Diego earlier this offseason.

Buchsbaum: Guy is a long-time assistant coach and scout who was with the Steelers from 1992-94 as their special-teams coordinator, where he got to know Tom Donahoe really well and made a positive impression on him. In the past few years, he’s worked with the Cleveland Browns as a scout.

Buchsbaum analyzes the near-annual discounting of the Vikings’ chances

Buchsbaum: Every year, it seems that people sell the Vikings short because they’re so disappointing in the playoffs and they always seem to lose players. But what people tend to overlook about the Vikings is that the generally tend to keep a nucleus of great players around. And great players could make a dramatic impact. I don’t think there’s ever been a more gifted wide receiver than Randy Moss, or at least not one since Don Hutson. From a physical-ability standpoint, Daunte Culpepper has more ability than any quarterback in the NFL. He’s got the size of a defensive lineman, the speed and coordination of a wide receiver, toughness and a tremendous passing arm, plus he’s an accurate passer most of the time. They also have Cris Carter, an outstanding possession receiver who’s still at a Pro Bowl level and two tremendous offensive linemen in Matt Birk and Korey Stringer. On defense, while they definitely aren’t great, they have some good athletes who could develop for them. They have a very good safety in Robert Griffith and some money to spend, which they’ll probably use to sign someone such as Dale Carter to play cornerback for them. Another advantage they have is that head coach Dennis Green has a tremendous ability to get along with players, and as a result, they can bring in a lot of players that other teams probably couldn’t handle and don’t believe they could handle — such as a Randy Moss or possibly a Dale Carter — and get tremendous production out of them. So they don’t really shy away from taking the super athlete who has questions in other areas, as long as that super athlete is a competitor who’s dedicated to winning. Another plus that people tend to overlook is their special teams and their kicking game. No one has a punter who’s as valuable as Mitch Berger is to the Vikings, in that he’s such a great kickoff man and an excellent punter with tremendous range who probably kicks farther than anyone in the game with good high time most of the time. And in two of the last three years, PK Gary Anderson has been close to perfect, except for the playoffs. This guy, despite his age, is phenomenally accurate, and anytime you’re inside the 45-yard line, it’s almost automatic during the regular season.

The Archives
2000 - 2001 Season